Startup and Venture Investment News as of January 1, 2026: Record Rounds in AI, Venture Fund Activity, Key Deals, and Global Investment Trends for Venture Investors.
Global Records in AI Startup Funding
The year 2025 set a record for AI startup funding: according to industry analysts, leading American companies in the artificial intelligence sector raised around $150 billion in venture capital — significantly surpassing the previous record of $92 billion set in 2021. This growth is attributed to the surge of investor interest in AI solutions. Experts recommend that startups build financial "cushions" in case of a possible downturn in activity in the new year.
- SoftBank increased its total investment in OpenAI to $41 billion, directing the remaining $22.5 billion at the end of the year. The Japanese corporation now holds approximately 11% of the American startup's shares.
- Anthropic, one of the leaders in AI model development, raised $13 billion in September 2025.
- Scale AI, a data preparation startup for training neural networks, received over $14 billion in investments from Meta; this investment includes not only funding but also the transition of some qualified specialists to the project.
- Other promising AI projects (Anysphere with the Cursor application, Perplexity, Thinking Machines Lab, among others) have also repeatedly attracted capital. For instance, Anysphere increased its valuation from $2.6 billion to $27 billion, with its revenue growing 20-fold over the year.
Such deals reflect a trend: amidst the ongoing excitement around AI solutions, startups are eager to accumulate as many resources on their balance sheets as possible, a strategy supported by the largest venture players.
Major Venture Deals
The last weeks of 2025 brought several of the largest transactions in the global venture market, further solidifying the leading role of AI and related technologies.
- SoftBank completed its promised investment in OpenAI: an additional $22.5 billion was officially directed, bringing the total investment to $41 billion.
- Nvidia is investing $2 billion in Elon Musk's startup xAI. The funds will be used to acquire graphics chips for the Colossus 2 data center (Tennessee); xAI aims to raise around $20 billion in funding.
- Nvidia signed a strategic agreement with the startup Groq (AI chips) worth $20 billion: the company acquired licenses for all Groq technologies (except for the GroqCloud platform) and key assets, and the founder of Groq along with part of the team will move to Nvidia.
- xAI is also supported by other major investors, including Apollo Global Management and Diameter Capital funds.
- The Mexican fintech startup Plata (founded by former managers of Tinkoff) raised $250 million in investments, increasing its valuation to $3.1 billion. The project offers cashback credit cards and already serves over 2 million customers.
These deals underscore the fact that the largest capitals still concentrate among the leaders of the technology sector, especially companies related to artificial intelligence.
New Funds and Government Support
Government structures and leading funds have announced large-scale initiatives to support tech startups:
- China launched a national venture fund (¥100 billion, approximately $14.3 billion) and three major regional funds (each over ¥50 billion). These funds are aimed at supporting domestic tech startups, primarily those with a capitalization up to ¥500 million.
- Additionally, three specialized funds of $7.14 billion each were established in China for investments in "hardware" technologies: from chips and quantum computing to biotechnology and aerospace developments.
- Nikolai and Marina Davydovs launched a new $75 million fund for early-stage AI startups (Davidovs Venture Collective): $40 million has already been raised from private sources.
- The Russian company Yandex announced a support program for small and medium-sized businesses worth 500 million rubles: it offers a threefold increase in advertising budgets on its services (Yandex.Direct, etc.) and preferential terms for startups and SMEs.
Such initiatives indicate that the largest investors and governments are actively influencing the development of the tech ecosystem, directing capital to priority areas.
Breakthrough Startups and Unicorns
Against the backdrop of capital influx, a number of new projects made qualitative leaps:
- The recruiting platform Mercor (founded by Brendan Fudi et al.) became a unicorn with a valuation in the tens of billions of dollars: its founders entered the ranks of new billionaires.
- The Chinese company DeepSeek (an AI search engine, founded by Liang Wenfeng) also emerged as a notable unicorn with a valuation of around $11.5 billion.
- Fintech and SaaS remain leaders. Revolut (Nikolai Storonsky) is expanding its business through acquisitions (in the fall of 2025, the startup Swifty was purchased), and the aforementioned Plata has become a significant new player in credit services.
- Overall, many of the largest tech startups, especially those related to AI and automation, are achieving unicorn statuses and setting the market tone.
This confirms that the greatest potential for large-scale growth today is seen in IT startups, particularly in the fintech, SaaS, and artificial intelligence sectors. They are generating new successful cases and creating significant fortunes for their founders.
Venture Market Trends
- According to Forbes, investments in AI startups in 2025 exceeded $202 billion (a ~75% increase from 2024), outpacing all other sectors.
- AI breakthroughs created about 50 new billionaires in 2025. Elon Musk's capital increased nearly 1.5 times — to $645 billion, while Jensen Huang's (Nvidia) wealth rose to $159 billion; the founders of Google and Amazon also significantly increased their fortunes.
- Venture investors point to a record concentration of capital: most funds were directed toward a few large projects, while many "secondary" startups are nearly depleted of funding.
- Analysts recommend that startups build a "fortress" balance: that is, to accumulate reserves and focus on long-term development while considering potential market corrections.
- The Russian startup market is moving in the opposite direction: according to "Kommersant," the number of transactions decreased by 30%, and the volume of investments fell by 10% (to approximately 7.2 billion rubles).
In sum, these factors indicate a market divide: global capital is concentrating in "hot" sectors (AI and digital services), while activity in traditional industries remains low.
Outlook for 2026
The beginning of 2026 opens a new chapter: experts note that market growth may slow down, so investors and startup founders should exercise "cautious optimism" and choose projects with sustainable business models.
Congratulations from Open Oil Market
The company Open Oil Market congratulates all readers on the arrival of the New Year 2026! May it bring new successful startup ideas, large-scale investment projects, and steady growth for innovative companies.
