Last year, A.I. recovered half of the risk dollars on a global scale. But the sector’s meteoric growth hasn’t necessarily come at the expense of other start-up industries. On the contrary, fields that benefit from AI-driven automation, such as legal technology, or that combine AI software with physical technologies, such as robotics and defense technology, are also seeing record levels of funding, according to data from Crunchbase.
With that, here are five areas where we have seen a significant increase in venture financing in recent quarters.
Legal Technology
The legal industry may have a reputation for being slow, but when it comes to automation and streamlining, the industry has been quick to embrace new technologies. Venture capital funding awarded to legal tech startups totaled more than $4 billion last year, according to data from Crunchbase. It is a recordingand nearly double the $2.2 billion raised by the sector a year earlier.
Some of the largest funding recipients in the field last year include:
- Cliowhich offers cloud-based practice management for law firms, has raised $500 million in a New Business Associates-a financing round carried out in November, plus $350 million in debt.
- Harveya startup that makes AI tools for lawyers, raised $819 million across four funding rounds in 2025.
- Filevinea startup that offers a legal operations platform to integrate AI for case, document and lead management, raised $260 million in a September Series E round.
Robotics
Robotics – both humanoid and non-humanoid variety – a I was also on a tearas investors move beyond AI software to the physical layer of artificial intelligence.
Last year, venture capital funding in robotics totaled nearly $14 billion, according to Crunchbase data. This represents a 70% increase from 2024 and even eclipses the peak funding year of 2021.
In recent quarters, investors have backed a variety of companies developing everything from robotic appendages that can be deployed in factories to general purpose humanoid robots.
Among the largest recipients of robotics funding in 2025 were:
- General Purpose Robotics Company Figurewhich raised $1 billion in a September Series C round led by Parkway Venture Capital.
- Humanoid robotics company Apptronikraising a total of $734 million between its Series A and Series B rounds last year.
- Elon Muskbrain implant company led by Neural linkwhich raised $649 million in a Series E round in March.
Defense technology
Defense technology also saw record funding last year, as companies such as Anduril Industries And Helsing lifted massive balls. Overall funding for the sector jumped to $8.5 billion in 2025, according to Crunchbase data — an all-time high and more than double the previous year’s total.
The top recipients of defense venture capital funding last year were:
Venture capital investments in defense technology appear poised to grow. Active investors such as Andreessen Horowitz to have reserve billions of dollars for defense and law enforcement-related businesses, and the US Department of Defense said it wants to purchase and deploy more next-generation technologies such as AI-based battlefield decision-making, autonomous drone systems and satellite reconnaissance.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity funding also increased last year, but remains below its 2021 peak. Investments in the sector globally totaled more than $18 billion in 2025, up 26% year-over-year, with particularly strong results for early-stage startups.
This is also the third highest total annual funding awarded to the sector in the last decade.
Among the top recipients of cybersecurity funding last year:
- AI-powered data security platform Cyerawhich raised a total of $940 million across two rounds, its Series E and Series F.
- Savyntanother AI-powered identity security platform, raised $700 million in a KKR-led the series B.
- Quantuma quantum computing startup primarily focused on cybersecurity, raised $600 million in a NVentures-led the series B.
- NinjaOnean IT platform for endpoint management, raised $500 million in a Series C round led by CapitalG And Iconiq Growth.
Financial technology
Financing fintech and financial services startups increased by 27% year-on-year to $51.8 billion, surpassing pre-pandemic figures for the first time since 2022. (However, it should be noted that the 2025 sum is still only a fraction of the 2021 peak.)
Among the world’s largest recipients of fintech funding last year were:
Investors we spoke with said they hope to see Fintech-related financing and exit activity remains strong this year.
Another trend to watch: significant financing for pre-IPO companies such as Plaid, Ramp, Monzo Or Revolution. “The fintech funding story this year will likely be dominated by these $100 million-plus fundraising rounds as these companies prepare to go public. » Nik Milanovicgeneral partner of The Fintech Fundtold us last month.
Related Crunchbase queries:
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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