The year 2025 marked a significant milestone in startup funding, particularly within the artificial intelligence sector. According to data from Crunchbase, a total of 15 companies successfully secured venture capital rounds exceeding $2 billion, collectively raising over $100 billion. This impressive figure highlights the rising prominence of generative AI, which attracted a substantial portion of the investments.
OpenAI Leads with Record-Breaking Round
The standout performer of the year was **OpenAI**, which announced a groundbreaking **$40 billion** investment led by **SoftBank** on **March 31**. This investment represents the largest venture capital round ever recorded. SoftBank plans to construct a syndicate of co-investors to provide **$10 billion** of the total investment, while the remaining **$30 billion** will come primarily from SoftBank itself, with **$10 billion** financed through debt.
Following OpenAI, **Scale AI**, a San Francisco-based provider of training data and model evaluation for AI applications, raised **$14.3 billion** in June. The investment, led by **Meta**, valued the company at **$29 billion**. As part of the agreement, Scale’s founder, **Alexandr Wang**, along with several other employees, transitioned to Meta to enhance its AI initiatives.
Another significant round was secured by **Anthropic**, which raised **$13 billion** in September, achieving a remarkable valuation of **$183 billion**. This Series F financing was spearheaded by **Iconiq Capital**, with participation from **Fidelity** and **Lightspeed Venture Partners**.
Notable Investments in Emerging AI and Tech Startups
In November, **Project Prometheus**, a startup aimed at integrating AI technology with physical tasks, launched with **$6.2 billion** in initial funding. Notably, **Jeff Bezos** is expected to serve as co-CEO alongside **Vik Bajaj**, a physicist previously involved with **Foresite Labs** and **Google’s X**.
**xAI**, the generative AI venture founded by **Elon Musk**, attracted **$5.3 billion** in equity funding in the summer. Since its inception just over two years ago, this Palo Alto-based company has amassed a total of more than **$22 billion** in equity and debt financing, according to Crunchbase data.
In December, **Databricks** revealed its plans to raise **over $4 billion** in a Series L financing round, reaching a valuation of **$134 billion**. This funding was led by **Insight Partners**, **Fidelity**, and **J.P. Morgan Asset Management**. The company reported a revenue run-rate exceeding **$4.8 billion** for its third quarter, reflecting a year-over-year growth of more than **55%**.
Other notable funding rounds include **Anduril Industries**, which raised **$2.5 billion** in June, and **Anysphere**, securing **$2.3 billion** in November. The latter, which focuses on coding automation, achieved a post-money valuation of **$29.3 billion**.
Several companies tied for the milestone of **$2 billion** rounds include **Polymarket**, a prediction market platform, and **Reflection AI**, known for its development of large language model training models. Both companies reached pre-money valuations of **$8 billion**.
The year also saw **Safe Superintelligence**, a Palo Alto-based AI research lab co-founded by former OpenAI chief scientist **Ilya Sutskever**, raising **$2 billion**. In addition, **Thinking Machines Lab**, founded by former OpenAI CTO **Mira Murati**, achieved a record-breaking seed round of **$2 billion**, setting a new standard for U.S. seed funding.
Finally, **Binance**, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange based in Malta, received a **$2 billion** investment in March from the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm **MGX**, while France-based **Mistral AI** was valued at **$13.2 billion** following its own **$2 billion** funding round in September.
As 2025 concludes, the data underscores an extraordinary year for startup financing, particularly within the AI sector, which is poised to continue its rapid growth in the coming years.
