As global venture capital funding in 2025 increased to the third highest total After the record years of 2021 and 2022, capital has also become more concentrated, with the number of companies raising rounds of $50 million or more dropping significantly by about half to a cohort of just 1,440.
The investors backing the fastest-growing companies in this highly competitive venture capital market have also changed dramatically since 2021, according to Crunchbase data. While private equity investors dominated during the pandemic boom, traditional Silicon Valley venture capital firms regained ground in rounds of $50 million and above, our analysis shows.
A review of Crunchbase data shows the extent to which investors in peak years, such as Global Tiger Management And Insight Partnersboth based in New York, have ceded ground to the big names in Silicon Valley.
The companies that dominated these larger financings in 2021 – when more than $500 billion in capital was devoted to deals of $50 million or more – were private investors and alternative investors. At that time, the two companies at the top of the list were 4 times more active in terms of numbers than those occupying the top two places in 2025.
By 2025, in contrast, venture capital firms dominated the list of most active leaders in these larger financings, with eight of the ten most active being venture capital firms. Last year, about $300 billion was spent on deals over $50 million.
In 2021, the 20 largest companies with funding rounds above $5 billion were primarily private equity. But by 2025, a smaller cohort of investors, 10 in total, have each led or co-led funding rounds totaling $5 billion. This included five private equity or alternative investors; three venture capital companies, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz And Accelerate; and more active strategic corporate investors with Meta And EspaceX joining the top 10, each with a single outsized investment.
Private equity was also still active in terms of dollar volume in 2025, although less dominant.
PE leaned
A year into the pandemic, as digital services took off, global venture capital funding doubled to $702 billion. And the most active investors in the largest rounds have invested at an unprecedented rate.
The top five most active investors in rounds over $50 million were all private equity firms, including Insight Partners, which operates in both venture capital and private equity.
But the majority of these active investors have significantly reduced their accounts to this size in 2025.
At the top of the list, Tiger Global Management and the SoftBank Vision Fund have reduced by more than 95% in number. Insight Partners, Coatue, Temasek Holdings And General Atlanticwhile still active in 2025, led or co-led fewer deals last year, up to 75%.
Of the seven venture capital firms on this list, two firms — Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures – significantly reduces the number of transactions by 35% and 60%, respectively, in 2025.
Venture capital more active in 2025
By 2025, by contrast, those most active in deals over $50 million were largely venture capital firms. However, the numbers for the top companies were much lower than in 2021, with 30 topping the list compared to 182.
General catalyst has the highest number with 30, followed by a16z with 24 and Lightspeed and Accel matching 22. Each of these companies has been slightly more active in major deals in 2021 compared to 2025, while Lightspeed Venture Partners’ accounts match 2021.
Many venture capital firms have seen their numbers increase by more than 100% at this size, including Khosla Ventures, New Business Associates, Google Business, Menlo Ventures, Eclipse Companies And Balderton. The firms also all recorded a greater than 100% increase in the number of deals led or co-led compared to 2021 for deals of this size, alongside a private equity firm. Forbion Capital Partnerswhich invests heavily in biotechnology.
Volume in dollars in 2021
Among the 21 most active companies in 2021 in terms of led or co-led deal amounts above $4.8 billion, 18 were private equity firms and three were venture capital firms. However, the largest funding deal that year – $3.6 billion in funding for Flipkart led by SoftBank Vision Fund, GIC, CPP investments And Walmart – was much smaller than the largest deal of 2025.
Unsurprisingly, the companies that led or co-led the largest fundraising rounds in 2021 were SoftBank Vision Fund and Tiger Global Management. Coatue, D1 Capital Partners and Temasek round out the top five, all down more than 75% from 2025.
Three venture capital firms are on the list of investors leading the largest rounds. The most active venture capital company, Sequoia Capitalreduce the amounts directed or co-directed by more than 50%, while Ribbit Capital reduced by more than 75%. The other VC firm on this list, Andreessen Horowitz, led or co-led more in terms of dollar amounts in 2025 than in 2021.
New guard in 2025
In 2025, the largest deals were much larger, running into the tens of billions of dollars rather than the single-digit billions in 2021, with the top five investors propelled to the top of the list by a single deal of $10 billion and above.
SoftBank topped the list in 2025, driving $40 billion in funding to OpenAI. It was followed by Meta, which led the $14.3 billion funding to Evolving AI.
Speed of light, Loyalty And Iconiq Capital co-led the $13 billion financing for Anthropic. The top five companies by amount in 2025 all have individual transactions exceeding $10 billion.
Among the 27 most active companies in terms of transaction amounts completed in 2025, four were strategic investors, nine were venture capital firms and 14 were private equity or alternative investors.
Look forward to
An analysis of Crunchbase data makes this clear: venture capital has regained its lead in this AI wave, as private equity, over-indexed in private companies, has declined significantly since 2021. In 2025, large financing rounds and valuations have resumed, paving the way for a very active financing environment in 2026.
Despite the shift from private equity to multi-stage venture capital actively pursuing the largest deals, the question remains: will this new cohort of highly valued companies generate outsized returns in the years to come?
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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