AI venture funding continued to surge in third quarter, data shows
FILE PHOTO: A message reading "AI artificial intelligence", a keyboard, and robot hands are seen in this illustration taken January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
As the rush towards AI-related companies continues on Wall Street, data from Crunchbase showed on Monday that the sector enjoyed a bulk of venture funding in the third quarter, with names including Anthropic raking in billions.
BY THE NUMBERS
Global venture funding in the third quarter increased 38 per cent year-over-year to $97 billion, increasing slightly from $92 billion in the second quarter.
About 46 per cent of global venture funding for the third quarter went towards funding AI companies, with 29 per cent invested in solely Anthropic.
The three largest venture rounds in the quarter ended September were raised by foundation model companies: $13 billion by Anthropic, $5.3 billion by xAI and $2 billion from Mistral AI.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
The craze for AI-related companies has swept across Wall Street this year and was largely responsible for pushing the main stock indexes to record highs.
ChatGPT-parent OpenAI reportedly became the most valuable private company in the world last week with a valuation of $500 billion.
Crunchbase data shows other private players in the AI chatbot space were leading funding in the last quarter.
Funding for U.S. companies dominated in the quarter, with $60 billion worth of global venture capital going to U.S.-based companies.
OTHER SECTORS
Funding for the hardware sector was the second-largest in the quarter, with large rounds raised by robotic, semiconductor, quantum and data infrastructure companies totaling $16.2 billion, according to Crunchbase's data.
Healthcare and biotech raised $15.8 billion in venture funding, making it the third-largest sector in the quarter.
