Latest Startup and Venture Capital News for Thursday, 20 November 2025: The Return of Mega Funds, Giant AI Rounds, Revival of IPOs, M&A Wave, Renewed Interest in Crypto Startups and New Unicorns. A Detailed Overview for Venture Investors and Funds.
By the end of November 2025, the global venture market is showing a strong recovery after the downturn of recent years. According to industry analysis, total venture capital investments reached approximately $97 billion in the third quarter of 2025, which is almost 38% higher than the previous year and marks the best quarterly performance since 2021. The prolonged period of "venture winter" from 2022 to 2023 is now behind us, with private capital flowing into tech startups significantly accelerating. The biggest funding rounds and the launch of new mega funds signal a return of risk appetite among investors, although their investments remain selective and cautious.
Venture activity is on the rise across virtually all regions of the world. The United States maintains its leadership (particularly in the rapidly developing AI segment), while investment volumes in the Middle East nearly doubled over the year. In Europe, for the first time in a decade, Germany has surpassed the UK in total venture capital. In Asia, rapid growth in India and Southeast Asia compensates for the relative decline in China. Tech hubs are also emerging in Africa and Latin America. The startup ecosystems in Russia and the CIS countries are striving to keep up despite external constraints. Overall, the global market is gaining strength, although investors still prefer the most promising and resilient projects.
- The Return of Mega Funds and Large Capital. Leading venture players are forming record funds and once again injecting significant capital into the market, fueling risk appetite.
- Record Rounds in AI and a New Generation of Unicorns. Mega funding rounds in the artificial intelligence sector are driving up company valuations and spawning a wave of new "unicorns" – startups worth over $1 billion.
- The Revival of the IPO Market. Successful public offerings of tech companies and new listing applications confirm that the long-awaited "window" for exits has reopened.
- Diversification of Sector Focus. Venture capital is flowing not only into AI, but also into fintech, climate projects, biotechnology, aerospace and defence 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 growth for companies.
- Renewed Interest in Crypto Startups. After a prolonged "crypto winter", blockchain projects are once again attracting substantial funding and attention from venture funds and corporations.
- Local Focus. New funds and programmes are being launched in Russia and neighbouring countries to support local startups, gradually attracting investor interest despite geopolitical constraints.
The Return of Mega Funds: Large Money Back in the Market
The largest investment funds and institutional players are back on the venture scene, signalling a new phase of risk appetite. After a downturn in VC fundraising from 2022 to 2024, leading firms are resuming capital raising and launching mega funds, demonstrating confidence in market prospects. For instance, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is forming its third Vision Fund with a volume of around $40 billion, focusing on advanced technologies (including artificial intelligence and robotics). In the US, Andreessen Horowitz is raising a record-sized venture fund – approximately $20 billion – with a focus on investments in late-stage AI startups. Sovereign funds from Gulf countries are also becoming active, pouring billions into high-tech projects and developing their own tech hubs.
At the same time, dozens of new venture funds are emerging in many regions, attracting significant institutional capital for investments in technology companies. The return of such large "mega structures" means that startups have more opportunities to secure funding for growth, while competition among investors for the best deals is significantly intensifying.
Record Investments in AI: A New Wave of Unicorns
The artificial intelligence sector has emerged as the primary driver of the current venture surge, demonstrating record funding volumes. It is estimated that approximately half of all venture capital raised in 2025 will go to AI companies. Global investments in artificial intelligence this year could exceed $200 billion – an unprecedented level for the sector. This excitement is fueled by the fact that AI technologies promise to dramatically increase efficiency across various sectors – from industrial automation and transportation to personal digital assistants – opening up multi-trillion-dollar new markets. Despite concerns about market overheating, funds continue to increase their investments, fearing to miss out on 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 that have the potential to become defining players in the new AI era. For instance, California-based startup OpenAI has raised approximately $13 billion in total funding, French company Mistral AI secured around $2 billion, and Jeff Bezos's new project, Project Prometheus, launched with capital of $6.2 billion. These mega rounds sharply increase valuations, creating a new cohort of “super-unicorns”. While such deals inflate costs and fuel discussions of a bubble, they also focus vast resources on the most promising directions, laying the groundwork for future breakthroughs. In recent weeks, dozens of companies around the world have announced large funding rounds – including, for example, British platform Synthesia (which attracted $200 million at a valuation of approximately $4 billion to develop AI-based video generation technology) and American cybersecurity developer Armis (which received $435 million in a pre-IPO round at a valuation of $6.1 billion).
The Revival of the IPO Market: The Window for Exits Has Reopened
Amid rising valuations and inflows of capital, tech companies are again actively preparing to go public. After nearly two years of stagnation, there has been a surge in IPOs as a key exit mechanism for venture investors. A number of successful initial public offerings in 2025 have confirmed the reopening of the "window of opportunity" for exits. For instance, in the US, the number of IPOs has already exceeded 300 since the beginning of the year, which is tens of percentage points higher than in 2024, and the shares of several debutants have shown strong growth. Positive signals are also emerging in developing markets: Indian edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah went public in November with an impressive share price increase of more than 30% on its first trading day, indicating encouraging trends for the entire edtech sector.
The success of recent listings restores investors' confidence that the market can absorb new tech issuers. Following the early "canaries in the coal mine", several major private companies have announced IPO plans, eager to capitalise on the favourable conditions. Even giants like OpenAI are considering a public offering in 2026 with a potential valuation in the hundreds of billions of dollars – should this occur, it would represent an unprecedented event for the venture sector. Overall, the revival of the IPO market expands prospects for exits, facilitating capital return for venture funds and stimulating a new cycle of investments in startups.
Diversification of Sectors: The Investment Horizon Expands
In 2025, venture investments are covering a much broader range of directions and are no longer confined to artificial intelligence alone. After last year's downturn, the fintech sector has noticeably rebounded: new fintech startups are attracting large rounds, particularly in payment systems and decentralised finance. Active growth is also observed in climate and "green" technologies amid the global demand for sustainability – investors are funding projects from renewable energy to carbon capture technologies.
Moreover, interest in biotechnology and medical technology is rekindling: major funds, particularly in Europe, are forming specialised funds to support pharmaceutical and medical startups. Space technologies and defence projects are garnering increased attention – geopolitical factors and breakthroughs in private space exploration are stimulating investments in satellite systems, rocket construction, unmanned systems, and defence AI solutions. Thus, the focus of venture capital investment has significantly broadened, enhancing market resilience – even if the hype around AI slightly wanes, other sectors are poised to take up the mantle of innovation.
A Wave of Consolidation and M&A: The Industry is Restructuring
High valuations for startups and intensifying competition are driving companies to seek synergy through mergers and acquisitions. In 2025, a new wave of consolidation has emerged: major tech corporations are once again actively pursuing acquisitions while 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-awaited exits.
In recent months, several notable M&A deals have attracted the attention of the venture community. For instance, American IT giant Cisco announced its acquisition of an AI translation startup, integrating new technologies into its products. Other corporations are not lagging behind either: strategic investors from the financial and industrial sectors are acquiring promising fintech and IoT companies, looking to gain access to their developments and customer bases. Concurrently, some unicorns prefer to merge with each other or sell to larger players, pooling resources to overcome rising costs and accelerate scaling. For venture funds, this wave of consolidation opens new exit pathways – successful M&A often yields tangible profits and validates the viability of invested business models.
Renewed Interest in Crypto Startups: The Market Awakens 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 capital investments in crypto startups have noticeably increased: it is estimated 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, decentralised finance (DeFi), and Web3 blockchain platforms and applications.
Large funds from Silicon Valley and even conservative players are returning to this segment. In recent weeks, several startups in the crypto and DeFi space have attracted funding rounds from renowned investors. For example, the venture arm of brokerage firm Robinhood and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund participated in funding a promising blockchain platform. By the end of the year, the volume of venture investments in cryptocurrency projects could approach a record $25 billion. This indicates a sort of renaissance for the sector: after the market was cleansed of speculation, the focus has shifted to real use cases for blockchain, attracting "smart money". As a result, several crypto startups are again vying for unicorn status, while some exchange and infrastructure projects have already achieved billion-dollar valuations.
Local Focus: Russia and CIS Countries
Despite global restrictions, active steps are being taken to develop local startup ecosystems in Russia and neighbouring countries. Government and private institutions are launching new funds and initiatives aimed at supporting early-stage technology projects. In particular, the authorities in St. Petersburg discussed the creation of a city venture fund in November to finance promising high-tech companies, similar to the initiative in the Republic of Tatarstan with its 15 billion rubles fund. Furthermore, large corporations and banks in the region are increasingly stepping in as investors and mentors for startups, developing corporate accelerators and venture arms.
In addition to government efforts, the entrepreneur community is becoming increasingly active. International tech forums and summits (such as the recent Moscow AI Journey 2025) are drawing attention to local innovations and establishing bridges between Russian developers and global investors. All of this takes place against the backdrop of a desire for technological sovereignty – local startups are adapting to new conditions and searching for niches where they can compete at a global level. Gradually, investor interest in the region is returning: the first cases of successful funding rounds and exits are emerging even amid the current challenging conditions. Thus, the local market strives to keep pace with global trends, laying the groundwork for future growth and integration into the global startup ecosystem.
