Global venture funding mostly flat in February
AI companies captured a larger share of start-up investment in February, with more than a fifth of all venture funding in February going to them.
How is venture capital funding trending?
Gene Teare writes in Crunchbase News that global venture capital funding reached $21.5 billion in February 2024 — flat month-over-month and slightly up from February 2023. Globally, more than $2 billion was invested in seed stage companies last month, while close to $10 billion was invested in early stage companies. And venture investors spent $9.3 billion at late stage, including technology growth companies.
Teare noted that the largest funding round in February went to 32-year-old North Carolina-based Epic Games. That was a $1.5 billion strategic investment in the Fortnite maker from Disney at a valuation of $22.5 billion, which was 30 percent lower than the $32 billion valuation set in a 2022 funding round for Epic.
The outlook for artificial intelligence (AI) companies was different. Crunchbase data shows that AI companies captured a larger share of start-up investment in February, with more than a fifth of all venture funding in February going to AI companies. That share – $4.7 billion invested in the sector – was up significantly from the $2.2 billion invested in AI companies in January 2024 and the $2.1 billion invested in February 2023.
The article can be found here.
