Startup and Venture Investment News — Friday, July 25, 2025: Record AI Rounds, Crypto IPO Boom, and Venture Consolidation
On July 25, 2025, we mark the continuation of significant events in the startup and venture investment market. Against the backdrop of a global technological upswing, we are witnessing record funding rounds in the field of artificial intelligence and the emergence of a new wave of IPOs, including in the crypto market. Investors remain highly active, particularly in the AI and fintech segments, eager to capitalize on burgeoning growth opportunities. In this article, we will explore the latest startup news, analyze key market trends, and assess the direction of venture investments.
Return of Venture Appetite
After a lull in recent years, the venture market is showing a confident revival. Preliminary results for the first half of 2025 indicate that global venture funding has reached its highest level since early 2022. In the second quarter of 2025, global investments in startups amounted to approximately $91 billion, an 11% increase from the previous year. While still far from the peak levels of 2021, the current growth signals a gradual return of private capital to the startup market.
The market's growth is unevenly distributed across regions. The upswing is particularly noticeable in North America, which accounts for approximately 70% of all investments, with a significant portion of capital directed toward AI startups that have become the main market driver. In Europe, an unexpected twist has occurred: Germany has surpassed the United Kingdom in venture investment volume for the first time in a decade, indicating a restructuring of the regional landscape. Meanwhile, Asia is still lagging behind, with funding for startups in China falling to multi-year lows. Nevertheless, the overall dynamics indicate the formation of a new global venture boom following a period of decline.
Record Investments in AI Startups
The surge in interest in artificial intelligence technologies continues to fuel mega deals. Mega funding rounds related to the development of AI have become the hallmark of 2025. The largest investment rounds of the first half of the year are concentrated in this sector:
- OpenAI: The generative AI developer OpenAI raised approximately $40 billion in funding—one of the largest rounds in the industry's history;
- Meta and Scale AI: The corporation Meta invested $14.3 billion in the AI infrastructure startup Scale AI, marking one of the largest deals of the year;
- Thinking Machines Lab: The new startup of former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati secured about $2 billion in a seed round at a valuation of around $12 billion, setting a record for early-stage funding;
- Anduril Industries: The startup Anduril, working at the intersection of defense technologies and AI, raised $2.5 billion in a Series G round, doubling its valuation to over $30 billion;
- Safe Superintelligence: Safe Superintelligence (founded by OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever) received $2 billion in funding, confirming the high demand for breakthrough projects in safe AI.
These impressive investments reflect investors' willingness to not miss out on a new technological revolution. In just the U.S., AI-related startups attracted around $90 billion over six months—a record level of support. This boom demonstrates market confidence that AI-based solutions will shape the future and can generate substantial profits. For venture funds, AI projects have become a priority: they are willing to invest significant sums even at later stages if they see potential for another "unicorn."
New Unicorns: Startup Valuations Exceed $1 billion Again
The return of big money to the market is leading to the emergence of new "unicorns"—private companies valued at over $1 billion. A recent example from the AI sector: the startup Reka AI raised $110 million from tech giants Nvidia and Snowflake. In just three years since its founding, Reka AI has significantly increased its valuation, surpassing the $1 billion mark and entering the prestigious unicorn club. The company develops large language models and innovative AI solutions for data analysis, garnering attention from leading corporations.
Furthermore, new unicorns are rising not only in the U.S. and Silicon Valley. Europe has seen the rapid rise of the Swedish startup Lovable. Just eight months after its founding, this project, which creates a platform for AI-powered app development, raised $200 million in a Series A round (led by Accel) at a valuation of approximately $1.8 billion. Such rapid success illustrates that investors are willing to offer generous valuations for promising teams that demonstrate explosive audience and revenue growth. The market is once again rewarding bold startups with high valuations, restoring faith in the scalability of new projects.
IPO Wave: The Market is Opening Up for New Leaders
The IPO market is experiencing a revival after a prolonged hiatus. The successful debuts of tech companies in the first half of the year have inspired both entrepreneurs and investors. For instance, in the financial sector, notable IPOs from fintech companies Circle and Chime have become indicators of the revival of startup activity on the stock exchange. This positive momentum is encouraging other companies to take advantage of the newly opened "window of opportunity" in the public market.
A number of tech "unicorns" have already announced plans to go public. For example, the American transportation service Via and the crypto startup BitGo have confidentially filed for stock offerings. There are rumors that even a major player like Figma (a software design developer) is considering an IPO if its acquisition deal does not materialize. The flow of applications from hardware startups is also resuming: chip manufacturer Ambiq Micro announced plans to raise about $85 million through an IPO. Experts anticipate further revitalization of the public offering market under favorable macro conditions.
Increased M&A Activity: Corporations are Hunting for Startups
Simultaneously with IPOs, the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market in the tech sector is gaining momentum. Major players are willing to pay record amounts for promising startups, seeking to acquire new technologies and talent. The volume of acquisitions in the first half of 2025 exceeded $100 billion, a 155% increase compared to the previous year. Here are some of the largest deals involving startups:
- Google Acquires Wiz: Google announced the acquisition of the cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion. This is the largest startup acquisition in industry history, demonstrating a willingness to pay a premium for leadership in cloud security;
- OpenAI and Jony Ive's Project: OpenAI spent $6.5 billion to acquire the startup Io, which is developing an AI device in collaboration with the legendary designer Jony Ive. This deal underscores the leading AI players' desire to expand their hardware capabilities;
- ServiceNow — Moveworks: The American company ServiceNow acquired the startup Moveworks (an AI platform for enterprise automation) for approximately $2.85 billion, enhancing its products with artificial intelligence capabilities.
In addition to these mega-deals, there are also less publicized acquisitions, particularly in AI and cybersecurity sectors. For example, Amazon has entered the race for advanced AI technologies by acquiring the startup Bee, which creates wearable devices with artificial intelligence capabilities (smart bracelets for recording and transcribing speech). Additionally, the fintech giant Xero from Australia expanded its business by acquiring the payment service Melio for approximately $2.5 billion. Overall, the growth in M&A activity indicates that corporations prefer to acquire innovations before they go public, offering venture investors much-awaited "exits."
Consolidation of Venture Funds and New Players
Interestingly, the growth of the venture market is accompanied by consolidation among investors themselves. The largest venture funds are accumulating a significant portion of the available capital. In the first six months of 2025, only about a dozen top firms raised more than half of all new funds in the industry. For instance, the Founders Fund announced the closure of new funds totaling $4.6 billion—more than double the total raised by dozens of smaller funds combined. This concentration of resources among market leaders means that young venture managers have limited access to capital.
At the same time, new players with interesting niche strategies are emerging. Large corporations are launching corporate venture arms to invest in relevant technologies. For example, semiconductor giant Analog Devices has created the AD Ventures fund to invest in projects in robotics, climate, and medtech startups. Google is forming a new fund through its Gradient Ventures division, amounting to $200 million, focused exclusively on AI startups. Furthermore, various countries are launching technology support funds with the participation of governments and large banks. For instance, in Russia, the Center for Unmanned Systems is considering launching a fund of several billion rubles to invest in early-stage startups in autonomous systems and artificial intelligence. These initiatives show that, despite the concentration of capital among large VC firms, fresh money and expertise are flowing into the venture ecosystem to support the next generation of startups.
Outlook and Conclusions
The venture market enters the second half of 2025 with cautious optimism. On the side of startups are impressive technological achievements (especially in AI) and an increased risk appetite among investors. Many funds accumulated significant capital reserves during the downturn and are now actively seeking deployment opportunities. If the macroeconomic environment remains stable and interest rates do not rise sharply, experts expect to see continued high activity in the startup market. New IPOs and notable M&A deals will continue to restore investor confidence in exits, which, in turn, will stimulate new funding rounds. In the coming months, we are likely to witness further acceleration of venture activity, bringing the industry closer to a new growth cycle in a post-crisis era.
