Here are the 24 US AI startups that have raised $100M or more in 2025

AI funding continues at a torrid pace in 2025, building on the momentum of 2024, with multiple billion-dollar rounds already closed in the U.S. Several AI startups have secured funding of $100 million or more across various sectors, including AI infrastructure, drug discovery, coding tools, and legal tech; OpenAI raised a massive $40 billion round valuing the company at $300 billion. This robust investment activity, led by firms like SoftBank, Thrive Capital, Lightspeed, and Andreessen Horowitz, signals sustained investor confidence and aggressive growth in the AI space.

Analysis

The AI funding landscape continues its extraordinary expansion into 2025, building directly on the record-setting momentum observed in 2024 when 49 startups secured funding rounds of $100 million or more. The first half of 2025 reinforces this trend, with a higher number of AI 'megarounds' (funding rounds worth $100 million or more) in the U.S. during Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024, and multiple billion-dollar financing events already recorded. OpenAI's $40 billion funding at a $300 billion valuation and Anthropic's $3.5 billion Series E at a $61.5 billion valuation exemplify the scale of investment. Significant capital deployment is evident across diverse AI sub-sectors, including enterprise search (Glean, $150M Series F, $7.25B valuation), AI coding tools (Anysphere, $900M Series C, nearly $10B valuation), AI infrastructure (Celestial AI, $250M Series C, $2.5B valuation; Lambda, $480M Series D, nearly $2.5B valuation), and AI model development (SandboxAQ, $450M Series E, $5.7B valuation). This sustained high-velocity investment, featuring prominent venture capital firms like Lightspeed Venture Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, alongside strategic corporate investors such as Nvidia (NVDA), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Microsoft (MSFT), signals deep conviction in the AI sector's transformative potential. The overall strongly positive sentiment (0.85) and significant market impact score (0.7) further underscore robust investor appetite.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Investors should monitor publicly traded enablers and strategic investors in the AI space, such as Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), and Alphabet (GOOGL/GOOG), for potential value accretion derived from their extensive investments and partnerships within the burgeoning private AI ecosystem.