Startup and Venture Investment News 7 November 2025 — Mega Funds, Record AI Rounds and New Unicorns
The global venture sector is witnessing a strong revival. Large deals and the launch of new mega funds indicate a return of risk appetite among investors. Startups in the artificial intelligence sector remain the focus, but significant capital is also being attracted by projects in other industries ranging from healthcare to automotive technologies. Let us examine the key news and trends in the venture market as of Friday, 7 November 2025.
Global Venture Capital Market: Recovery of Investments
Following a downturn in recent years, the venture market is showing signs of recovery. By the end of the third quarter of 2025, the total volume of global investments in startups increased by approximately 38% year-on-year, reaching around $97 billion — figures not seen since 2022. Below are key metrics reflecting this trend:
- Growth of Large Rounds: Mega rounds over $500 million have once again become a significant part of the market, accounting for about a third of all investments in Q3.
- Capital Concentration: Nearly half of all venture investments (≈46% in Q3) were made in companies related to artificial intelligence.
- Activity in Late-Stage Investments: Investments in late-stage startups grew by more than 60% year-on-year, whereas early-stage investments saw a growth of around 10%.
Thus, over the past year, venture capital has confidently returned to the market. Major investments are concentrated in the most promising areas, although funding for early-stage projects is also gradually increasing. Investors are demonstrating a willingness to invest substantial amounts once again, particularly in industry leaders.
AI Investment Boom
The artificial intelligence sector continues to attract record funding. Startups working with AI are securing rounds of unprecedented scale. In the third quarter alone, three of the largest global deals involved AI companies — American Anthropic raised approximately $13 billion, Elon Musk’s xAI secured $5.3 billion, and French startup Mistral AI attracted around $2 billion. Investors are eager to secure positions in the AI race, directing capital towards both model developers and applied AI services.
A recent round highlighting the excitement surrounding AI was that of the startup Hippocratic AI, which combines medical technology and generative AI. This week, the company raised $126 million at a valuation of $3.5 billion. The round, led by Avenir Growth with participation from CapitalG (Google), General Catalyst, a16z, and Kleiner Perkins, nearly doubled Hippocratic AI's valuation since the start of the year. This confirms a trend: investors are ready to value AI-oriented companies in the billions for their rapid growth and potential to revolutionise industries.
Moreover, the frenzy encompasses not only neural network developers but also infrastructural projects in the AI sphere. For instance, startup Vast Data, which creates data storage systems for AI computations, has entered into a strategic agreement with cloud provider CoreWeave worth approximately $1.17 billion. This long-term contract will provide Vast with stable revenue and underline the growing demand for infrastructure to support generative AI. Thanks to such deals, companies "under the hood" of the AI sector are also receiving significant momentum for scaling. Overall, the investment boom in the artificial intelligence sector continues across the stack — from applied services and models to chips and cloud platforms.
Healthcare and New Unicorns
Beyond the digital sector, significant capital is flowing into biomedicine and healthcare — industries that became the third largest by venture investment volume in the last quarter (~$15.8 billion). This week saw several major deals confirming the attractiveness of medtech to investors. American medical startup Forward Health, specialising in preventive primary care, raised $225 million in a Series D round from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Founders Fund. This investment raised Forward's valuation beyond $1 billion, making it one of the new "unicorns" in the market. The project, offering clients personalised health programmes based on biometric screening and tests, gained popularity due to the trend towards preventive medicine following the pandemic. Capital from SoftBank and other investors will enable Forward to expand its clinics across the US and launch new service lines (cardio programmes, cancer screenings, stress management, etc.).
Overall, investors continue to actively support healthcare technologies, particularly at the intersection with AI. In addition to Forward, several other medtech startups have secured substantial funding from venture capital this year. This interest can be explained by the sustained demand for remote and personalised medical services that emerged in the post-pandemic period. The success of companies like Forward and Hippocratic AI confirms that innovations in the health sector remain a priority for venture funds, and new unicorns in this area are attracting attention from the global investment community.
Diversity of Deals: Automotive Tech, Robotics and Fintech
Beyond AI and biomedicine, venture investments are also covering a wide range of industries. The week featured major deals across various sectors:
- Automotive Technology and Mobility: European startup Spotawheel, offering a subscription model for used cars, raised €300 million (a mix of equity and debt capital) for expansion into new markets. This Greek project aims to scale its subscription-based approach to car sales and rentals, and the fresh investment will drive growth in the transport market.
- B2B Services (SaaS): News came from Silicon Valley about the launch of startup Reevo, which seeks to combine disparate sales and marketing tools into a single AI-based platform. As it exits "Stealth mode", Reevo secured unprecedented seed funding of $80 million, with co-investors including major funds Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. The scale of this initial round signals high investor confidence in the prospects of a new revenue management model for B2B companies.
- Robotics: The hardware segment is also witnessing record rounds. Californian startup Figure, developing humanoid robots for work and household tasks, raised over $1 billion in investments this year, reaching a valuation of around $39 billion. Such capital will allow Figure to scale its robotics production and move closer to commercial deployment of humanoid robots, demonstrating that venture funds are interested in deep technological innovations as well.
Additionally, activity remains strong in other niches. Fintech companies collectively received around $12 billion in global investments in Q3 2025 (4th among sectors) — despite the decline in hype, the fintech sector continues to attract significant capital, particularly for resilient business models in payments and finance. Climate-oriented businesses are also gaining momentum: startups in renewable energy, energy storage, and sustainable technologies continue to receive funding amid heightened attention to ESG issues. Thus, in addition to the dominance of AI, venture capital is being distributed across various industries — from transport services to industrial innovations — indicating a diversity of growth points in the startup scene.
Major Venture Funds Expanding Capacities
The capital influx into startups is supported not only by individual deals but also by the emergence of new venture funds of record size. This week it was announced that Silicon Valley fund TCV has raised $4 billion for its latest (11th) fund — the largest in the company's 25-year history. This indicates that leading players in the venture market are amassing "dry powder" for investments in the coming years. TCV plans to actively invest these funds in promising segments — from fintech and edtech to digital entertainment — doubling down on its most successful areas of its portfolio.
Growth is also being observed among specialised funds. For example, the American firm CMT Digital recently closed a crypto-oriented fund of $136 million for investments in blockchain startups — a signal that even amid the volatility of the cryptocurrency market, niche venture players are willing to support this sphere. Simultaneously, in Africa, one of the continent's most active investors, the Ventures Platform fund from Nigeria, is entering the final round of raising $75 million for its second fund — confirming the global nature of the venture expansion. Such examples show that capital is being formed worldwide, aimed at a new wave of startups. Large new funds — from global mega funds to regional and sectoral ones — will provide the startup ecosystem with significant resources and competition among investors for the best deals.
Corporations as Investors: Alliances and Strategic Deals
Another notable trend is the growing role of large technology corporations in the venture ecosystem. Instead of direct acquisitions, industry giants are increasingly engaging in partnerships with startups or acting as minority investors to avoid missing out on new technologies. A notable case is Snap Inc. (owner of Snapchat), which struck a $400 million deal with AI startup Perplexity AI. Under the agreement, Snapchat will integrate Perplexity’s AI-driven search engine into its chatbot My AI, while the startup will, in turn, pay Snap a combined cash and stock compensation. For Perplexity, this alliance opens access to Snapchat's multi-million audience, while for Snap, it strengthens its position in the social media race for AI functionality. The market reacted positively: Snap’s shares surged on the news, reflecting investor confidence in such strategic moves.
Overall, corporations are actively investing in cutting-edge startups, especially in the AI sector. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and other tech giants have invested billions of dollars in young companies over the past two years. For instance, Microsoft's stake in OpenAI is now valued significantly higher than its initial investments and is strategically important for its cloud business. Amazon committed to investing up to $8 billion in AI model developer Anthropic in 2023-24, while Google has supported various projects, from vertical AI solutions to quantum startups. Additionally, the industrial corporate sector is ramping up venture activity: analysts report that the number of deals involving corporate venture units has significantly increased this autumn. Corporations are particularly interested in robotics, drones, autonomous transport, and other areas capable of strengthening their core business. This synergy between large companies and startups benefits both sides: corporations gain early access to innovations, while startups benefit from scale and market entry.
Exits and IPO Prospects
After a lull in 2022-2024, the exit market is also beginning to revive, which is crucial for the venture ecosystem. In the third quarter of 2025, there was an increase in the number of major IPOs and exits. Among the most significant exits of this period are the share listing of Chinese automaker Chery Automobile (which became a public company with one of the largest valuations of the year), the completion of the multi-billion dollar sale of American design service Figma to Adobe, and several well-known unicorns preparing for IPOs. These include Swedish fintech giant Klarna and Californian cybersecurity firm Netskope, which, according to media reports, are seriously considering going public in the near future. The success stories of these companies instil hope in market participants that the "IPO window" is gradually opening.
Notably, infrastructure-level companies in the AI sector are also capable of going public. For instance, cloud startup CoreWeave, which provides access to GPUs for AI workloads, conducted an IPO in March 2025, demonstrating investors’ readiness to support businesses related to the AI boom on public platforms as well. Meanwhile, investors and analysts emphasise that for a new wave of IPOs to be sustainable, startups must demonstrate healthy finances. Unlike in the frenzy period, the focus is now on profitability and predictability of company growth. Only those unicorns that have proven their business model and are capable of generating stable revenue can expect a warm welcome on the stock exchange. This more measured approach means not all high-profile startups will rush for public capital, but rather the most robust and prepared players will lead the way.
If current trends persist, one can expect a gradual increase in IPO and M&A activity in 2026. Successful exits will not only provide returns for venture investors but also return significant capital to circulation for new rounds and funds. Thus, the revival of exits completes a positive cycle in the venture market: from the growth of investments — to the scaling of startups — and finally to the long-awaited liquidity events that affirm the value of the companies created.
