According to a report released by the US venture capital data research company PitchBook on January 7 (Editor: Liu Rui), venture capital financing for Global startups saw a slight increase in 2024, with a significant rise in financing for AI startups, especially in the USA, where this proportion has reached nearly half.

Global financing saw a slight increase.

In 2024, Global venture capital investment in startups rose to $368.5 billion, a 5.4% increase from $349.4 billion during the same period last year. However, the number of Global venture capital deals in 2024 decreased by 17% from 43,320 in 2023 to 35,686.

Overall, the percentage of AI trades within all venture capital trades significantly increased in 2024: AI and machine learning startups secured 35.7% of total Global startup financing, substantially higher than 24.7% in 2023; the number of trades accounted for 23.4% of total Global trades, up from 20% in 2023.

Kyle Stanford, chief venture capital Analyst at Pitchbook, stated that this figure is indeed influenced by well-known companies like OpenAI and xAI receiving billions in funding, but the most crucial factor is the level of capital availability for AI compared to other Industries.

He mentioned that as large companies and investors act proactively, betting on the next wave of Technology, the proportion of financing for AI companies has been steadily rising over the past few years.

Nearly half of the venture capital in the USA is directed towards AI companies.

From different regions, the venture capital financing deals for startups in the USA were the hottest last year: startups in the USA secured 209 billion USD in venture capital funding in 2024, an increase of about 30% year-on-year.

In contrast, the situation for venture capital and startups in other parts of the Global is much more difficult: financing for startups in Europe dropped from 66.7 billion USD in 2023 to 61.6 billion USD in 2024, while financing for startups in Asia fell from 100.1 billion USD in 2023 to 75.9 billion USD.

In 2024, AI startups in the USA received approximately 97 billion USD in venture capital funding, setting a new record. The most notable of these are certainly the billions of dollars invested in AI companies like xAI, OpenAI, and Anthropic.

Data shows that nearly half of the approximately 209 billion USD raised by all startups in the USA last year went to AI-related companies, which is the highest recorded proportion.

However, while some are happy, others are worried. As AI startups receive more funding, many once hot but now 'outdated' industries—such as the enterprise Software sector—are facing funding difficulties, reflecting a long-term trend in the transformation of the Technology Industry landscape in the post-pandemic era.

Editor/ping