Fresh Startup and Venture Capital News for Thursday, November 20, 2025: The Return of Mega Funds, Giant AI Rounds, IPO Revival, M&A Wave, Renewed Interest in Crypto Startups, and New Unicorns. A Detailed Review for Venture Investors and Funds.
By the end of November 2025, the global venture market is demonstrating a confident recovery after the downturn of recent years. According to industry analysis, the total volume of venture investments reached approximately $97 billion in the third quarter of 2025 – nearly 38% more than a year earlier and the best quarterly performance since 2021. The prolonged period of "venture winter" from 2022 to 2023 is behind us, and the influx of private capital into tech startups is significantly accelerating. Major funding rounds and the launch of new mega funds signal a return of risk appetite among investors, although investments remain selective and cautious.
Venture activity is on the rise across practically all regions of the world. The U.S. continues to lead (especially in the rapidly evolving AI segment), investment volumes in the Middle East have nearly doubled over the year, and for the first time in a decade, Germany has surpassed the UK in total venture capital. In Asia, the surge in India and Southeast Asia compensates for the relative decline in China. Technology hubs are also emerging in Africa and Latin America. The startup ecosystems in Russia and the CIS countries are making efforts to keep pace despite external constraints. Overall, the global market is gaining strength, although investors continue to favor the most promising and resilient projects.
- The Return of Mega Funds and Big Capital. Leading venture players are forming record funds and once again pouring significant amounts of money into the market, fueling risk appetite.
- Record Rounds in AI and a New Generation of Unicorns. Mega funding rounds in artificial intelligence are inflating company valuations and spawning a wave of new "unicorns" – startups valued over $1 billion.
- Revival of the IPO Market. Successful public offerings by tech companies and new listing applications confirm that the long-awaited "window" for exits is open again.
- Diversification of Industry Focus. Venture capital is flowing not just into AI, but also into fintech, climate projects, biotech, space, and defense developments – the investment horizon is expanding.
- A Wave of Consolidation and M&A. Major mergers and acquisitions are reshaping the industry landscape, creating new opportunities for profitable exits and accelerated company growth.
- Renewed Interest in Crypto Startups. After a prolonged "crypto winter," blockchain projects are once again attracting significant funding and attention from venture funds and corporations.
- Local Focus. New funds and programs are being launched in Russia and neighboring countries to support local startups, gradually attracting investor interest despite geopolitical restrictions.
The Return of Mega Funds: Big Money is Back in the Market
The largest investment funds and institutional players are once again entering the venture arena, signaling a new cycle of risk-taking. After a downturn in VC fundraising during 2022–2024, leading firms are renewing capital-raising efforts and launching mega funds, demonstrating confidence in market prospects. For instance, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is forming its third Vision Fund with approximately $40 billion aimed at advanced technologies (including AI and robotics). In the U.S., the company Andreessen Horowitz is raising a record-sized venture fund of about $20 billion, focusing on investments in late-stage AI startups. Sovereign funds from the Gulf states are also becoming more active, pouring billions into high-tech projects and developing their own tech hubs.
Simultaneously, dozens of new venture funds are emerging across many regions, attracting significant institutional capital for investments in tech companies. The return of such large-scale "mega structures" means that startups have more opportunities to secure funding for growth, and competition among investors for the best deals is noticeably increasing.
Record Investments in AI: A New Wave of Unicorns
The artificial intelligence sector has become the main driver of the current venture boom, showcasing record funding volumes. Estimates suggest that around half of all venture capital raised in 2025 will be directed towards AI companies. Global investments in artificial intelligence this year may exceed $200 billion – an unprecedented level for the industry. This excitement is fueled by the promise of AI technologies to dramatically enhance efficiency across numerous fields – from industrial automation and transportation to personal digital assistants – opening up multi-trillion-dollar new markets. Despite concerns of market overheating, funds continue to ramp up investments, fearing they might miss the next technological revolution.
The unprecedented influx of capital is accompanied by its concentration among leaders. The lion's share of funds is directed towards a handful of companies poised to become defining players in the new AI era. For example, the California startup OpenAI has raised around $13 billion in funding, French Mistral AI secured about $2 billion, and Jeff Bezos's new venture Project Prometheus is launching with an initial capital of $6.2 billion. Such mega rounds dramatically increase the valuations of these companies, leading to a new cohort of "super-unicorns." While these deals inflate valuations and fuel discussions of a bubble, they also channel vast resources into the most promising directions, laying the groundwork for future breakthroughs. Over the past weeks, dozens of companies worldwide have announced significant funding rounds, including the UK platform Synthesia (which raised $200 million at a valuation of around $4 billion to develop AI-based video generation technology) and the American cybersecurity developer Armis (which secured $435 million in a pre-IPO round at a valuation of $6.1 billion).
Revival of the IPO Market: A Window for Exits is Open Again
Amid rising valuations and capital inflows, tech companies are once again actively preparing for public market entry. After nearly two years of dormancy, there has been a surge in IPOs as a key mechanism for venture investors' exits. A number of successful initial offerings in 2025 have confirmed the opening of an "opportunity window" for exits. In the U.S., the number of IPOs since the beginning of the year has already exceeded 300, which is tens of percent higher than in 2024, and shares of several debutantes have shown steady growth. In emerging markets, positive signals are also emerging: the Indian educational unicorn PhysicsWallah exited the stock market in November with an impressive first day trading gain of over 30%, which is an encouraging indicator for the entire edtech sector.
The success of recent listings is restoring investors' confidence that the market can absorb new tech issuers. Following the first "sparrows," several large private companies have announced IPO plans, eager to take advantage of the favorable market conditions. Even giants like OpenAI are considering a public offering in 2026 with a potential valuation in the hundreds of billions of dollars – if this occurs, it would be an unprecedented event for the venture sector. Overall, the IPO market revival is expanding horizons for exits, facilitating venture funds' capital recovery, and stimulating a new cycle of investments in startups.
Diversification of Industries: Investment Horizons are Expanding
In 2025, venture investments are covering a much broader range of areas and are no longer limited to just artificial intelligence. Following last year's downturn, the fintech sector has shown significant revitalization: new fintech startups are attracting large funding rounds, especially in payment systems and decentralized finance. There is also active growth in climate and "green" technologies against the backdrop of global demand for sustainable development – investors are pouring money into projects ranging from renewable energy to carbon capture technologies.
Furthermore, interest in biotechnology and medtech is returning: major funds, especially in Europe, are forming specialized funds to support pharmaceutical and medical startups. Space technologies and defense projects are also receiving increased attention – geopolitical factors and breakthroughs in private spaceflight are stimulating investments in satellite constellations, rocket construction, unmanned systems, and defense AI solutions. Thus, the focus of venture capital has significantly broadened, increasing the market's resilience – even if the hype surrounding AI diminishes somewhat, other industries are ready to take up the baton of innovation.
A Wave of Consolidation and M&A: The Industry is Restructuring
Rising startup valuations and intensifying competition are prompting companies to seek synergy through mergers and acquisitions. In 2025, a new wave of consolidation has emerged: large tech corporations are once again actively pursuing acquisitions, and mature startups are merging to strengthen their market positions. Such deals are reshaping the industry landscape, allowing for the formation of more sustainable business models and providing investors with the long-sought exits.
In recent months, several notable M&A deals have captured the attention of the venture community. For instance, the American IT giant Cisco announced its acquisition of a startup in AI translation, integrating new technologies into its products. Other corporations are also keeping pace: strategic investors from finance and industry are acquiring promising fintech and IoT companies to gain access to their developments and client bases. Simultaneously, some unicorns prefer to merge with each other or sell to major players to jointly overcome rising costs and accelerate scaling. For venture funds, this wave of consolidation opens new exit pathways – successful M&A often yields significant profits and confirms the viability of invested business models.
Renewed Interest in Crypto Startups: The Market Comes Alive After the "Crypto Winter"
After a prolonged decline in interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects – the so-called "crypto winter" – the situation began to change in 2025. Venture investments in crypto startups have seen a substantial increase: estimates indicate that the total funding volume for blockchain projects this year has exceeded $20 billion, more than double that of 2024. Investors are once again showing interest in infrastructure solutions for the crypto market, decentralized finance (DeFi), blockchain platforms, and Web3 applications.
Large Silicon Valley funds and even conservative players are returning to this segment. In recent weeks, several crypto and DeFi startups have raised funding rounds from notable investors. For example, the venture arm of brokerage Robinhood and the Founders Fund of Peter Thiel participated in the funding of promising blockchain platforms. By the end of the year, the total venture investment in cryptocurrency projects could approach a record $25 billion. This indicates that the industry is experiencing a kind of renaissance: after the market has been cleared of speculations, the focus has shifted to real use cases for blockchain, attracting "smart money." As a result, a number of crypto startups are again vying for unicorn status, while some exchange and infrastructure projects have already achieved billion-dollar valuations.
Local Focus: Russia and the CIS Countries
Despite global restrictions, active steps are being taken in Russia and neighboring countries to develop local startup ecosystems. Government and private institutions are launching new funds and initiatives aimed at supporting early-stage technology projects. In particular, authorities in St. Petersburg discussed the creation of a city venture fund in November to finance promising high-tech companies, similar to the approach taken in the Republic of Tatarstan with a fund worth 15 billion rubles. Additionally, large corporations and banks in the region are increasingly acting as investors and mentors for startups, developing corporate accelerators and venture divisions.
Alongside government efforts, the entrepreneurial community is noticeably reviving. International tech forums and summits are being held (such as the recent Moscow AI Journey 2025), attracting attention to local innovations and building bridges between Russian developers and global investors. All of this is happening against the backdrop of a desire for technological sovereignty – local startups are adapting to new conditions and seeking niches where they can compete at a global level. Investor interest in the region is gradually returning: the first cases of successful funding rounds and exits are emerging even in the current challenging conditions. Thus, the local market is striving not to fall behind global trends, laying the groundwork for future growth and integration into the global startup ecosystem.
