Startup and Venture Investment News for Thursday, January 15, 2026: Record AI Rounds, the Return of Mega Funds, Revival of IPOs, and Key Trends in the Global Venture Market.
- Return of Mega Funds: Leading venture firms and investors are actively raising record funds and ramping up capital injections into new projects.
- Record Investments in AI: AI startups attracted around $150 billion in 2025, leading to a new wave of "unicorns."
- Revival of IPOs and M&A: The initial public offering market is once again gaining traction, and the number of mergers and acquisitions is rising, creating additional exit pathways for investors.
- Diversification of Sectors: Capital is being increasingly allocated across various industries: alongside AI, interest has significantly spiked in fintech, green technologies, biotechnology, and defense startups.
- Global Boom: The U.S. continues to attract the lion's share of venture investments (~70% in 2025), but new tech hubs are rapidly developing in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
- Russia and CIS: The domestic venture market is undergoing transformation: investment volume in Russian startups decreased by about 10% in 2025, yet new funds and technology support programs are being launched.
Return of Mega Funds: Big Money Back in the Market
After a two-year decline, the market is once again attracting significant capital: leading venture firms worldwide are forming record funds. For instance, the American firm Andreessen Horowitz raised over $15 billion across five new funds — the largest round in the firm's history. This accounts for nearly 18% of all venture investments in the U.S. for 2025. Similar trends are observable globally: funds are amassing hundreds of billions in "dry powder," ready for deployment. Sovereign and private investment funds from the Middle East have also reactivated, investing billions into the technology sector and creating regional tech hubs.
AI Breakthrough: Record Investments and New Unicorns
Startups in artificial intelligence remain a magnet for capital. Analysts estimate that investments in AI companies reached a historic $150 billion in 2025, significantly exceeding previous records. Mega-rounds have propelled the valuations of leading players to unprecedented heights. The largest deals included those for OpenAI (~$40–41 billion) and Anthropic (~$13 billion), further fueling the excitement around AI. Projects like xAI and Scale AI also attracted tens of billions. A large portion of funds is concentrated in a select few companies, raising concerns among analysts about bubble risks in the AI sector. Nevertheless, the current investment boom is generating numerous new "unicorns" (startups valued at over $1 billion) and stimulating the growth of high-tech infrastructure — for example, data centers and specialized chips for AI.
Revival of the IPO Market: Opening Gates for Exits
Stock exchanges are once again capturing attention — several major tech companies have successfully gone public, indicating a revival of investor interest in IPOs. In Asia (primarily Hong Kong), large-scale offerings for prominent startups have taken place, while in the U.S., more IPO debuts from well-known "unicorns" are in the pipeline. The revival of the IPO market is important for the venture capital ecosystem: successful public offerings allow funds to realize profits and reinvest capital into new projects. Simultaneously, M&A activity is increasing: in 2025, the number of agreements for acquiring startups rose, providing alternative scaling and exit opportunities for investors. Notably, in the Middle East, the volume of M&A deals increased by 41%, reflecting an overall shift in the industry towards consolidation.
Investment Diversification: Not Just AI
Venture capital is increasingly diversifying across sectors. Fintech remains one of the most active sectors: in the Middle East and North Africa, fintech attracted a record $1.15 billion in investments, marking the largest share among the region's deals. Additionally, there is growing attention to green technologies — projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainability — as well as to biotechnology and pharmaceuticals after a prolonged lull in these sectors. Defense and cyber technologies are also receiving more support amid global instability. Such diversification of investments is making the entire industry more balanced and reducing the market's dependency on a single trend.
Consolidation and M&A: Market Structuring
Corporate acquisitions and strategic investments are gaining momentum. Major tech and financial companies are acquiring promising startups to expand their portfolios of innovations. In 2025, significant M&A transactions intensified, providing early investors with exit paths alongside IPOs. The growth of M&A activity is noticeable across all regions: as previously mentioned, the number of such deals in the Middle East increased by over 40%. Stocks are acquired to accelerate the growth of startups and consolidate technologies under one management, thereby expediting the creation of strong players in the industry.
Global Expansion: New Regions and Leaders
Despite the leading role of the U.S., the venture boom is becoming increasingly global. According to CB Insights, American startups attracted around $327.8 billion in 2025 (about 70% of all capital globally); however, activity is also rising in other parts of the world. European companies secured approximately $68 billion (18% of the market), with Germany surpassing the UK in transaction volume for the first time. In Asia, investments are shifting from China to India and Southeast Asia, where new tech ecosystems are forming. In the Middle East, the volume of investments reached a record $3.8 billion (a 74% increase), and Africa and Latin America saw the emergence of their first local "unicorns," indicating the genuinely global nature of the current startup boom. Investors are actively seeking innovation around the world, from developed markets to emerging regions.
Russia and CIS: Local Initiatives Amid Changes
In Russia and neighboring countries, the startup market continues to transform under the influence of internal and external factors. According to "Kommersant," the volume of deals in the Russian venture sector decreased by about 10% in 2025 (totaling 7.2 billion rubles), and the number of deals dropped by a third, indicating a "deep contraction" of the market. Nonetheless, the government and large corporations are not neglecting innovative projects: new governmental and corporate funds are being launched, accelerators are opening, and grant programs and partnership initiatives are being established. All this aims to create an "autonomous" development model and integrate Russian startups into global technological trends, even amid restrictions in the international environment.
