Global startup funding is picking up with AI still in the spotlight
Global startup funding was up 16% in the second quarter, according to Crunchbase data, led by an uptick in mega-rounds. That increase was led, unsurprisingly, by the AI sector. Funding to companies in AI made up 30% of all dollars invested and actually doubled quarter over quarter to $24 billion.
On today’s episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Mary Ann was joined by Gené Teare, a senior data editor at Crunchbase and Crunchbase News, to talk through the numbers. Teare is a well-known analyst of the global venture capital market and was instrumental to Crunchbase’s early life and remains one of its more tenured staffers.
“I was actually quite shocked by the doubling in AI because we’re six quarters in from the launch of Chat GPT,” Teare said. “I think part of that is that in venture, things take time to sort of filter through.”
There were also signs that larger M&A deals increased in the second quarter, providing much needed liquidity in a continued dry IPO market.
“We’re definitely seeing a stronger M&A environment compared to 2022,” Teare said. “The big expectation is that M&A is going to pick up more significantly and I’m not sure we’ve seen that yet, partly because prices have come down. There’s a lot of companies who might realize they’re not gonna make it to going public in the next 3 to 5 years. … So, I think it has improved but not as much as many in the bench community were wanting or expecting.”
Listen to the podcast episode here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC
Source: https://techcrunch.com/podcast/global-startup-funding-is-picking-up-with-ai-still-in-the-spotlight
