Global Startup and Venture Investment News for 26 November 2025: The Return of Mega Funds, Record Rounds in AI, IPO Market Revival, M&A Wave, Renewed Interest in Crypto Startups, and the Emergence of New Unicorns. An Overview for Venture Investors and Funds.
By the end of November 2025, the global venture capital market is confidently recovering after a prolonged downturn in recent years. Industry analysts estimate that the total volume of venture investments in the third quarter of 2025 reached approximately $97 billion — 38% more than the previous year and the best quarterly result since 2021. The long "venture winter" of 2022-2023 is behind us, and the influx of private capital into technology startups is accelerating. Significant funding rounds and the launch of new mega funds signal a renewed investors' appetite for risk, although they still prefer to invest selectively and cautiously.
Venture activity is growing across nearly all regions of the world. The United States is leading, particularly in the rapidly expanding AI sector. Investment volumes in the Middle East have doubled over the year, while Germany has outpaced the UK in total venture capital for the first time in a decade. In Asia, the booming rise of India and Southeast Asia is offsetting a relative decline in China, while new tech hubs are emerging in Africa and Latin America. The startup ecosystems in Russia and the CIS are striving to keep pace despite external constraints. Overall, the global picture indicates the dawn of a venture capital boom, although investors are still prioritising the most promising and resilient projects.
- The Return of Mega Funds and Large Capital. Leading venture players are creating record funds and are once again actively investing substantial amounts into the market, infusing the ecosystem with capital and rekindling the appetite for risk.
- Record Funding Rounds in AI and New Unicorns. Unprecedented investments are driving startup valuations to unseen heights, particularly in the artificial intelligence segment, leading to a new wave of "unicorns" (startups valued over $1 billion).
- Revival of the IPO Market. Successful public listings of tech unicorns and new filings confirm that the long-awaited "window" for exits remains open.
- Diversification of Sector Focus. Venture capital is being directed not only to AI but also to fintech, climate technologies, biotechnology, space, and defence projects, broadening market horizons.
- Consolidation Wave and M&A Deals. Major mergers, acquisitions, and strategic investments are changing the industry landscape, opening new exit and scaling opportunities for companies.
- Renewed Interest in Crypto Startups. Following an extended "crypto winter," blockchain projects are once again attracting significant funding and attention from venture funds and corporations.
- Local Focus: Russia and the CIS. Despite restrictions, new funds and initiatives are emerging to develop local startup ecosystems, attracting investor interest in the region.
The Return of Mega Funds: Big Money Back in the Market
The largest investment players are making a triumphant return to the venture arena, signalling a new wave of risk appetite. Following a capital-raising slump in 2022-2024, leading funds are resuming fundraising and launching mega funds, demonstrating confidence in market prospects. For instance, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank has announced the formation of a third Vision Fund with a volume of around $40 billion for investments in cutting-edge technologies (primarily in AI and robotics). In the United States, Andreessen Horowitz is assembling a record-sized venture fund — approximately $20 billion — aimed at late-stage investments in AI startups. Sovereign funds from the Gulf States have also ramped up, pouring billions of dollars into high-tech projects and developing their own tech hubs in the region.
Simultaneously, dozens of new venture funds are emerging globally, attracting significant institutional capital for investments in technology companies. American venture funds have accumulated unprecedented reserves of "dry powder" — hundreds of billions of dollars in uninvested capital ready for deployment. The return of such large "mega structures" means that startups have more opportunities to secure funding for growth, significantly intensifying competition among investors for the best deals.
Record Investments in AI: A New Wave of Unicorns
The artificial intelligence sector has become the main driver of the current venture boom, demonstrating a record influx of funding. Estimates suggest that nearly half of all venture capital raised in 2025 is attributable to AI startups. Global investments in artificial intelligence this year may exceed $200 billion — a level unprecedented for the industry. The excitement surrounding AI is driven by the potential of these technologies to dramatically increase efficiency across various sectors — from industrial automation and transport to personal digital assistants — opening up new markets worth trillions of dollars. Despite concerns about overheating, funds continue to increase their investments, fearing they may miss the next technological revolution.
This unprecedented influx of capital is accompanied by its concentration among leaders. The lion's share of funds is directed towards a limited group of companies capable of becoming defining players in the new AI era. For example, California-based startup OpenAI has raised approximately $13 billion in total, French company Mistral AI has secured around $2 billion, and Jeff Bezos's latest project, Project Prometheus, is launching with initial capital of $6.2 billion. Such mega rounds are sharply increasing the valuations of these companies, forming a new cohort of "super unicorns." While such deals inflate multiples and fuel discussions about bubbles, they also concentrate vast resources on the most promising areas, laying the groundwork for future breakthroughs.
In recent weeks, dozens of companies worldwide have announced substantial funding rounds. Among the most notable examples are the British platform Synthesia, which raised $200 million at an estimated valuation of around $4 billion for developing AI-based video generation technologies, and the American cybersecurity systems developer Armis, which secured $435 million ahead of its IPO at a valuation of $6.1 billion. These deals have instantly elevated both companies to the ranks of "unicorns," clearly demonstrating how rapidly large-scale funding can transform a startup into a billion-dollar company.
Revival of the IPO Market: The Exit Window is Open Again
Amid rising valuations and capital inflows, technology companies are once again actively preparing for public listings. Following an almost two-year hiatus, there has been a surge in IPOs in 2025 as a key exit mechanism for venture investors. A series of successful public offerings of technology companies this year has confirmed that the long-awaited "window of opportunities" for exits remains open. In the US, over 300 IPOs have taken place since the beginning of the year — significantly more than in 2024 — and shares of several debutants have shown robust growth. Positive signals are also evident in emerging markets: for instance, the Indian educational unicorn PhysicsWallah went public in November, with its stock surging more than 30% on the first day of trading, a promising indicator for the entire EdTech sector.
The success of recent listings is restoring confidence that the market can absorb an influx of new technology companies entering the stock market. Following the first "early birds," several major private companies have announced plans for IPOs, eager to take advantage of the favourable conditions. Even giants like OpenAI are considering going public in 2026 with a potential valuation in the hundreds of billions of dollars — a precedent for the venture industry if it materialises. Overall, the revival of the IPO market is expanding the horizons for investment exits, facilitating capital returns for funds and stimulating a new cycle of investments in startups.
Diversification of Sectors: Investment Horizons Expand
In 2025, venture investments are covering a much wider array of sectors and are no longer solely concentrated on AI. Following last year's downturn, there is a noticeable revival in fintech: new fintech startups are attracting large rounds, particularly in the payment systems and decentralised finance (DeFi) sectors. There is also a surge in climate ("green") technologies in response to the global demand for sustainability — investors are financing projects ranging from renewable energy to carbon capture technologies.
Interest in biotechnology and medtech is also returning: major funds, especially in Europe, are forming specialised instruments to support pharmaceutical and medical startups. Space and defence technologies are also coming to the forefront — geopolitical factors and the successes of private space companies are stimulating investments in satellite constellations, rocket building, unmanned systems, and military AI. Thus, the sectoral focus of venture capital has significantly broadened, enhancing the market's resilience: even if the excitement around AI subsides, other sectors are poised to pick up the baton for innovation.
Consolidation Wave and M&A: The Industry is Changing Shape
High startup valuations and intensifying competition are prompting companies to seek synergy through mergers and acquisitions. In 2025, a new wave of consolidation is emerging: major tech corporations are actively engaging in acquisitions again, while mature startups are merging to strengthen their positions. These deals are reshaping the industry landscape, allowing for the construction of more resilient business models and providing investors with the long-awaited exits.
In recent months, several high-profile M&A transactions have captured the attention of the venture community. For example, American IT giant Cisco announced the acquisition of a startup in AI translation to integrate its technologies into its product line. Other corporations are not lagging behind: strategic investors from the financial and industrial sectors are acquiring promising fintech and IoT companies, eager to access their developments and client bases. Meanwhile, some unicorns prefer to merge with each other or sell to larger players to collectively overcome rising costs and accelerate scaling. For venture funds, this wave of consolidation opens new exit pathways — successful M&A deals often yield substantial profits and affirm 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 cryptocurrency projects – the so-called "crypto winter" – the situation began to shift in 2025. Venture investments in crypto startups have significantly increased: the total volume of funding for blockchain projects this year has exceeded $20 billion, more than double that of 2024. Investors are once again showing interest in infrastructural solutions for the crypto market, decentralised finance (DeFi), blockchain platforms, and Web3 applications.
Even the largest funds from Silicon Valley and previously conservative players are returning to this segment. In recent weeks, several crypto and DeFi startups have secured funding rounds from renowned investors. For instance, the venture arm of broker Robinhood and the Founders Fund, led by Peter Thiel, participated in funding a promising blockchain platform. In one of the largest deals of the year, American cryptocurrency exchange Kraken raised $800 million, achieving a valuation of around $20 billion. By the end of the year, the volume of venture capital invested in crypto projects may approach the record mark of $25 billion. All of this points to a sort of renaissance in the industry: after cleansing the market from speculation, the focus has shifted to real use cases of blockchain, attracting more "smart" money. Several crypto startups are again approaching unicorn status, and some exchanges and infrastructural projects have already reached billion-dollar valuations.
Local Focus: Russia and the CIS
Despite external constraints, active steps are being taken in Russia and neighbouring countries to develop local startup ecosystems. Government and private institutions are launching new funds and programmes aimed at supporting early-stage technological projects. For example, the authorities in St. Petersburg discussed in November the creation of a city venture fund to finance promising high-tech companies — similar to the Republic of Tatarstan, where a fund with a volume of 15 billion rubles is already operational. Additionally, major corporations and banks in the region are increasingly acting as investors and mentors for startups, developing corporate accelerators and their own venture divisions.
In addition to government efforts, there is a noticeable revival in the entrepreneurial community. International technology forums and summits (such as the recent Moscow AI Journey 2025) are being held to draw attention to local innovations and build bridges between Russian developers and global investors. All these changes demonstrate that even under sanctions, the local venture scene continues to adapt and evolve. For investors, the region, with a measured approach to risks, offers new growth points — as a potentially promising market for venture investments.
