Spotlight On: VC Deal Flow – October’s Haul Sets 2025 up to Run Rings Around Previous Year
Global VC funding surged in 2025, with Q3 reaching $97 billion—representing a 38% year-over-year increase compared to Q3 2024114.
Despite a brief slowdown in October, 2025 is on track for a record year:
through October 31, $324.69 billion in transactions have been recorded, already reaching 98% of 2024’s full-year total3.
October’s deal flow highlighted significant capital concentration:
over 30% of Q3 2025 VC funding went to rounds of $500 million or more, especially in AI1.
AI companies dominated the largest deals, with Reflection AI Inc.'s $2 billion Series B round leading October, backed by major investors like NVIDIA, GIC, Sequoia, and others3.
Technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) firms were the largest funding recipients in October, raising $11.38 billion (36.6% of total deal value), followed by industrials and healthcare3.
The number of global VC deals remained high despite some regional declines, with 7,356 deals in Q2 2025 and strong early-stage activity driven by seed and pre-seed rounds514.
2025 has already seen the creation of 719 new unicorns as of mid-year, signaling robust high-value startup formation5.
Private equity buyouts accounted for about 20–25% of startup exits, and IPO valuations averaged $2.8 billion in 2025 amid returning optimism in public markets5.
Down-rounds hit a decade high, making up about 15.9% of all venture-backed deals this year5.
Sources:
1. https://angelspartners.com/blog/the-2025-q3-vc-landscape-a-snapshot
3. https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/news-insights/articles/2025/11/value-of-vc-funding-rounds-down-in-october-on-track-for-yearly-gain-94646283