America’s AI funding engine barely downshifted in 2025. Fifty-five U.S.-based artificial-intelligence startups raised rounds of $100 million or more, reflecting continued investor appetite even as the number of billion-dollar-plus deals eased from 2024. Deep-pocketed backers including SoftBank, Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Fidelity and Nvidia fueled capital across the stack—from model labs and infrastructure to sector-focused plays in healthcare and legal tech. Standouts included Anthropic’s multibillion-dollar hauls, coding-agent player Cursor’s mega-round, and sizable financings for chip and inference providers such as Groq and Cerebras. Media and biotech applications also drew hefty checks. The cohort featured an uptick in companies raising multiple rounds within the year, underscoring fierce competition for scale and talent. Early 2026 signals remain strong: Elon Musk’s xAI unveiled a $20 billion Series E and Sam Altman’s Merge Labs secured a $250 million seed, suggesting the funding cycle’s upper tier remains open—though sustainability will hinge on revenue traction, unit economics and GPU supply.
Related articles:
The State of AI Report
The AI Canon (Andreessen Horowitz)
Artificial Intelligence: Data and research (Our World in Data)
