Detailed Overview of Startup and Venture Investment News as of September 6, 2025. Mega Rounds in Artificial Intelligence, New IPOs, Growth of Crypto Startups, Global Expansion of Funds, and Market Trends in the CIS Region.
By early September 2025, the global venture capital market is steadily recovering after several years of decline. Investors worldwide are once again actively financing technology startups—multimillion-dollar deals are being closed, and IPO plans for promising companies are back in the spotlight. Major funds and corporations are renewing large-scale investments, while governments in various countries are expanding their support for innovative businesses. Private capital is flowing into the startup ecosystem, providing young companies with the liquidity they need for growth. Preliminary estimates suggest that the first half of 2025 was the most successful since 2021: startups in the U.S. and Canada raised approximately $145 billion in investments (+43% compared to the same period last year), largely due to a series of mega rounds in the artificial intelligence sector.
Venture activity is now spanning all regions of the globe. The U.S. continues to lead (especially due to record investments in AI startups), while the volume of investments in the Middle East has doubled compared to last year. In Europe, there has been a notable shift: Germany has surpassed the United Kingdom in venture investment for the first time in a decade. The situation in Asia is uneven: while investment activity in China is declining (due to regulatory risks), India, Southeast Asia, Israel, and the Persian Gulf countries are attracting record capital. The startup ecosystems in Russia and the CIS are also striving to keep pace despite external restrictions. A new global venture boom is forming, although investors remain selective and cautious in their deal-making.
Let’s take a closer look at the key trends and events shaping the agenda as of September 6, 2025:
- Return of mega funds and large investors. Leading players are forming unprecedentedly large venture capital funds and increasing investments, once again saturating the market with capital and enhancing risk appetite.
- Mega funding rounds and new "unicorns" in AI. Huge investments are pushing startup valuations to unprecedented heights, particularly in the artificial intelligence segment.
- Revival of the IPO market. Successful launches of tech companies and new applications confirm that the long-awaited "window of opportunity" for exits has reopened.
- Renaissance of crypto startups. The rise in the digital asset market has revived interest in blockchain projects, boosting capital inflows into the crypto industry.
- Defense technologies and robotics are attracting capital. Geopolitical factors are stimulating investments in military developments, aerospace projects, and automation systems.
- Diversification of industry focus. Venture capital is flowing not only into AI but also into fintech, climate projects, biotechnology, and other sectors, broadening market horizons.
- Consolidation wave: Growth of M&A deals. Major mergers, acquisitions, and strategic investments are reshaping the industry landscape, creating new opportunities for exits and accelerated growth of companies.
- Global expansion of venture capital. The investment boom is spreading to new regions—from the Persian Gulf and South Asia to Africa and Latin America—where their own tech hubs are forming.
- Local focus: Russia and the CIS. Despite restrictions, new funds and initiatives are emerging in the region to develop local startup ecosystems, attracting investors' attention to local projects.
Return of mega funds: Big money back on the market
The largest investment players are triumphantly returning to the venture arena, indicating a renewed appetite for risk. The Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has officially launched Vision Fund III with a volume of ~$40 billion, focusing on advanced technologies (primarily artificial intelligence and robotics). At the same time, sovereign wealth funds from the Persian Gulf countries are becoming more active—they are pouring billions into innovative projects and developing state megaprograms, establishing their own tech hubs in the Middle East. Dozens of new venture funds are emerging worldwide, including corporate funds from tech giants attracting significant institutional capital into high-tech sectors.
The total reserves of uninvested capital ("dry powder") have reached record levels. In the U.S. alone, funds currently hold hundreds of billions of dollars, ready to be deployed as investors’ confidence returns. The influx of "big money" fills the startup ecosystem with liquidity, providing resources for new funding rounds and scaling promising projects. Major venture funds are once again competing for deals, strengthening market dynamics.
Mega rounds in AI: A new wave of unicorns
The artificial intelligence sector remains the primary driver of the venture upswing in 2025, demonstrating record funding volumes. Every week, multimillion and even billion-dollar funding rounds for AI startups are being reported, which are rapidly soaring in valuation. Unprecedented investments are raising the capitalizations of young AI companies to unseen heights, creating a new wave of "unicorns" and even "decacorns" (startups valued at over $10 billion).
For instance, the French AI laboratory Mistral AI has raised about €2 billion in investments, giving the company an estimated valuation of around $14 billion, making it one of the most valuable startups in Europe. In the U.S., the two-year-old startup Sierra (an AI agent platform for customer service), founded by former Salesforce president Bret Taylor, closed a $350 million funding round with a valuation of $10 billion. Such mega rounds affirm the buzz around AI: more companies are reaching billion-dollar valuations in record short times. Market leaders' valuations are breaking records—industry sources indicate that OpenAI is informally valued at about $300 billion, Anthropic at $61.5 billion, and Elon Musk's new project xAI is targeting ~$120 billion. These figures underscore the enthusiasm with which investors are pouring funds into the AI sector.
Venture capital continues to seek out AI infrastructure, application services based on AI, and generative models. From cloud platforms for training neural networks to specialized AI applications, new "unicorns" are emerging across all niches. The rapid growth in valuations is accompanied by intensifying competition for talent and technology in the artificial intelligence space, as each major investment brings a company closer to market leaders.
Revival of the IPO market: The window for exits is open
After a prolonged hiatus, the IPO market is being revived. Successful IPOs of tech companies signal that the "window of opportunity" for venture investors to publicly list is open again. Major startups that postponed going public in 2022–2024 are now entering the market with high valuations, finding a warm reception from investors.
The standout event of the summer was the brilliant IPO of fintech giant Circle (issuer of the USDC stablecoin) on the New York Stock Exchange. The company raised about $1.05 billion, selling shares above the planned range, and on the first day, their price skyrocketed by 168%, giving it a market capitalization of over $18 billion. This success became the most successful tech IPO of the year and sent a positive signal to the entire market: demand for new tech issuers has returned. Following Circle, other "unicorns" are accelerating their placements, with the American neobank Chime successfully debuting on the exchange, marking one of the largest fintech stories of the year.
Riding on the wave of these successes, other promising players are revamping their IPO plans. For instance, the Israeli social trading platform eToro has gone public through a direct listing, and several high-value SaaS companies in the cloud services and cybersecurity sectors are preparing prospectuses. Although recent debuts (like Hinge Health) have come in at valuations below their latest private rounds, the overall market revival is encouraging. Successful cases (like Circle and Chime) bolster venture funds' faith in the possibility of profitable exits and set benchmarks for valuations for other companies considering IPOs.
Crypto startups are experiencing a renaissance
The growth of the cryptocurrency market in 2025 has led to a revival of investor interest in blockchain startups and fintech projects related to digital assets. Bitcoin is nearing its historical high (around $120,000), which has instilled new optimism in the industry and marked the beginning of the long-awaited "crypto spring" after the prolonged "crypto winter" of the previous years. Rising prices of crypto assets and revived trading activity are stimulating capital inflows into crypto startups.
Prominent players in the industry are once again targeting the public market, signaling a rise in confidence in the crypto sector:
- Gemini—a leading cryptocurrency exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, has filed a confidential IPO application, hoping to raise capital for international expansion.
- BitGo—an American provider of digital asset custody services—is also planning a market debut, capitalizing on growing institutional investor demand for crypto infrastructure.
In the private sector, venture funding for blockchain projects is also reviving. Investors are once again willing to take risks in decentralized finance (DeFi), crypto exchanges, Web3 infrastructure, and NFT platforms, hoping for greater regulatory clarity and mass adoption of crypto technologies. Transaction volumes in this segment are still lower than the record levels of 2021, but a clear upward trend is emerging. Compared to the dismal years of 2022–2023, when many crypto companies closed or downsized, the industry is now demonstrating new successes. Experts predict a new growth cycle in the crypto industry that could yield new "unicorns" and significant IPOs in the next couple of years.
Defense technologies and robotics attract capital
The geopolitical environment and technological breakthroughs are stimulating a rise in investments in defense, aerospace, and robotics sectors. Startups creating products for national security, military needs, and automation have become a focal point of increased attention from venture funds and corporations. In the context of global turbulence, governments in leading countries are ramping up funding for defense developments and encouraging private capital involvement in the creation of new military technologies.
Modern "military-tech" startups are attracting large funding rounds and sometimes finding strategic buyers almost instantly. For example, manufacturers of drones, cybersecurity systems for the armed forces, satellite platforms, and companies developing AI for the military received record funding in 2025. In the U.S., specialized venture funds focused on dual-use technologies (for both civilian and military purposes) have emerged, while government programs to support defense startups have been launched in Europe. The largest deals of the year are directly related to this sphere: the corporation Palo Alto Networks announced the acquisition of the Israeli company CyberArk (a leader in identity protection) for $25 billion, seeking to enhance its cybersecurity solutions portfolio. Such activity suggests that defense and related technologies have become a new priority for investors, who see not only commercial benefits but also strategic significance.
The growing interest in the defense technology sector is also reflected in mergers, as large players eagerly absorb relevant startups to access unique technologies and talent. As a result, a new cluster of rapidly growing companies at the intersection of IT and defense is emerging in 2025, and venture capital is gradually opening up this previously niche area as a promising market for investment.
Diversification of venture capital's industry focus
Despite the dominance of AI in headlines, venture investors are actively exploring other avenues, diversifying their portfolios. In 2025, there is noticeable growth in funding across sectors such as fintech, climate technology, biotechnology, new materials, quantum computing, and more. The expansion in industry focus is driven by the search for the next growth point: funds strive to find future champions not only in AI but also in other sectors capable of breakthroughs.
In the fintech sector, significant deals and new unicorns are emerging beyond traditional markets. For example, the Mexican fintech startup Kapital raised $100 million in a Series C round, achieving a valuation of over $1 billion and becoming a "unicorn," highlighting the renewed interest in fintech in developing economies. In the climate technology sphere, private and corporate investors are forming coalitions to support "green" projects: a group of venture firms led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures announced the creation of a $300 million fund to invest in startups aimed at reducing emissions and combating climate change. Biotechnology is also gaining attention—innovative startups in drug development and genetic engineering are emerging with significant funding rounds. For instance, Treeline Biosciences in the U.S. secured approximately $200 million for oncology developments, while several pharmaceutical projects in Europe received investments from strategic partners.
Other high-tech sectors are experiencing a boom: quantum computing (the European startup IQM secured over $300 million in Series B funding), space technologies, and satellite services (new constellations of small satellites are being created with the support of venture capital), as well as "new energy" (batteries, hydrogen solutions) are attracting substantial funds. Numerous large funding rounds—from insuretech ($147 million for Singapore's Bolttech) to space startups ($300 million for California's Impulse Space) and biomedical projects ($80 million for Switzerland's Mosanna Therapeutics)—demonstrate the breadth of market revival. The venture market is clearly expanding beyond a narrow theme, encompassing a wide range of innovations.
Consolidation wave: M&A deals are gaining momentum
Alongside the investment upturn, M&A activity is surging. The year 2025 has seen a spike in major M&A deals, as mature tech companies seek to strengthen their positions through acquisitions of promising startups. Industry analytics indicate that in the first half of 2025, startup acquisitions exceeded $100 billion (up 155% year-over-year), with the number of deals increasing by 13%. Many venture teams that received generous funding during the bull market of 2020–2021 are now ready for exit, and with the IPO market just beginning to recover, sales to strategic investors have become the primary exit strategy.
The most notable deals of the year reveal how far tech giants and funds are willing to go for access to new technologies and talent:
- Google acquires Wiz – ~$32 billion. The largest deal of the year: Alphabet plans to acquire Israeli cloud security startup Wiz, marking one of the largest startup acquisitions in history.
- OpenAI acquires Io – ~$6.5 billion. The creator of ChatGPT bought the California-based AI hardware startup (co-founded by Jony Ive) to accelerate the development of new generative AI-based products.
- SoftBank acquires Ampere – ~$6.2 billion. The Japanese fund has acquired American processor developer Ampere Computing, betting on the growth of the chip ecosystem for cloud and AI computing.
- Palo Alto Networks acquires CyberArk – ~$25 billion. The largest M&A deal in the cybersecurity sector: the American giant strengthens its presence in the data protection and identity segment by acquiring the market leader from Israel.
Additionally, venture "unicorns" are increasingly becoming buyers themselves: for instance, cloud provider CoreWeave announced the acquisition of mining company Core Scientific for $9 billion to gain additional capacity for AI cloud services. OpenAI has also not limited itself to one deal: in addition to Io, it acquired developer platform Statsig for about $1.1 billion to expedite the implementation of new features in its products. Such a level of activity confirms that the tech industry is entering a consolidation phase, where major players compete for key assets.
For the venture market, heightened M&A activity has a dual positive impact. First, successful acquisitions provide investors with much-needed liquidity and capital returns, boosting confidence in venture investments. Second, high-profile exits through sales set valuation benchmarks for subsequent generations of startups and stimulate renewed capital inflow. Analysts note that in 2025, acquisitions have become the primary exit route, surpassing IPOs, but a healthy M&A market also paves the way for renewed public listings.
Global expansion: Venture boom worldwide
In 2025, the geography of venture capital is rapidly expanding. Beyond traditional hubs like Silicon Valley, New York, and London, the investment boom is reaching new regions. The Middle East has become one of the fastest-growing markets, with sovereign funds and private investors from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar pouring record amounts into local and foreign startups while developing full-fledged tech hubs of their own. The volume of investments in Middle Eastern projects in 2025 has doubled compared to last year.
Asia presents a mixed picture. The venture market in China remains under pressure from regulatory factors, but other parts of the region are thriving. India is breaking its own records for new unicorns, especially in the B2B services and fintech sectors. Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam) is attracting a wave of capital due to the growth of e-commerce and super apps. Israel continues to maintain its position as a leading startup hub with a focus on cybersecurity and semiconductors. At the same time, less conventional markets are rapidly growing: tech clusters are being established in Africa (Nairobi, Lagos, Cape Town) and Latin America (Mexico City, São Paulo). Promising projects can now emerge anywhere—from Dubai and Bangalore to Nairobi or Mexico City—global funds are increasingly seeking deals beyond familiar locations.
Europe is contributing to the global boom. After some decline in 2022–2023, the European venture market has revived, with many countries seeing growth in large funding rounds. Notably, Germany has topped the list of European investments for the first time in 10 years, surpassing the UK due to a series of large deals in the industrial and fintech sectors. France has also made headlines with the mega round for Mistral AI and the emergence of new unicorns. Even in traditionally less active countries, high-valued startups are appearing—from Scandinavia to Southern Europe. All of this indicates an equalizing of the global venture landscape: capital is becoming more mobile, and talented teams can attract investments regardless of geography, provided they have a compelling product.
Russia and the CIS: Adaptation and new opportunities
The Russian venture market, which has gone through several challenging years, is gradually emerging from its "venture winter" and adapting to new conditions. Despite international restrictions and capital outflows, a relative stabilization emerged in 2024, and by the end of 2025, market participants expect further revival. Domestic investors are launching new funds and initiatives aimed at supporting local projects, while many Russian founders are seeking success abroad, reorienting their businesses toward global markets. A balance is emerging between local ecosystem development and integration into the global startup market. Here are a few examples of current trends in the region:
- Kama Flow—an investment company that announced in spring 2025 the launch of a new venture fund worth 10 billion rubles, aimed at financing high-tech startups in late stages. This is one of the largest venture funds in recent years in the country, designed to fill the gap of "big money" in the local market.
- Plata—a fintech startup founded by former top managers of "Tinkoff," has reached a valuation of ~$3.3 billion in the international market. The company is developing a digital banking business in Latin America and has already obtained banking licenses in Mexico and Colombia. Plata is now preparing for a new funding round with a valuation more than double last year's figure. This case illustrates that teams from Russia can build globally competitive "unicorns" even under restrictions in the domestic market.
Overall, the venture ecosystem in the CIS countries is undergoing a phase of restructuring and search for new growth points. The focus is shifting to projects in IT, artificial intelligence, import substitution solutions, and B2B services for large businesses. Experts note that the local market is gradually adapting to new realities: the most resilient teams continue to receive funding, and new deals are being struck even at the seed stage. As the economy stabilizes and internal support institutions for innovation develop, venture investments in the region have a chance for steady growth. In the future, this may lead to closer integration of Russian and neighboring startup ecosystems into global trends, with local projects increasingly attracting the attention of international investors.
