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Venture Capital Surges to $120B in Q3: AI Dominates Global Investment Flows

  • Writer: Niv Nissenson
    Niv Nissenson
  • Oct 26, 2025
  • 2 min read

Global venture capital investment reached $120.7 billion across 7,579 deals in Q3 2025, according to KPMG Private Enterprise’s Q3’25 Venture Pulse Report marking the fourth consecutive quarter of global VC growth and reaffirming the central role of artificial intelligence (AI) in driving investor enthusiasm.


Although deal volume eased slightly, a reflection of seasonal slowdowns in the Americas and Europe investor sentiment improved steadily as optimism around IPOs and secondary exits returned to the market.


The AI Boom Powers the Quarter

AI continued to command the lion’s share of capital, led by a handful of record-setting mega-rounds. In the U.S., Anthropic’s $13 billion raise, xAI’s $10 billion round, and Geneysys’ $1.5 billion deal dominated global headlines. Across the Atlantic, France’s Mistral and the UK’s Nscale each secured $1.5 billion, underscoring Europe’s rising ambition in foundational AI platforms.

Other notable AI financings included:

  • Reflection AI (U.S.) – $1B

  • Cohere (Canada) – $600M

  • Sierra (U.S.) – $350M

  • MiniMax AI (China) – $300M

  • Lovable (Sweden) – $200M

  • Blue J (Canada) – $122M


These deals, spanning multiple continents and use cases, illustrate that AI remains the defining theme of global VC investmentת from core model development to applied vertical solutions in law, logistics, design, and beyond.


Regional Highlights

  • The Americas accounted for the majority of global VC investment, fueled by the continued dominance of late-stage AI deals.

  • Europe recorded modest but steady growth, anchored by billion-dollar AI fundings that reinforced investor confidence in European scale-ups.

  • Asia, meanwhile, saw a more cautious environment, with its top deals — including FAW Bestune ($462M) and Galactic Energy ($335M) — falling short of Western mega-rounds.

Even so, Asia’s investors remain active in AI infrastructure and data-center automation, with China-based GLP ($348M) and Runhui Technology Development ($256M) drawing attention.


The AI gold rush is still accelerating, but what’s changing is where and how capital is being deployed.

Investors are increasingly spreading bets across the full stack of AI not only foundational model companies but also the applied layer: startups turning AI into productivity, logistics, and finance tools.


At the same time, the scale of these mega-rounds signals something else: venture capital is concentrating, not broadening. A handful of AI companies are absorbing an outsized share of global liquidity, creating an uneven landscape that favors incumbents and well-connected founders.


Still, the underlying story remains clear AI is the gravity well of venture capital. Every quarter, more capital, talent, and ambition are being pulled into its orbit.


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