The Global Venture Market Recovers: Record Investments in AI, Rise in IPOs, and Increased Interest in Defense Technologies. Key Events and Trends in the Startup Industry as of October 27, 2025.
As of October 2025, the global venture capital market continues to grow confidently after several years of downturn. Investors worldwide are once again actively financing technology startups: record deals are being closed, IPO plans are becoming relevant again, and major players are returning to the market with substantial investments. Governments of various countries are intensifying their support for innovations, stimulating the influx of private capital into startup ecosystems and providing a new impetus for industry development. According to industry analysts, the total volume of venture investments worldwide increased by almost 40% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025, which clearly demonstrates a resurgence in risk appetite.
Venture activity is increasing across all regions. The US continues to lead (with the AI sector experiencing particularly rapid growth), the Middle East has nearly doubled its investment volume over the past year, and in Europe, significant shifts have occurred: Germany has surpassed the UK in venture funding for the first time in a decade. In Asia, despite regulatory uncertainties, activity in China remains subdued, while India, Southeast Asia, and the Gulf countries are attracting record flows of capital. The investment boom is reaching new horizons: technology hubs are being formed in Africa and Latin America (recently, the largest investment in the African market was made, amounting to around $100 million in electric mobility). The startup ecosystems of Russia and the CIS countries are also striving to keep pace, despite external constraints. There is a clear global venture upturn, although investors continue to act selectively and cautiously.
Below are the key events and trends in the venture market as of October 27, 2025:
- The Return of Mega-Funds and Large Investors. Leading venture funds are raising record capital and sharply increasing investments, filling the market with liquidity and reigniting the appetite for risk.
- Record Investment Rounds in AI and a New Wave of Unicorns. Massive investments in AI startups are driving company valuations to unprecedented heights, giving rise to a new generation of "unicorns."
- Revival of the IPO Market. Successful public offerings of technology companies and new listing applications signal that the long-awaited "window" for exits has reopened.
- Boom in Defense Technologies. The geopolitical situation is raising interest in defense and security startups, bringing them to the forefront of the venture agenda.
- Diversification of Industry Focus. Venture capital is being directed not only towards AI but also towards fintech, climate ("green") projects, biotechnology, and even crypto startups.
- A Wave of Consolidation: M&A Deals. Major mergers and acquisitions are reshaping the industry landscape, creating new opportunities for profitable exits and accelerated company growth.
- Local Focus: Russia and the CIS. New funds and programs are being launched in the region to develop local startup ecosystems, attracting investor attention despite external constraints.
- Cautious Optimism Among Investors. The market is experiencing a rise, but participants are approaching project evaluations thoughtfully and avoiding excessive risk.
The Return of Mega-Funds: Big Money is Back on the Market
The largest investment players are triumphantly returning to the venture scene, marking a new phase of increased risk appetite. The Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, for example, has made one of the largest bets of the year, investing tens of billions of dollars in a leading AI market player. Sovereign wealth funds from wealthy Gulf countries have also significantly ramped up their activity: they are pouring billions into tech projects and launching state megaprograms to support the startup sector, forming their own tech hubs in the Middle East. Meanwhile, new venture funds are being established worldwide, attracting substantial institutional capital for investments in high-tech sectors.
Notable Silicon Valley funds have accumulated a record pool of uninvested capital ("dry powder")—hundreds of billions of dollars are ready to be deployed as soon as market confidence returns. The influx of such "big money" enhances competition for the best deals while instilling confidence in the industry regarding capital availability. The return of mega-funds demonstrates that investors are once again willing to finance ambitious projects with large checks, renewing growth dynamics in the venture market.
Record Investments in AI and New Unicorns
The artificial intelligence sector remains the main driver of the current venture upturn, demonstrating unprecedented levels of funding. Investors are eager to secure positions among AI leaders, directing colossal sums into the most promising projects. In just the past few weeks, several mega-rounds have been announced: for instance, the American startup Crusoe, which is building data center infrastructure for AI models, raised approximately $1.38 billion at a valuation of about $10 billion. Significant rounds were also closed by foundational AI model developers: Anthropic (around $13 billion in investments) and xAI (~$5.3 billion). Such deals elevate company valuations to previously unseen heights and underscore the frenzy surrounding AI startups.
Not only applied AI products are being funded, but also infrastructural solutions—the market is willing to generously pay for even the "shovels and pickaxes" of the new "gold rush" in AI. As a result, the current investment boom is birthing a whole plethora of new "unicorns" (private companies valued at over $1 billion). While some experts warn of the risk of overheating individual projects, the appetite for venture capital toward AI startups remains extraordinarily high. Moreover, capital in the market is concentrating around the largest rounds: according to Crunchbase, in 2025, about 70% of all investments in American startups came from deals of $100 million or more, while globally, the share of such mega-rounds reached approximately 60%. Investors are increasingly betting on a select group of the most promising companies, preferring to invest large sums in leaders with breakthrough technologies and scalable business models.
The IPO Market is Reviving: A Wave of Public Offerings
The global market for initial public offerings is emerging from a prolonged lull and is gaining momentum once again. In Asia, Hong Kong is leading a new wave of technology IPOs: several large companies successfully launched on the local exchange over the past few months, collectively raising billions in investments. The situation is also improving in the US and Europe: several high-valued startups have successfully debuted on the stock market, generating strong investor interest and a confident price increase in the first days of trading. Below are the largest venture IPOs of the third quarter of 2025:
- Chery Automobile — a Chinese automaker, whose valuation at IPO became one of the year’s highest.
- Figma — an American design platform that listed shares with a valuation of around $15–20 billion.
- Klarna — a Swedish fintech unicorn ("buy now, pay later" service) that successfully went public.
- Netskope — an American cybersecurity company that concluded its listing with a multi-billion valuation.
Even the crypto industry is trying to take advantage of the improving market conditions. The fintech company Circle successfully completed its IPO last summer (its market capitalization increased significantly after going public), while the cryptocurrency exchange Bullish has applied for a listing in the US with a target valuation of around $4 billion. The revival of activity in the IPO market is extremely important for the venture ecosystem: successful public exits allow funds to secure profits, return capital to investors, and direct the freed-up resources to support new projects.
Defense Technology Boom: A New Priority for Investors
Amid geopolitical tensions, the niche for defense and military technology startups is flourishing. Venture investors are actively financing projects related to defense and security, and investment volumes in this sector have significantly increased in 2025, nearing record levels of previous years. In Europe alone, analysts estimate that investments in defense and security startups will exceed $8 billion this year (compared to ~$5.4 billion in 2024). Startups developing defense technologies are coming to the forefront as a new growth point for the industry.
New "upstart" players are emerging, challenging traditional defense giants. A prominent example is the American startup Anduril, which is valued at around $30 billion. Major venture funds are also directing substantial resources towards national security projects, confirming the emergence of a new priority for the industry. Despite ongoing barriers, investment in defense technologies is increasingly perceived as a promising and socially significant direction, supported by both private and public capital.
Diversification of Investments: Not Just AI
Despite the dominance of the artificial intelligence agenda, venture investments are covering an increasingly broad range of industries and are no longer limited to AI alone. Following last year's downturn, fintech is once again gaining momentum: large rounds are occurring not only in the US but also in Europe and emerging markets, stimulating the growth of new digital financial services. Simultaneously, interest in climate and "green" technologies has surged: projects in renewable energy, sustainable solutions, and agri-tech are attracting record investments on the global sustainability trend. Analysts estimate that during the first nine months of 2025, global climate startups attracted over $56 billion in investments—more than for the entire year of 2024.
Investor appetite is returning for biotechnology as well, particularly in pharmaceuticals and digital health: the emergence of promising developments and platforms is once again attracting capital, as the industry gradually emerges from a period of declining valuations. Additionally, in light of the heightened focus on security, investors have started to return to the defense technology segment, and partial recovery in trust towards the cryptocurrency market has allowed some blockchain projects to secure financing again. Thus, the expansion of industry focus makes the entire startup ecosystem more resilient and reduces the risk of overheating in individual segments. Investors are willing to support not only AI projects but also fintech innovators, "green" startups, biotech, and other promising directions.
Market Consolidation and M&A Deals
High valuations of startups and fierce competition are stimulating a wave of consolidation in the industry. Major mergers and acquisitions are once again taking center stage, redistributing roles in the market. Technology giants are closely watching leaders among startups, eager to acquire key technologies and teams.
In recent months, several high-profile acquisitions have captured industry attention. For example, Google has agreed to acquire the Israeli cybersecurity startup Wiz for approximately $32 billion—a record amount for the Israeli market. There is also a noticeable increase in strategic purchases: in the first half of 2025, the total volume of startup acquisitions surpassed $100 billion (155% higher than the previous year), as large companies are willing to write substantial checks for promising assets, especially in AI and enterprise technologies. Consolidation is also occurring within the venture sector itself: for instance, investment bank Goldman Sachs announced the acquisition of venture firm Industry Ventures for nearly $1 billion, highlighting the growing interconnectedness between traditional finance and the world of startups.
Overall, the activation of M&A deals signifies the maturation of the ecosystem. Mature startups are either merging with each other or becoming acquisition targets for corporations, providing venture investors with long-awaited profitable exits and accelerating the scaling of innovations.
Russia and the CIS: New Funds and Initiatives
Despite external constraints, startup activity and systematic efforts to develop the local ecosystem are reviving in Russia and neighboring countries. In 2025, several new venture funds were announced:
- Nova Capital — a fund with a volume of 10 billion rubles for investing in early-stage IT startups.
- Kama Flow — a new fund of comparable size aimed at supporting later-stage projects.
- Corporate Funds — a number of large corporations and banks are also forming their own venture divisions focused on domestic technology projects.
In addition to financing, accelerators, educational programs, and other initiatives aimed at supporting entrepreneurs are being launched in the region. Local startups are beginning to attract attention not only from Russian investors but also from foreign partners from friendly countries, as direct foreign investments into local projects have once again been permitted in Russia. Although the volumes of the venture market in Russia and the CIS are still inferior to global leaders, the region is striving to keep pace with global trends. Investors here are acting selectively and focusing on niches where local teams have competitive advantages.
Cautious Optimism and New Prospects
As we approach 2026, the startup and venture investment industry confidently enters a phase of revival. The global influx of capital, the wave of new unicorns, successful IPOs, and strategic deals all indicate a restoration of trust in the market. At the same time, ecosystem participants are maintaining a degree of prudence: investors are taking a more measured approach to project evaluations, favoring startups with sustainable business models and realistic growth plans, and striving to avoid excessive risk.
This balanced approach inspires cautious optimism. The venture market is returning to growth on a more sustainable basis, without overheating individual segments. This opens up new opportunities for investors and founders worldwide—the market is evolving qualitatively, creating a solid foundation for further expansion of the startup scene.
