Global venture funding to financial technology startups totaled $12 billion across 751 deals in 2026 as of April 6, per SA国际传媒 . That鈥檚 a 5% increase in dollars raised compared to the $11.4 billion raised across 1,097 鈥� or 31.5% fewer 鈥斅燿eals during the same time period in 2025.

This trend signals larger deal sizes. Indeed, late-stage or growth funding in the first quarter of 2026 totaled $6.9 billion, up 8% compared to $6.4 billion raised at those stages in the 2025 first quarter.

However, sequentially, the $12 billion raised is down 33% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, when fintech startups raised $17.8 billion globally. The $6.9 billion raised in late-stage or growth funding is also down markedly 鈥� by 43% 鈥� compared to the $12.1 billion raised by fintech startups in Q4 2025.

The trend in the first quarter also mirrors what we saw in 2025 as a whole, with global venture funding to fintech startups climbing to its highest level in several quarters, boosted by later-stage deals.

Total global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totaled $53.8 billion in 2025, per SA国际传媒 . That鈥檚 an approximately 29.3% increase from 2024鈥檚 total of $41.6 billion raised.

US booms

U.S.-based startups have historically raised more fintech funding than any other country in the world, and the first quarter of 2026 was no different.

Of the $12 billion raised by startups globally, just over half 鈥� or $6.3 billion 鈥� flowed to fintech companies based in the U.S. That was an impressive 47% increase compared to the $4.3 billion raised by U.S. fintech startups in the 2025 first quarter. However, it was down 50% from the $12.6 billion that U.S. financial technology startups raised in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The United Kingdom was the second-largest recipient of venture capital, with startups in the region raising a total of $1.2 billion. India came in third, raising $900 million.

Big deals for unicorns

Several fintech startups raised nine-figure rounds in the first quarter, with some doubling their valuations since their last venture financings.

Predictions marketplace was the largest recipient of capital in the first quarter. In March, the company doubled its valuation to $22 billion in just three months with a $1 billion raise led by . The New York-based startup had just raised $1 billion in Series E funding at an $11 billion valuation in December.

In February, , a digital savings platform, raised $385 million in a Series E funding round co-led by and . The New York-based startup said its new valuation was $2 billion, double it achieved when raising its $125 million Series D round in December 2023.

And in January, , which is building infrastructure for payments with stablecoins, raised $250 million in a Series C funding round led by . Its post-money valuation was $1.95 billion, up 17x from last March.

Investors remain bullish

, partner and head of U.S. at , said his firm has been investing at a slightly slower pace so far in 2026 than in years past. But he cited it as 鈥渕ore a quirk of deal flow鈥� and where it gets conviction, rather than a decision to slow the firm鈥檚 investing pace.

鈥淚t’s certainly true that macroeconomics and geopolitics play a role,鈥� he told SA国际传媒 News, 鈥渂ut mostly we’re just focused on finding high-conviction companies to back.鈥�

QED is extremely bullish on the application layer for AI in fintech and stablecoin opportunities, and has backed several startups that Gerety said 鈥渉arness the power of LLMs with the security and reliability guarantees that finance needs.鈥� (, which raised a $45 million Series B in January and is building an AI assistant for financial advisers, is one of those companies.)

鈥淛ust in the last few months, agents are now actually able to be effective in many processing tasks, but the stakes in finance are too high for LLMs to conquer financial workflows alone,鈥� Gerety said. 鈥淔inance runs on trust, not probability.鈥�

Looking ahead, he said QED remains bullish on fintech overall for the year. Part of the excitement is around the fact that larger companies are 鈥渢ransforming鈥� their operations with agentic workflows, Gerety noted.

鈥淢ore and more transformation is moving from the 鈥榗o-pilot鈥� phase, and we鈥檙e moving into the ‘OpenClaw’ phase, when reasoning agents will start to actually do all the work that was too tedious and slow to be done manually,鈥� he added.

The geopolitical situation will likely hinder some companies from taking the IPO plunge, in Gerety鈥檚 view, although a few companies in QED鈥檚 portfolios are 鈥渂ubbling.鈥�

, partner at , said his firm is on track to make eight to 10 core investments in Seed or Series A companies this year 鈥� about the same number as in previous years.

鈥淲e鈥檙e investing in AI-enabled applications while maintaining patience and focus in our deployment of capital,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e look for durable, enduring businesses that we believe will withstand the current hype cycle and investment frenzy.鈥�

While TTV is investing in AI-enabled companies, Kapur said it also agrees with that 鈥渁n AI reset is coming.鈥�

鈥淢any investors have already made their money by getting in on the ground floor, and others are trying to replicate their success,鈥� he told SA国际传媒 News. 鈥淲e鈥檙e focused on investing in the application layer of AI, and we鈥檙e still in the early days with more widespread prosperity and a democratization of enterprise value creation yet to come.鈥�

In particular, TTV sees the biggest opportunity in early-stage AI-native companies that are solving problems in mission-critical workflows 鈥渨hile building durable moats.鈥�

鈥淭hese platforms will earn the right to be distribution endpoints for financial products 鈥� and are even more valuable in the age of AI,鈥� he said.

He believes we may see some fintech IPOs in 2026, but that they will largely depend on how the potential mega IPOs (from the likes of , and ) perform.

鈥淚f those IPOs underperform, others may opt to stay private longer,鈥� Kapur said.

Looking ahead, he predicts we鈥檒l continue to see accelerated adoption of AI in financial services, first through straightforward applications, then more operationally complex use cases.

鈥淢ore broadly, we鈥檙e watching how the foundational LLMs further move up into the application layer, which is imperative to the long-term sustainability of their business models,鈥� Kapur said. 鈥淲e think financial services and fintech are unique enough categories where de novo startups and standalone businesses will beat platforms building experimental applications.鈥�

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Illustration:

For perspective, we charted out total investment, color-coded by stage, for the past 12 quarters below.

Of that total, $761 million went into late-stage and growth deals, up 158% compared to the $295 million that flowed into such deals in the first quarter of 2025. It鈥檚 also up 203% compared with the $251 million in late-stage and growth rounds that were raised by LatAm startups in the 2025 fourth quarter.

Table of contents

• Mexico leads
• Fewer deals
• Some big rounds
• Investor POV
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Mexico leads

Nearly one-third of the total amount raised in the first quarter went to one startup. Mexico City-based , an online used car marketplace, secured a $300 million Series F financing led by and in February.

Notably, mostly due to that outsized round, Mexican startups outperformed their Brazilian counterparts in the first quarter, raising a total of $404 million compared to Brazil鈥檚 $240 million.

Historically, Brazil has been the powerhouse in Latin America for venture capital funding. But it鈥檚 not the first time in recent quarters that Mexico has topped Latin America鈥檚 largest country. Mexico also raised more funding in the second quarter of 2025.

Overall, the first quarter marks only the second time since Q2 2012 that Mexican startups raised more venture capital than their Brazilian counterparts in Latin America, our data indicates.

Fewer deals

Round counts and total dollars raised decreased substantially sequentially and year over year across angel, seed and early stages. Of the $1.03 billion raised by Latin America鈥檚 startups in the first quarter, less than 9% 鈥� or $92 million 鈥� was raised across the angel and seed stages.

That compares to $161 million raised across those stages in the fourth quarter of 2025, and $152 million in the same first quarter last year.

Just over 17%, or $179 million, was raised at early stages, significantly lower than the $690 million raised in the fourth quarter and $472 million in the same period last year.

We expect the Q1 deal counts to rise somewhat over time, however, as seed rounds in particular are commonly reported weeks or months after they close.

Some big rounds

While Kavak鈥檚 round was the largest financing in Latin America in the first quarter, it was not the only nine-figure raise the region saw in Q1.

Argentinian fintech raised $195 million at a $3.2 billion valuation in March in a round led by .

Other large deals that took place in Q1 include:

• Mexico City-based , a financial app built around stablecoins, raised $70 million in a round co-led by and .
• Buenos Aires-based , a payments infrastructure startup, landed a $55 million Series C financing co-led by and.

Notably, the largest rounds included participation from high-profile global funds, including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital and Insight Partners.

Investor POV

, managing partner of New York-based , said his firm has made more than 60 investments in Latin America since 2022 鈥� steadily increasing its investment pace every year from 11 deals in the region in 2023 to 20 in 2025.

In his view, many of the global investors who began putting more funding into Latin America鈥檚 startups in recent years are still writing checks there. However, he acknowledges that some 鈥渕omentum鈥� investors have slowed down.

Still, 鈥渁lmost all of the long-term smart capital investors have remained very active,鈥� he said.

Last year was 鈥渁ll about stablecoins and fintech infrastructure鈥� for the region. We should expect more of that this year, along with increased AI use across all sectors and strong enterprise growth in Brazil, he told SA国际传媒 News.

Brazil continues to be Endeavor Catalyst’s top market, but it is watching startups across the region, including in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and even smaller markets such as Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay.

Endeavor Catalyst has reason to be bullish on Latin America. Startups it has backed in the region are among the top performers of the firm鈥檚 portfolio. More than one-third (34%) of its 2026 Outlier class, which comprise roughly the top 10% best performers in its network, are from Latin America, according to Taylor.

, general partner at S茫o Paulo-based seed-stage firm , told SA国际传媒 News that his firm鈥檚 pace in Latin America has remained constant and 鈥渋ntentionally selective.鈥�

鈥淲e’ve always believed that seed in Latin America works best when you’re deeply involved with a small number of exceptional founders and not try to index the market,鈥� he noted.

But like many other investors, OneVC is also investing at an earlier stage.

鈥淥ne notable shift is that, as founding teams move faster than ever, often reaching product-market signal with leaner teams and AI-native tooling,鈥� Cartolano said, 鈥減re-seed is taking a larger share of our investments, and we expect that to continue being the case for this cycle.鈥�

Like Endeavor Catalyst, Brazil is OneVC鈥檚 primary market. It has a home court advantage, but as Cartolano notes, the country also has a lot going for it including being the largest economy in Latin America, one of the world’s most active early-adopter communities for new technology (, -native commerce, AI), and a regulatory environment 鈥� particularly in financial services 鈥� which in his view 鈥渢hat fosters innovation鈥�

As a secondary focus, interestingly, his firm is tracking an increasing number of strong Latino founders relocating to the United States to build companies.

鈥淲e like that,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey combine deep operational instincts from LatAm with access to the largest addressable market and most liquid exit environment.鈥�

He agrees with Taylor that global interest appears to be renewing in Latin America startups.

鈥淭here is no shortage of capital for the best companies in the region, regardless of the state, and we are seeing some large firms investing in LatAm for the first time or coming back after a long period,鈥� he said.

And while fintech has historically dominated when it comes to venture funding in Latin America, Cartolano said that fintech is now unsurprisingly giving way to AI-first companies that sell services, particularly to enterprises.

鈥淭he broader market is also shifting from consumer-facing models toward B2B, as enterprise companies are more incentivized than ever to adopt new technologies,鈥� he added. 鈥淥neVC is especially focused on GenAI companies that 鈥榮ell work,鈥� replacing headcount and outsourced services with AI-driven delivery at a fraction of the cost.

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• In Q2, Mexico Surpasses Brazil In Venture Dollars For First Time In Over A Decade

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from SA国际传媒, and is based on reported data. Data is as of March 31, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. SA国际传媒 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to SA国际传媒 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. SA国际传媒 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. SA国际传媒 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

All told, global venture funding to financial technology startups totaled $51.8 billion for the year compared to $40.8 billion in 2024, per SA国际传媒 data. The investors who provided all that capital included a mix of private equity and alternative investors, with venture capital firms and accelerators next in line.

Interestingly, the most-active investor in the space by far all year, in terms of deal volume, was startup accelerator , which participated in 151 deals involving fintech startups last year. That鈥檚 up 24.8% compared to the 121 deals it wrote checks into in 2024.

The next most-active investor in 2025, , participated in nearly one-third as many deals, taking part in 51 rounds.

YC also topped the list of most-active investors in rounds of $5 million or above, participating in 64 such transactions. That鈥檚 up 146% compared to the 26 such deals that YC participated in during all of 2024, signaling a huge spike in interest on the accelerator鈥檚 part in the space. (We reached out to YC for comment, but didn鈥檛 hear back.)

Venture firm was next, writing checks into exactly half as many investments (32). Its pace was also up 鈥� by more than 50% 鈥� compared to 20 fintech deals over $5 million in 2024. A16z was also one of the most-active venture investors globally across all startup sectors last year, per SA国际传媒 data.

Other active fintech investors include other accelerators and the usual suspects, per SA国际传媒 data: , , , , , , and .

Leading $100M+ rounds

When it comes to leading or co-leading rounds of $100 million or more, , , , and topped the list, SA国际传媒 data shows.

Notably, many of the largest deals involved blockchain or crypto companies and prediction marketplaces.

• In October, trading prediction market raised $2 billion in a deal led by parent .
• In March, cryptocurrency exchange received a massive $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX.
• And in early December, New York-based announced it raised $1 billion in Series E funding at an $11 billion valuation. Crypto-focused investment firm Paradigm led the financing. That raise came shortly after the company raised a $300 million Series D co-led by a16z and Sequoia at a $5 billion valuation.
• Crypto exchange in November raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation.

Post-seed lead investors

When it comes to leading or co-leading post-seed rounds, Sequoia Capital and Ribbit Capital tied for first place, with each firm doing so for a total of 11 fintech investments in 2025. That鈥檚 up from leading or co-leading six and five deals, respectively, in 2024.

QED Investors, a16z and Accel tied for third with 10 deals each. For QED, the pace was the same as in 2024, when it also led or co-led 10 post-seed fintech investments. However, it was a big jump for a16z, which had only led or co-led two post-seed fintech deals in 2024.

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Illustration:

Total global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totaled $51.8 billion for the year, per SA国际传媒 . That鈥檚 a fairly significant 鈥� 27% 鈥� increase from 2024鈥檚 total of $40.8 billion raised.

Unsurprisingly, the numbers are still much lower than the peak of $141.6 billion raised in 2021 and the $90.2 billion raised in 2022. But they are trending upward at least, unlike in 2024, when they fell below 2023 levels.

And, for the first time in recent years 2025 funding totals came in above pre-pandemic sums, which were $50.8 billion in 2020 and $49.3 billion in 2019.

Deal flow, however, was down 鈥� signaling fewer, but larger rounds. The year saw 3,457 deals consummated, a 23% decline from the more than 4,486 completed in 2024.

Table of contents

• Large deals
• ‘Chasing the AI-hype cycle’
• 鈥楩light to quality鈥�
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Large deals

The fact that the sector experienced an increase in funding despite a lower deal count indicates that the first half of 2025 saw a number of large rounds. Interestingly, several of the largest deals involved blockchain or crypto companies and prediction marketplaces.

• In October, trading prediction market raised $2 billion in a deal led by parent .
• In March, cryptocurrency exchange received a massive $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi-based investment firm .
• And in early December,聽 New York-based announced it raised $1 billion in Series E funding at an $11 billion valuation. Crypto-focused investment firm led the financing.
• Crypto exchange in November raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation.

Other sizeable deals that occurred during the year include U.K. payments platform 鈥檚 $500 million haul in mid-March; HR and payroll startup $450 million Series G in May; and expense management platform 鈥檚 $500 million Series E-2 at a $22.5 billion valuation in late July and $300 million raise at a $32 billion valuation in November.

鈥楥hasing the AI-hype cycle鈥�

All the VCs we spoke with said they believe 2021 and 2022 were outlier periods for venture funding. The record funding during those years were driven by 鈥渢he Covid-19 rebound and ultra-low interest rates,鈥� said , managing director at , who is based in New York and focuses on investments in the firm鈥檚 financial services sector, including financial technology.

鈥淎fter a reset, a more constructive overall market in 2025 has driven renewed investor appetite, albeit with investor selectivity around scale and quality in a world with continued uncertainty,鈥� he wrote in an email interview.

VCs appear to be just fine with funding not returning to those elevated levels.

put it this way: 2021 and early 2022 were not healthy markets for the tech or startup industry as a whole. Fintech got a disproportionate amount of capital because of the COVID “everything is going digital” craze.

鈥淭oo much money was chasing too few great founders,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here would be four to five companies building the same thing, with business models that shouldn’t have been funded in the first place, and in many cases none of them were successful because none of them got to scale.鈥�

鈥楩light to quality鈥�

Returning to the pace and exuberance of 2021, isn鈥檛 necessarily desirable or sustainable, according to 听痴笔 , who believes fintech is seeing a continued flight to quality with capital increasingly concentrating on companies with differentiated ideas, clear execution and 鈥渂ona fide traction.鈥�

Meanwhile, it has become meaningfully harder for others to raise.

鈥淭hat dynamic helps explain why total funding dollars are up even as deal volume is down,鈥� he told SA国际传媒 News. 鈥淚 think the level of activity we saw in 2025 is healthy. At the earliest stages 鈥� the pipeline remains very strong, particularly across AI and stablecoins. Those areas have real structural tailwinds.鈥�

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from SA国际传媒, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Jan. 4, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

SA国际传媒 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to SA国际传媒 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. SA国际传媒 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. SA国际传媒 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

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• Here Are The Fintech Companies That Could Go Public In 2025
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Illustration:

That could be a helpful tailwind for , which priced its IPO late Wednesday at $33 per share, slightly above the projected range. Shares of the design software provider will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FIG.

If Figma follows in the footsteps of other big聽 IPOs this year, we can expect shares to go up from there. That, at least, was the pattern we found in a SA国际传媒 review of venture-backed companies that went public on U.S. exchanges this year. Among the nine largest offerings, all were up from where they priced their IPOs.

Circle leads

is the top performer by a long shot. The New York-based stablecoin provider, currently valued above $40 billion, has seen the value of its shares rise more than 5x following its early June IPO.

The stupendous performance has helped spur a raft of other newcomers looking to test their luck on public markets. In the past few weeks, , a provider of secure wallets for digital assets, and , the crypto exchange founded by and , both submitted confidential draft registrations to go public. Also this month, digital asset platform filed publicly for its IPO.

It also likely helped that Circle鈥檚 debut coincided with a sharp rise in crypto values, with Bitcoin recently near its all-time high at more than $118,000.

CoreWeave, Chime and others still up

While Circle is the biggest gainer, AI infrastructure provider is still the most valuable venture-backed company to go public this year, with a recent market cap around $52 billion. Shares of the New Jersey company have also more than doubled since its April IPO.

Digital banking provider , the next-largest offering, is also up a bit, albeit not so dramatically. And while a market cap over $12 billion certainly sounds like a lot, it鈥檚 still far below the $25 billion peak valuation Chime garnered several years ago.

Several mid-sized IPOs have also posted big gains. , a developer of therapies for obesity and metabolic diseases, is trading at roughly double the level it priced shares for its January IPO. And shares of , a targeted TV advertising platform, are also up sharply from聽 the initial offering price in May.

Up next: More huge offerings

Even with some large offerings in the mix, the pace of venture-backed IPOs so far this year has been on the slow side. Granted, it鈥檚 a pickup from the latter part of 2024, which was even slower. But to really be able to declare the IPO market is back in a big way, we鈥檒l need to see more large, successful offerings.

Fortunately, those are likely on tap. Most anticipated of all is probably design software developer Figma, which recently boosted the proposed price range for its upcoming IPO, raising its expected initial valuation to up to $18.8 billion.

Another smaller but nonetheless successful debut came to fruition on Wednesday as , a maker of low-power chips for AI computing, began trading on the . Shares closed up 61% in first-day trading.

Given that preparing for an IPO is a notoriously demanding process, it remains to be seen how many of today鈥檚 eligible unicorns will add themselves to the public offering pipeline. If things continue in the current fashion, though, many of those who opted to stay private may be regretting their decision.

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Illustration:

Acquirers made just over $100 billion worth of disclosed-price startup purchases聽1 in the first half of 2025, per SA国际传媒 . That鈥檚 a whopping 155% increase from the same period last year, showing buyers are increasingly willing to write big checks for sought-after companies.

Notably, roughly a third of this year鈥檚 total comes from a single deal: 鈥檚 planned purchase of cybersecurity unicorn for a record-setting $32 billion. But there were other startups selling in multibillion-dollar acquisitions as well, including device designer and automation software provider .

Dealmaking gets more frenetic

Deal count, meanwhile, has held steadier, with the number of announced acquisitions hovering in the mid-400s for the past three quarters. The number of M&A deals tends to be less influenced by market conditions, since buyers are inclined to go bargain hunting during down cycles and compete aggressively for hot companies during bullish ones.

Lately, the ambience leans more frenetic, particularly as pertains to AI. This was evidenced this past week, with the drama around AI coding provider . The startup was about to sell to for $3 billion until made a deal to hire its CEO and co-founder, , and pay $2.4 billion for compensation and licensing.Then on Monday, AI startup announced it would acquire Windsurf.

AI was also the draw for the largest Q2 deal, OpenAI鈥檚 $6.5 billion acquisition of Io, a design startup co-founded by and focused on AI-powered devices.

Even with all the excitement around AI, however, the majority of M&A spending this year hasn鈥檛 gone to the space. Per SA国际传媒 , only around $15 million of disclosed-price acquisitions were for AI startups in the first half of this year. (However, that excludes Wiz, which isn鈥檛 classified as an artificial intelligence company but does list AI security as one of its focus areas.)

Biggest H1 M&A deals

So where is M&A spending concentrating?

To get a sense, we used SA国际传媒 to aggregate a list of 13 of the largest acquisitions in the first half of this year.

As shown above, besides AI, enterprise software fared well. Top deals in the space include Moveworks鈥� $2.85 billion acquisition by , as well as accounts payable platform 鈥檚 $2.5 billion sale to .

In the healthcare space, electronic health record software provider delivered one of the biggest outcomes, selling a majority stake to private equity firm at a reported $5.3 billion valuation.

Smaller and stealthier deals add up

The vast majority of startup acquisitions don鈥檛 have a disclosed price. But they can add up.

Oftentimes, these deals involve large-cap acquirers and well-funded startups. Examples from 2025 include 鈥檚 acquisition of crypto wallet startup , 鈥檚 purchase of school scheduling app , and 鈥檚 acquisition of cloud security startup ,

It helps acquirers that, four years after the venture funding peak in 2021, there鈥檚 still a large pipeline of funded companies taking a serious look at exit options. If current trends continue, we should see a growing number of them accomplishing that goal through M&A.

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out the week鈥檚 biggest funding rounds here.

Energy for AI and automated defense tech led this week鈥檚 largest U.S. venture funding deals. Vertical software solutions driven by AI in sports, healthcare and financial services were also a strong theme.

1. , $650M, energy: Terrapower, co-founded by in 2006, is back on the top of the list with a $650 million funding to build nuclear energy solutions. The Bellevue, Washington-based company鈥檚 first nuclear project is being built in Wyoming, in partnership with the and is slated to be ready in 2030. invested in the startup for the first time through its investment arm, along with Gates and shipbuilder .

2. , $600M, autonomous vehicles: Applied Intuition is back on the list with its largest funding to date, a $600 million Series F funding led by and . Founded in 2017, the company was valued at $15 billion, up 150% from its $6 billion valuation a year ago. The Mountain View, California-based company鈥檚 vehicle intelligence platform is used in the trucking and automotive industry as well as defense, construction, mining and agriculture. The company says its technology is used by 18 of the top 20 automakers as well as the .

3. , $235M, sportstech: Teamworks, a software platform that powers elite sports teams 鈥� more than 6,500 of them 鈥� raised a $235 million Series F led by which valued the company at $1.2 billion. The Durham, North Carolina-based company鈥檚 software to manage teams, coaching, performance and recruitment is used by the majority of , , , , teams, teams, DI athletic departments, and federations. The 15-year-old company has raised more than $400 million data.

4. (tied) , $200M, fintech: Ramp raised a $200 million Series E valuing the 6-year-old corporate credit card and expense management company at $16 billion. The funding was led by , which has now led multiple rounds in the fintech startup. Ramp鈥檚 current valuation more than doubled from its prior valuation just over a year ago at $7.65 billion. New York-based Ramp serves more than 40,000 companies and has raised over $1.4 billion over time.

4. (tied) , $200M, healthcare: Commure closed on $200 million in funding from 鈥檚 Customer Value Fund. Founded in 2017, Mountain View, California-based Commure counts 130 health systems across the country as customers for its services, which assist hospitals with AI note-taking, billing and customer management.

6. , $130M, fintech: San Francisco-based Juniper Square raised $130 million for fund management software that valued the 2014-founded company at $1.1 billion. The funding was led by fintech investor . Over 2,000 funds use the software with adoption growth by private equity and venture capital firms.

7. , $101M, healthcare: Tenner raised a $101 million Series C funding to address the logjam for healthcare providers when customers referred for specialized services are often lost in the manual process. The funding round was led by with participation from prior investors and , among others. The New York-based company, founded in 2021, was valued at $605 million.

8. , $100M, defense tech: Mach Industries manufactures unmanned weapon systems for the defense industry. The 3-year-old company, based in Huntington Beach, California, was valued at $470 million in a round led by and . The company has raised a total of $185 million, .

9. , $70M, blockchain: has purchased $70 million in EIGEN tokens from Seattle-based . The tokens will support the developer ecosystem building apps on top of Ethereum.

10. , $66M, biotech: Actio Biosciences raised a $66 million Series B for advancing trials for precision drugs for epilepsy and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The funding to the San Diego-based company founded in 2021 was led by healthcare investors and .

Big global deals

The biggest deal of the week came from Europe:

• Berlin-based AI defense company raised the largest funding this week, a $694 million Series D at a $13.9 billion value led by European investor . The company has raised $1.5 billion to date, with its prior valuation at $5.4 billion in July 2024.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SA国际传媒 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of June 14-20. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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The company priced its IPO at $31 per share 鈥� above the expected range of $27 to $28 鈥� and reportedly sold 34 million shares 鈥� well above the 24 million shares at $24 to $26 apiece it had originally planned to sell for $624 million. Underwriters , and have a 30-day option to sell another 5.1 million shares.

Shares started trading at $69.50 and immediately soared, closing at $83.29. Trading was briefly halted due to volatility.

Since its founding in 2013, Circle has about $1.1 billion from investors including , ,, and , per SA国际传媒 data. As a private company, it was last valued at $9 billion. It issues the digital currency USD Coin, and is to hold 27% of the world鈥檚 stabelcoin market, making it the second-largest issuer behind and its USDT stablecoin.

IPO pipeline fills up

Circle, now trading under the ticker symbol CRCL, is the first in a string of potential and highly anticipated fintech IPOs that could thaw the market for new VC-backed offerings and boost funding by unlocking liquidity for investors. a mobile banking startup, is expected to debut on the on June 12, and , an insurance startup focused on the coastal Florida residential market, has also filed plans to go public.

Other fintechs potentially in the pipeline this year include buy now, pay later giant , which filed IPO paperwork in March but hit pause on those plans amid tariff-induced stock market volatility. Payments behemoth is also closely watched for potential IPO moves, though may have enough funding to carry it through on the private markets for some time.

Several nonfintech startups are also in the queue to go public, following a prolonged lull for the IPO market. , a virtual chronic care provider that has raised more than $528 million from private investors, is slated to price its IPO today and debut tomorrow on the Nasdaq. , a spacetech startup that has raised about $378 million, is expected to debut June 11 on the NYSE.

Unicorn valuation reset

Notably, even following the larger-than-expected offering, Circle鈥檚 initial valuation before shares started trading fell below its last private valuation of $9 billion, highlighting the extent to which many well-funded unicorns have seen their valuations reset in recent years.

Chime is facing a 50% haircut to its last private valuation, and Omada is aiming for a valuation of $1.1 billion in its IPO, just a smidge above its last private valuation of $1 billion. Two other recent IPOs 鈥斅� and 鈥� both went public below their last private valuations.

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The deal is the second billion-dollar-plus deal in about a month, as the re-election of President has re-energized the crypto market, with many expecting regulations to ease.

Just last month, the dropped a Ripple that accused it of conducting an illegal securities offering.

鈥淲e are at an inflection point for the next phase of digital asset adoption 鈥� the U.S. market is effectively open for the first time due to the regulatory overhang of the former SEC coming to an end, and the market is maturing to address the needs of traditional finance,鈥� said Ripple CEO in a .

Hidden Road clears $3 trillion annually across markets with more than 300 top institutional customers, including hedge funds.

Crypto鈥檚 upswing

The deal continues a surge of momentum in the crypto industry 鈥� although even that has been somewhat dampened by the current tariff issues dogging the economy.

Just last month, cryptocurrency exchange said it would buy retail futures trading platform for $1.5 billion.

In addition, stablecoin issuer and 鈥� which operates a trading platform for stocks, cryptocurrencies and other assets 鈥� both recently filed for an IPO 鈥� however, the current market instability will likely alter those plans.

Overall, venture funding to startups in the crypto and blockchain space rocketed to $3.8 billion in 220 deals in Q1, per SA国际传媒 . The dollar figure represents a 138% jump from the previous quarter, which saw only $1.6 billion go to Web3 startups in 242 deals.

However, those numbers were propped up by cryptocurrency exchange 鈥檚 massive $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi-based investment firm . The deal is the single largest investment into a crypto company.

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out the biggest funding rounds of last week here.

After a couple of blistering weeks, large funding rounds slowed down to a crawl, with only two rounds hitting nine figures. Not surprisingly, those two rounds came from the cybersecurity and biotech industries.

1. , $500M, cybersecurity: NinjaOne, which provides endpoint management, security and monitoring, raised $500 million in Series C extensions at a $5 billion valuation 鈥� more than doubling its value from just 12 months ago. The company said the new funding came in separate tranches led by and 鈥檚 , with participation from other investors. The Austin, Texas-based company announced a $231.5 million Series C led by Iconiq at a $1.9 billion valuation just a year ago. Securing endpoints has been a main pillar of cybersecurity since the industry started. However, the need has only increased as many people work outside an office and with a variety of networks and devices. NinjaOne鈥檚 massive raise is the largest since France-based , a managed security service provider, raised a venture round of approximately $516 million last June. Founded in 2013, NinjaOne has raised nearly $762 million, .

2. , $351M, biotech: Eikon Therapeutics raised one of the biggest biotech rounds thus far in this young year. The Hayward, California-based drug startup closed on nearly $351 million in a Series D from the likes of and . The round is the second biggest for a biotech startup this year, behind only London-based , a company creating treatments for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases, as it raised a $411 million Series A in January. This is just the latest big round for Eikon, which raised a $517.8 million Series B financing from nearly 20 different investors back in 2022. The company uses super-resolution microscopy to discover the effects of drugs on live cells. Founded in 2019, the company has now raised $1.1 billion, .

3. , $70M, crypto: San Francisco-based Bitwise, a crypto-specialist asset manager, raised a $70 million round led by . The company offers a suite of crypto asset management products and manages more than $12 billion in client assets. Its investment solution offerings include index funds, exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products. Founded in 2017, the company has raised nearly $155 million, .

4. , $63M, loyalty: Miami-based Raise, a gift cards and loyalty company, raised $63 million聽led by . The startup plans to use the new funds to further develop its proprietary blockchain-backed gift card program, Smart Cards. Founded in 2013, Raise has taken in $220 million from investors, per the company.

5. , $54M, fintech: New York-based Taktile, a decision automation platform, raised a $54 million Series B led by . The company, which helps fintech companies and financial institutions with their risk management strategies, will use the new cash to equip customers with the necessary tools and controls to build AI-powered risk decisioning automation. Founded in 2020, the company has raised nearly $79 million, .

6. (tied) , $50M, billing: San Francisco-based Metronome, a usage-based billing platform, announced a $50 million Series C led by . Founded in 2019, Metronome says it has raised $128 million.

6. (tied) , $50M, cybersecurity: Palo Alto, California-based ransomware cybersecurity startup Mimic secured a $50 million Series A led by and . Founded in 2023, the company has raised $77 million, .

8. , $38M, artificial intelligence: San Jose, California-based Auditoria.AI, a developer of finance-related AI agents, raised a $38 million round led by . Founded in 2019, the company has raised nearly $60 million, .

9. (tied) , $30M, healthcare: New York-based Camber, a healthcare payments startup, locked up a $30 million Series B led by . Founded in 2021, Camber has raised $50 million, per the company

9. (tied) , $30M, sales: San Francisco-based Regie.ai, an AI sales platform, raised a $30 million Series B co-led by and . 鈥嬧�婩ounded in 2020, the company has raised nearly $51 million, .

9. (tied) , $30M, wireless: Mountain View, California-based Skylo, a provider of direct-to-device satellite connectivity, announced a $30 million funding round led by . Founded in 2017, the company has raised $183 million, .

Big global deals

India saw the largest deal of the week outside the U.S.

• India-based , a quick-commerce platform that provides a delivery service for groceries and other daily needs, raised a round worth approximately $172 million.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the SA国际传媒 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of Feb. 22 to Feb. 28. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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