Venture capital funding in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector started strong in 2025, carrying forward impressive momentum from 2024, according to a recent survey.
During the first three months of the year, AI companies and startups raised tens of billions of dollars in funding rounds, proving investor confidence in the sector remains strong.
Data presented by Stocklytics.com showed that AI startups secured $22.3 bln in Q1, the second-highest quarterly total on record.
Despite high interest rates, economic slowdown, stricter regulations on big tech and AI, Trump’s tariff policies, and global trade wars, AI continues to outperform nearly every other area of the tech sector, both in market forecast and VC investments, according to the Stocklytics report.
Huge investments in key companies like Elon Musk’s xAI, which is in talks to raise $10 bln, and Figure AI, negotiating $1.5 bln, alongside new AI applications like Meta’s AI-powered humanoid division, have sparked an even bigger investor interest.
Shifting focus
At the same time, investors have shifted focus to practical AI solutions, pressuring startups to accelerate AI development. This perfect storm of events has resulted in one of the strongest first quarters this market has ever seen.
According to Crunchbase data, AI companies raised $22.3 bln in Q1, nearly double the money raised in the first three months of last year. Moreover, this is the second-highest quarterly figure on record, trailing only the $35.7 bln raised in Q4 last year.
To put this figure into perspective, it took only 90 days in 2025 for AI startups to raise 70% of the value VC investors poured into this market throughout 2022 and 2023. With this pace of investment, 2025 is on track to outperform a record set in 2024, the best year for AI startup funding so far.
During the twelve months, VC investors poured nearly $90 bln into the market, a record that could be broken as early as this year.
Funding surpasses IT, fintech
AI startups’ funding is also quite impressive when compared to other sectors that also attract significant VC investments.
In Q1, AI startups raised nearly three times more money than fintech startups ($8.5 bln), 30% more than IT startups ($17 bln), and $6 bln less than the biotech sector ($28.8 bln).
With $22.3 bln of fresh capital injected into the AI startup market in Q1 and another $2.5 bln in the three weeks of Q2, the total amount raised by these companies has surged to over $300 bln. Nearly 80% of that value, or $238 bln, was raised in the past four years.
Statistics show U.S. startups lead in total funding, with $205 bln raised to date. Asian AI startups raised only a quarter of that value, $52.1 bln, while European companies follow with $35.1 bln.
