FUNDRAISING NEWS

Biggest 2024 Fundraising Deals

Global venture funding in 2024 edged above 2023’s totals, with overall startup funding reaching close to $314 billion — compared to $304 billion in 2023 — up around 3%, based on Crunchbase data.

Tech Buzz coverage in 2024 also reveals a diverse range of significant funding deals across multiple tech sectors in 2024. These deals showcase where investor interest is concentrated and can indicate future trends:

What’s Inside

• Top Overall Funding Deals of the Year

• 2024 Funding Trends (AI, deep Tech + more)

• Key Takeaways from 2024 Funding Trends

• Forecast for VC Activity in 2025

Top Overall Deals of the Year

Here are the largest funding deals we covered this year, with a brief description of why they mattered:

Databricks secured an $8.6B Series J round, surpassing OpenAI for the largest VC round of the year. The AI data intelligence company raised at a $62B valuation led by Thrive Capital, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Insight Partners. Databricks is an analytics and AI infrastructure company that stores data for clients that can be used to train and build applications and AI models. This round is the fifth-largest VC round ever.

Before the Databricks round, OpenAI held the record for the largest VC round of 2024, with a $6.6B haul that increased its valuation to $157B. Thrive Capital led the round with an investment of $1.3B. Fidelity, Nvidia, and SoftBank also invested in this round. Apple considered investing but decided against it to avoid conflicts with OpenAI's competitors. Microsoft was the largest corporate backer, having invested $750M in this round to add to its existing $13B investment.

xAI, the AI startup founded by Elon Musk, announced a Series B round of $6B with a valuation of $24B in May. Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Saudi entrepreneur Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, Fidelity Management & Research Company and others participated in the round.

Safe Superintelligence $1B Series A funding round. This Palo Alto-based AI research lab, established in 2024, focuses on the challenges of creating superhuman intelligence. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and DST Global, among others.

Other notable rounds included:

Kobold Metals, an AI mineral discovery startup is close to raising over $527M to develop a major copper deposit in Zambia, potentially elevating its valuation to $2 billion. It has already secured $491M of the funds from significant backing from investors like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

Poolside, a code automation startup raised a $500M Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures, which also had participation from a who’s who of Big Tech firms, including eBay and Nvidia.

Twelve, a carbon transformation company based in Berkeley, raised a $400M venture round, bringing their total equity funding to $798M. Founded in 2015, Twelve converts captured carbon dioxide into valuable products, with backing from investors such as Techstars and the National Science Foundation.

Glean, an AI-powered search engine software company in Palo Alto, raised a $260M Series E round. Founded in 2019, Glean connects enterprise data to provide answers across organizations and has raised $618.2 million total. Investors include Citi, General Catalyst, and Sequoia Capital.

World Labs, a San Francisco-based company that creates AI world models for 3D perception and interaction, secured a $230M venture round. Founded in 2024, the company is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Radical Ventures, and Intel Capital, among others.

TRENDS
Trends in 2024 Funding 

AI Dominance

A significant portion of the largest deals went to AI-focused companies. Unsurprisingly, AI also showed the biggest leap of any sector in amounts year to year in 2024. Close to a third of all global venture funding went to companies in AI-related fields, making it the leading sector for funding with over $100 billion — up more than 80% year over year from $55.6 billion in 2023. Funding to the AI sector in 2024 also surpassed every year in the past decade, including the peak global funding year of 2021. Of those AI dollars, almost a third of all AI funding went to foundation model companies. The other two-thirds of funding went to sectors impacted by these new models. Infrastructure and data provisioning to manage and operate AI grew. Other leading sectors included autonomous driving, healthcare, robotics, professional services, security and military.

Data Infrastructure

As stated above, 2024 saw large investments into data infrastructure companies that support AI and other advanced cloud-based and data-intensive technologies. A number of massive data -related fundraising deals happened in 2024 including: 

• Databricks was valued at $62B in the year’s largest venture deal, a $10B round.

• Cyera (AI data security): $300M Series C.

• Eon (cloud data automation): $127M across seed, Series A, and Series B rounds.

• DataPelago (analytics & AI infrastructure): $47M in seed and Series A funding.

• Datacenter provider GDS International raised $1 billion led by Coatue. 

A number of nuclear companies also did big deals related to data center infrastructure:

• Pacific Fusion, a nuclear fusion technology company, raised more than $900 million in a round led by General Catalyst.

• Amazon led a $500M raise for (small modular nuclear reactor) company X.

• Google is working with Kairos Power to build up to seven SMRs, providing up to 500 megawatts of power. 

• Oracle will construct a gigawatt-scale data center powered by three SMRs. 

• Sam Altman-backed NYSE-listed SMR company Oklo saw a 100% increase in its stock price and secured letters of intent with major data center providers and signed a significant agreement with Switch to deliver 12 GW of its power through 2044.

Biotech and Healthcare

Companies in the biotech and healthcare sectors also received substantial funding. This aligns with the trend of an aging population, as well as the continued importance of drug development.

• Kailera Therapeutics (metabolic disease therapies): $400M Series A.

• Aktis Oncology (targeted radiopharmaceuticals): $175M Series B.

• Borealis Biosciences (RNA medicines): $150M Series A.

A lot of Biotech and health-related raises also included AI elements. For example: 

• Xaira Therapeutics saw 2024’s biggest round in the field with a $1 billion round to use AI models to find new drugs.  

• AI-powered clinical documentation tools startup Abridge raised a $150 million Series C led by Lightspeed and Redpoint valuing the Pittsburgh-based startup at about $850 million. 

• New York-based EvolutionaryScale, which has developed a LLM for creating novel proteins, raised a $142 million seed round led by Daniel Gross, and Nat Friedman and Lux with AWS and Nvidia’s NVentures joining. 

• And LA-based AI small molecule drug therapeutics biotech Terray Therapeutics raised a $120 million Series B led by Bedford Ridge Capital and NVentures.

Space Tech

Space tech is emerging as another area of interest for investors with several large deals.

• The Exploration Company (private space company): $160M Series B.

• Impulse Space (satellite optimization): $150M Series B.

• Argo Space (water powered spacecraft): $7.9M

Fintech

Fintech remains a strong area for investment, especially in the areas of payments and back office operations.

• Bridge (stablecoin payments): Potential acquisition by Stripe for $1B.

• Ramp (Corporate Card Fintech): $150M Series D extension

• FundGuard (AI Accounting): $100M Series C

• Centrifuge (Scaling Institutional DeFi Adoption): $15M Series A

• Nominal (AI Accounting Platform): $9.2M Seed

Defense Tech 

Defense tech funding saw a notable shift in 2024, with a mix of increased interest and fluctuating investment. While VC investment in defense tech startups boomed in 2023 after a $1 billion round by Anduril, a software and hardware defense tech startup, the sector experienced a significant downturn in the first half of 2024. Specifically, Q1 saw a 74% decrease to $118 million compared to $459 million in Q1 2023, and Q2 also saw a 62% decrease. Despite this slowdown, there remains strong interest in defense tech, especially in areas like AI, cybersecurity, and robotics, which are increasingly seen as critical for national security, especially by the Trump administration. 

Anduril, for example, raised another $1.5B at a $12.5B valuation in 2024, indicating a strong rebound in the sector. Additionally, major VC firms like a16z are focusing on "American dynamism," including AI and defense, and exploring private equity to attract capital from US allies in the Middle East. This suggests that despite some fluctuations, defense tech remains a key area for investment, driven by the ongoing importance of national security, technological innovation and the convergence of AI and defense capabilities funding saw a notable shift in 2024, with a mix of increased interest and fluctuating investment. 

TAKEAWAYS
Key Takeaways from 2024 Funding Trends 

AI is King

The overwhelming dominance of AI-related deals highlights that investors are still heavily betting on the transformative potential of AI across various sectors. This trend spans from infrastructure and applications to AI-powered tools and services.

Deep Tech is Back

Investments in deep tech areas like defense, aerospace, nuclear energy, and advanced materials indicate a renewed interest in long-term, science-based projects that have the potential to create entirely new industries.

Strategic Partnerships

Many deals involved strategic investors and corporate venture arms, suggesting a push for synergistic relationships and industry integration. For example, tech companies like Nvidia are investing in startups that can leverage their infrastructure.

Growth Stage Focus

While seed and early-stage funding remain important, there is also a noticeable increase in larger growth-stage rounds, indicating a push to scale promising startups quickly.

Geopolitical Influence

The U.S. x UAE tech deal and the interest of Middle Eastern sovereign funds in Andreessen Horowitz' new PE fund demonstrate the growing role of geopolitics in tech investment.

LOOKING AHEAD
What to Expect in VC and PE Activity in 2025

Based on the trends seen in 2024, the following conclusions can be drawn with regards to likely trends in VC activity in 2025:

• Continued AI Focus: Even if the AI bubble bursts in a spectacular fashion, AI will likely continue to dominate VC funding next year, with more emphasis on AI-driven applications and real-world deployments. Investors will be looking for startups that can demonstrate clear use cases, solid business models, and have a defensible competitive advantage.

• Infrastructure Investments: The need for robust data infrastructure to support AI will lead to continued investment in cloud computing, data security, and specialized hardware.

• Expansion of Deep Tech: Expect more capital flowing into deep tech sectors like space, energy, and biotech as the long-term potential of these areas becomes more apparent.

• Autonomous Transport: The transport sector will likely receive a boost from Trump’s more permissive approach to the technology, including robotaxis, driverless cars and air taxis.

• Emphasis on Profitability: While growth remains important, investors will likely place more emphasis on profitability, unit economics, and sustainable growth as they become more discerning about where they deploy capital.

• Defense Tech and Geopolitical Factors: Geopolitical tensions and international collaborations will continue to influence investment decisions. Expect more defense tech and AI deals involving strategic partnerships that bridge different tech ecosystems around the world.

• AI Ethics and Safety: The need for AI ethics and safety will likely be a more important factor for investment in the coming years. Startups that develop and deploy responsible AI may be looked on more favorably.

• Private Equity: The move of Andreessen Horowitz into private equity suggests that more VC firms may explore this route to tap into larger pools of capital.

2024 was a year of significant investment in AI, data infrastructure, and other deep tech sectors. In 2025, the VC landscape is likely to be defined by the continued dominance of AI, a growing emphasis on deep tech, and increasing investor focus on profitability, while being shaped by changing geopolitical and ethical concerns under a new US administration led by the largely pro AI and crypto technology president Trump and allies such as Elon Musk.

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