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After two years of comparatively muted investment bodily process , it seems that VCs are starting to pour capital into startups at pandemic - earned run average level once again . But a closer spirit shows that they are n’t really .

In the 4th quarter of last year , investors funnel $ 74.6 billion into U.S. startup , a substantial increase from the average of $ 42 billion gift in each of the old nine quarter , accord toPitchBook datareleased on Tuesday .

While these financing level were antecedently seen only during the vizor of the ZIRP epoch ( last of 2020 through 2021 ) , the reality is that this late growth in speculation capital financial support is disproportionately benefit a select few companies . In fact , $ 32 billion , or 43.2 % of Q4 investing activity , was invested in precisely a handful of colossal - sized deals :

Databricks : In December , the information analytics troupe raised $ 10 billion at a $ 62 billion valuation .

OpenAI : The ChatGPT maker secured$6.6 billionat a $ 157 billion evaluation in early October .

xAI : Elon Musk ’s xAI that ’s modernize a procreative AI foundational model ring Grok , which landed$6 billionfrom investors in December .

Waymo : Self - drive car developer that lock robotaxi services in San Francisco , Los Angeles , and Phoenix guarantee a$5.6 billion Series Cin November go by parent troupe Alphabet and joined by a who ’s who of Silicon Valley venture firms .

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Anthropic : In November , the procreative AI model developer raised$4 billionfrom Amazon .

Without these megadeals , Q4 investment activity would have mirror the previous two geezerhood ’ average of $ 42 billion . This complete concentration of venture capital investment highlights the widen gap between a few well - fund company and the broader startup ecosystem .

Whether 2025 will see a continuance of the high speculation capital investment levels observed in Q4 of last yr remains to be view . However , most venture upper-case letter financing will probably go on to flow toward a little cohort of the most promising AI companies .