Artificial intelligence companies raised $211 billion in funding in 2025, an 85 percent increase from $114 billion in 2024, according to the 2025 AI Funding Report released jointly by Crunchbase and HumanX on January 31. This amount equaled half of all global venture capital, with the San Francisco Bay Area capturing 60 percent of the total.
The $211 billion figure marked nearly a doubling of the previous year’s investment and a threefold rise from $65 billion in 2023. These numbers positioned artificial intelligence as the leading sector in startup funding worldwide. The report detailed how this surge reflected sustained investor interest in AI technologies across various applications.
The San Francisco Bay Area stood out as the primary hub, securing approximately 60 percent of global AI investment, which amounted to $126 billion. Within the region, 81 percent of all startup capital directed toward AI companies. The report designated the Bay Area as the global control center for the AI revolution due to this concentration of resources and activity.
In the Bay Area, 92 companies completed funding rounds exceeding $100 million each. Despite this, the region represented only 22 percent of the total global deal count in AI funding. This disparity illustrated a pattern where fewer companies received larger sums. Across the United States, AI firms obtained $166 billion, comprising 79 percent of the worldwide total.
Mega-deals valued at $100 million or more dominated the landscape, accounting for 77 percent of all AI funding. These deals totaled $163 billion and involved 233 companies. The proportion rose from 67 percent in 2024, indicating greater emphasis on substantial investments in select ventures.
Foundation-model companies, such as OpenAI and Anthropic, drew about 40 percent of total investment, or $87 billion. This segment saw a 180 percent increase year-over-year. OpenAI and Anthropic together attracted $58.5 billion. The foundation-model category focuses on developing core AI systems that underpin broader applications.
The remaining 59 percent of investment, amounting to roughly $124 billion, spread across other areas of the AI ecosystem. These included robotics for automation tasks, healthcare for diagnostic and treatment advancements, security for threat detection systems, semiconductors for AI hardware, and cloud infrastructure for scalable computing resources.
Crunchbase CEO Jager McConnell stated, “The AI winners of today are not necessarily the winners of tomorrow.” He added, “Investors are making more cautious bets, no longer throwing money at anything labelled AI.” These comments highlighted evolving investor strategies amid rapid sector growth.
Looking toward 2026, the report identified ongoing momentum. Among 138 private AI companies scheduled to present at the upcoming HumanX conference, 27 appeared as likely candidates for initial public offerings. Another 30 positioned as probable targets for acquisitions by larger entities.
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