The Global Venture Market Rebounds: Record Investments in AI, Surge in IPOs, and Increased Interest in Defence Technologies. Key Events and Trends in the Startup Industry as of 27 October 2025.
By the end of October 2025, the global venture capital market continues its steady growth following several years of decline. Investors around the world are actively funding technology startups once again: record deals are being made, companies are reconsidering their IPO plans, and major players are re-entering the market with substantial investments. Governments across various countries are intensifying their support for innovation, stimulating the influx of private capital into startup ecosystems and providing a new impetus for the sector's development. According to industry analysts, the total volume of venture investments worldwide increased by nearly 40% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025, clearly demonstrating a return of risk appetite.
Venture activity is thriving across all regions. The USA remains the leader (with the artificial intelligence sector growing particularly rapidly), while the Middle East has nearly doubled its investment volume over the year. In Europe, there has been a shift: for the first time in a decade, Germany has surpassed the UK in venture funding. In Asia, regulatory uncertainties continue to dampen activity in China, while India, Southeast Asia, and Gulf countries are attracting record flows of capital. The investment boom is reaching new horizons: technology hubs are emerging in Africa and Latin America (recently, the largest investment of around $100 million in the electric mobility sector was made in the African market). The startup ecosystems of Russia and the CIS countries are also striving to keep pace, despite external limitations. There is a palpable global venture resurgence, although investors continue to act selectively and cautiously.
Below are key events and trends in the venture market as of 27 October 2025:
- The Return of Mega-Funds and Major Investors. Leading venture funds are attracting record amounts of capital and sharply increasing their investments, flooding the market with liquidity and reigniting risk appetite.
- Record Funding Rounds in AI and a New Wave of Unicorns. Extremely large investments in AI startups are driving company valuations to unprecedented heights, spawning a new generation of unicorns.
- Revival of the IPO Market. Successful tech company listings and new applications for public offerings indicate that the long-awaited “window” for exits has reopened.
- Boom in Defence Technologies. The geopolitical climate is driving increased interest in startups focused on defence and security, bringing them to the forefront of the venture agenda.
- Diversification of Sector Focus. Venture capital is flowing not only into AI but also into fintech, climate (“green”) projects, biotechnology, and even crypto startups.
- A Wave of Consolidation: M&A Deals. Significant mergers and acquisitions are reshaping the industry landscape, creating new opportunities for profitable exits and accelerated company growth.
- Local Focus: Russia and the CIS. New funds and programmes aimed at developing local startup ecosystems are launching in the region, attracting investor attention despite external constraints.
- Cautious Optimism Among Investors. While the market is experiencing a rebound, participants are approaching project evaluations judiciously and avoiding excessive risk.
The Return of Mega-Funds: Big Money Back in the Market
The largest investment players are triumphantly returning to the venture stage, marking a new phase in their risk appetite. For instance, Japan's SoftBank has made one of the largest bets of the year, investing tens of billions of dollars in a market leader in artificial intelligence. Sovereign funds from wealthy Gulf countries have also significantly ramped up their activity: they are pouring billions into technology projects and initiating government megaprograms to support the startup sector, thereby forming their own tech hubs in the Middle East. Simultaneously, new venture funds are being established worldwide, attracting substantial institutional capital for investments in high-tech sectors.
Renowned Silicon Valley funds have amassed record reserves of uninvested capital (often referred to as "dry powder") - hundreds of billions of dollars are ready to be deployed once market confidence is restored. The influx of such "big money" intensifies competition for the best deals, instilling confidence in the industry regarding the availability of capital. The return of mega-funds demonstrates that investors are once again prepared to fund ambitious projects with large cheques, renewing the growth dynamics of the venture market.
Record Investments in AI and New Unicorns
The artificial intelligence sector remains the primary driver of the current venture upswing and is demonstrating unprecedented volumes of funding. Investors are keen to establish themselves among AI leaders, directing colossal resources towards the most promising projects. In recent weeks alone, several mega-rounds have been announced: for example, the American startup Crusoe, which is creating data centre infrastructure for AI models, raised approximately $1.38 billion at a valuation of about $10 billion. Significant rounds have also been secured by developers of foundational AI models: Anthropic (around $13 billion in investments) and xAI (approximately $5.3 billion). Such deals are driving company valuations to unprecedented heights and underscore the hype surrounding AI startups.
Funding is flowing not only into applied AI products but also into infrastructural solutions—the market is eager to generously compensate even the “shovels and pickaxes” for the new “gold rush” in AI. As a result, the current investment boom is giving rise to a whole new cohort of unicorns (private companies valued over $1 billion). Although some experts warn of the risk of overheating for certain projects, the appetite for venture capital in AI startups remains extraordinarily high. Moreover, capital in the market is concentrating around the largest rounds: according to Crunchbase, in 2025, approximately 70% of all investments in American startups were directed towards deals over $100 million, and globally, the share of such mega-rounds reached about 60%. Investors are increasingly placing their bets on a limited number of the most promising companies, preferring to invest large sums in leaders with breakthrough technologies and scalable business models.
IPO Market Revives: A Wave of Public Offerings
The global market for initial public offerings is emerging from an extended period of stagnation and is once again gaining momentum. In Asia, Hong Kong is leading the new wave of tech IPOs: in recent months, several large companies have successfully listed on the local exchange, collectively attracting billions of dollars in investment. The situation in the USA and Europe is also improving: a number of highly valued startups have successfully debuted on the stock market, generating significant interest from investors and a steady rise in share prices during the first days of trading. Below are the largest venture IPOs of the third quarter of 2025:
- Chery Automobile — a Chinese car manufacturer whose IPO valuation became one of the highest of the year.
- Figma — an American design platform that listed its shares with a valuation of approximately $15–20 billion.
- Klarna — a Swedish fintech “unicorn” (a “buy now, pay later” service) that successfully went public.
- Netskope — an American cybersecurity firm that completed its listing with a multi-billion-dollar valuation.
Even the crypto industry is attempting to capitalise on the improved market conditions. The fintech company Circle successfully conducted an IPO last summer (its market capitalisation increased significantly post-listing), while the cryptocurrency exchange Bullish has submitted a listing application in the USA with a targeted valuation of about $4 billion. The return of activity in the IPO market is crucial for the venture ecosystem: successful public exits allow funds to lock in profits, return capital to investors, and redirect freed-up resources to support new projects.
Defence Technology Boom: A New Priority for Investors
Against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions, the niche for defence and military technology startups is experiencing a vigorous expansion. Venture investors are actively funding projects related to defence and security, and investment in this sector in 2025 has significantly increased, approaching the record levels of previous years. In Europe alone, analysts estimate that investments in defence and security startups will exceed $8 billion this year (compared to approximately $5.4 billion in 2024). Startups developing defence technologies are emerging as a new growth focal point for the industry.
New “upstart” players are also emerging, challenging traditional defence giants. A notable example is the American startup Anduril, which is valued at around $30 billion. Major venture funds are directing significant resources toward national security projects, reaffirming this new priority for the sector. Despite persistent barriers, investment in defence technology is increasingly being perceived as a promising and socially significant direction, supported by both private and public capital.
Diversification of Investments: Beyond AI
Despite the dominance of the artificial intelligence agenda, venture investments are covering an increasingly broad range of sectors and are no longer limited solely to AI. Following last year's downturn, fintech is once again gaining momentum: substantial funding rounds are taking place not only in the USA but also in Europe and developing markets, stimulating the growth of new digital financial services. At the same time, there has been a sharp rise in interest in climate and “green” technologies: projects in renewable energy, sustainable solutions, and agri-tech are attracting record investments amidst the global trend toward sustainable development. Analysts estimate that in the first nine months of 2025, global climate startups attracted over $56 billion in investments—more than in the entire year of 2024.
Investor appetite is also returning to biotechnology, particularly in pharmaceuticals and digital health: the emergence of promising developments and platforms is once again attracting capital as the sector gradually emerges from a period of declining valuations. Additionally, due to the increased focus on security, investors have started returning to the defence technology segment, and the partial restoration of confidence in the cryptocurrency market has allowed some blockchain projects to secure funding once again. Thus, the broadening of sector focus is making the entire startup ecosystem more resilient and reducing the risk of overheating in specific segments. Investors are prepared to support not only AI projects but also fintech innovators, “green” startups, biotech, and other promising directions.
Market Consolidation and M&A Deals
High valuations for startups and intense competition are stimulating a wave of consolidation in the industry. Major merger and acquisition deals are once again taking centre stage, reshaping market roles. Tech giants are closely scrutinising the leaders among startups, eager to acquire key technologies and teams.
In recent months, several high-profile acquisitions have garnered industry attention. For instance, Google agreed to acquire the Israeli cybersecurity startup Wiz for approximately $32 billion—a record sum for the Israeli market. There has also been an uptick in strategic purchases: in the first half of 2025, the total volume of startup acquisitions exceeded $100 billion (an increase of 155% compared to the previous year), as major companies are willing to write big cheques for promising assets, particularly in the fields of AI and enterprise technologies. Consolidation is also occurring within the venture sector itself: for example, the investment bank Goldman Sachs announced the acquisition of the venture firm Industry Ventures for nearly $1 billion, highlighting the growing interconnection between traditional finance and the startup world.
Overall, the uptick in M&A deals signifies the maturation of the ecosystem. Mature startups are either merging with each other or becoming acquisition targets for corporations, providing venture investors with much-anticipated profitable exits and accelerating the scaling of innovations.
Russia and the CIS: New Funds and Initiatives
Despite external constraints, there is a resurgence of startup activity in Russia and neighbouring countries, along with systemic efforts to develop the local ecosystem. Several new venture funds were announced in 2025:
- Nova Capital — a fund with a volume of 10 billion rubles for investments in early-stage IT startups.
- Kama Flow — a new fund of comparable size aimed at supporting later-stage projects.
- Corporate Funds — several large corporations and banks are also forming their own venture divisions focused on domestic technology projects.
In addition to funding, accelerators, educational programmes, and other initiatives designed to support entrepreneurs are being launched in the region. Local startups are beginning to attract attention not only from Russian investors but also from foreign partners from friendly countries, as direct foreign investments in local projects have been re-permitted in Russia. While the volumes of the venture markets in Russia and the CIS still lag behind global leaders, the region is striving to keep pace with global trends. Investors here are acting selectively and focusing on niches where local teams have competitive advantages.
Cautious Optimism and New Prospects
As we approach 2026, the startup and venture investment industry is confidently entering a phase of revival. The global influx of capital, a wave of new unicorns, successful IPOs, and strategic deals indicate a restored confidence in the market. At the same time, ecosystem participants are maintaining a degree of prudence: investors are more judicious in evaluating projects, prioritising startups with sustainable business models and realistic growth plans, and striving to avoid excessive risk.
This balanced approach inspires cautious optimism. The venture market is returning to growth on a more solid foundation, without overheating in specific segments. This opens up new opportunities for investors and founders around the world—the market is evolving qualitatively, laying a robust foundation for further expansion of the startup scene.
