The Cyclical Ascendancy and Decay, and Recovery of Venture Capital's "Mammoth Funding Rounds"
Growing Trend of Large Venture Financing Rounds in AI, Technology, and Healthcare
The landscape of venture capital financing has seen a significant shift over the past decade, with a notable increase in the size and concentration of funding rounds, particularly in the artificial intelligence (AI), technology, and healthcare sectors.
From 2020 to 2024, a total of 2,379 companies raised venture financing rounds of $100 million or more. Among these, California led with 1,111 companies, followed by New York (322), Massachusetts (286), Texas (80), Colorado (67), Washington (59), Florida (52), and other states. Notably, healthcare and life sciences companies accounted for roughly 25% of such rounds from 2021 to 2022, while AI and machine learning companies accounted for 32% in 2024.
In 2024, technology companies accounted for 41% of rounds $100 million or more, with healthcare and life sciences close behind at 35%. This reflects sustained and growing investor interest in these sectors. In fact, three leading states - California, New York, and Massachusetts - accounted for three-quarters of the total "mega-rounds" in 2024.
The trend of increasing concentration and size of funding rounds is particularly evident in 2025. Global venture capital funding hit $115 billion in Q2 alone, a 29% increase from Q4 2024, despite a sharp decline of nearly 29% in the total number of deals. This means fewer deals but much larger average deal sizes, currently around $19.2 million per deal.
AI startups are driving this surge, accounting for about 71% of all venture funding deployed in Q2 2025. The growth in AI funding is exceptional; AI-related quarterly funding grew 145% from Q3 2023 to 2025. This illustrates AI’s dominant role across sectors.
In 2025, 41% of all U.S. venture capital dollars went to just 10 companies, 8 of which are AI firms. This concentration is a 75% increase compared to the previous year and marks the highest level in a decade.
Historical scale of rounds is also evident in 2025, with OpenAI leading with a $40 billion raise, the largest single financing event in venture capital history. Other major AI players like xAI and Anthropic raised $20 billion and $3.5 billion respectively.
Since 2015, the market has shifted, with increasing rounds size and concentration especially since around 2020, accelerated by AI advancements. Early years saw faster deal counts growth, whereas recent years show deal counts shrinking while total venture dollars concentrate into fewer, huge rounds.
The geographic dynamics of venture financing also show interesting patterns. The Bay Area remains the epicenter of large VC funding. Europe and Latin America show more modest or volatile funding, while India sees growing interest in fintech and mobility tech. The US captures about 64% of global VC funding, further solidifying its dominance in this space.
AI and machine learning are not only attracting large sums but also becoming embedded across industry verticals, including cybersecurity, legal technology, and healthcare, reflecting broad applications and strategic priority for growth capital.
In summary, the evolution from 2015 to 2024 has moved from numerous smaller venture financing rounds to a market dominated by very large, concentrated funding rounds driven primarily by AI, technology, and healthcare sectors, where the top companies attract an overwhelming share of capital, and rounds in the hundreds of millions to billions of dollars have become common.
- Investors are increasingly focusing on AI and technology sectors for venture financing, as reflected by approximately 32% of $100 million or more rounds in 2024 being allocated to AI and machine learning companies.
- The growth of artificial-intelligence startups is significant in the venture capital market, with AI startups accounting for about 71% of all venture funding deployed in Q2 2025.
