Q2 Vertical AI Analysis: $17.4B invested in 784 deals

The AI funding landscape just shifted dramatically. In Q3 2025, we witnessed something unprecedented: One sector. Nearly half of all venture capital. $45 billion. While other industries fought for attention, AI companies secured 46% of the $97B global VC pie. The story gets more interesting: Anthropic alone raised $13 billion—growing from $1B to $5B in revenue in just 8 months. That's not hype. That's execution. Meanwhile: → xAI raised $5.3B to challenge OpenAI → Mistral AI (Europe's champion) raised $2B, doubling its valuation → 11 of the top 18 megarounds closed in September alone This isn't just about big numbers. It's about what they represent: ✓ Real business adoption (not just demos) ✓ Massive infrastructure investments ✓ A race for AI supremacy that's reshaping tech The market has spoken. AI isn't the future—it's the present. We've analyzed every dollar, every deal, and every trend from Q3 2025. Read the complete analysis: https://lnkd.in/g9Qxe4V2 #ArtificialIntelligence #VentureCapital #TechTrends #Innovation #AIInvestment

19 new AI startups are launching every single day. Yes, every day. That’s the pace at which the AI revolution is unfolding. As a market research firm, we’re seeing a sharp rise in requests from AI-driven startups to: ✅ Define a clear value proposition ✅ Craft high-impact key messaging ✅ Map out the competitive landscape ✅ Identify competitive edges ✅ Conduct deep market studies Why? Because when 19 new businesses enter the space daily, standing out is no longer optional, it's survival. Every company wants to carve out its niche, define its space, and make sure investors and customers see why they matter. If you're building in the AI space and need support with: - Market study - Competitive analysis - Investor-ready business plans - Winning pitch decks Reach out to us at: info@strategyhere.com Explore: www.strategyhere.com Let’s help you find your edge before the market moves on. #aistartups #strategy #marketresearch #gotomarket #pitchdecks #competitiveanalysis #valueproposition #businessstrategy #strategyhere

What if the next $500 billion startup doesn't turn a profit for a decade? 🤯 That is the question defining the current AI gold rush. We are witnessing an unprecedented divergence between private market valuations and traditional financial reality, demanding a new level of diligence from professional investors. Here are 3 critical updates on the state of AI valuations: 1️⃣ Sky-High Prices: Startups like OpenAI (at ~$500 Billion) are setting record values, often based purely on future potential. As per Pitchbook, over 57% of global VC dollars went to AI/ML startups in Q1 2025, making valuations completely disconnected from current sales. 2️⃣ The Trillion-Dollar Cost: The real risk isn't the AI—it’s the infrastructure. Companies are quietly projecting trillions in CapEx to build the data centers and chips needed (e.g., Altman’s "Stargate" plans). The threat is the sheer amount of debt and capital required to make massive AI profits possible. 3️⃣ Valuing People, Not Profit: Some small AI teams are now valued at up to $1.2 billion per employee. This shows investors are betting everything on potential, not current sales. We must ask: is this a sustainable boom or the next dot-com level bubble waiting to pop? As a Professional Investor, I would: ✅ Stop valuing AI by its potential and start valuing it by the power balance. ✅ Invest not just in the algorithm, but strategically in the infrastructure, data moats, or critical application layers where the value accrual is defensible and sustainable. This is a game of controllers, not just creators. #AIBubble #VCFunding #StartupValuation #GenerativeAI #TechInvestment #RiskManagement #VentureCapital

Affluense AI just secured ₹3 crore in pre-seed funding, backed by Zeropearl VC and industry leaders like CRED’s Kunal Shah. Their mission? Transforming how businesses connect with affluent clients using AI-powered intelligence. Is this the future for wealth and luxury sectors? Read more via StartupTalky: startuptalky #AI #WealthManagement

Reflection AI’s $2 billion round at an $8 billion valuation crystallizes a familiar market tension: exuberant capital chasing high-impact AI use cases versus the need to prove durable revenue and defensible moats. Problem — capital vs. commercial proof Venture capital continues to pour into AI infrastructure and developer automation, driving eye-popping re-ratings (Reflection: $545m → $8bn). That gap elevates exit and execution risk for late-stage backfills. Solution — focus on measurable ROI and enterprise adoption For investors and founders the near-term arbitrage is simple: prioritize products that deliver clear developer productivity gains and measurable cost savings, paired with enterprise contracts and compliance readiness. Macro trends - VC into AI remains elevated: Q3 2025 VC +38% YoY to $97bn; ~46% into AI. - Capital concentration toward model and tooling leaders; strategic corporate investors (including Nvidia-linked ecosystem) underpin platform plays. - Talent-driven startups (ex-DeepMind founders) continue to command premium valuations. Key factors supporting Reflection’s round - Strong investor roster (Eric Schmidt, Citi, 1789 Capital, Lightspeed, Sequoia). - Product focus on automating software development — high TAM and rapid adoption potential. - Strategic alignment with GPU/ML ecosystem providers. Risks - Valuation versus revenue disconnect; path to profitability unclear. - Intensifying competition (OpenAI, DeepSeek, others). - Regulatory and IP risks around generated code and data provenance. Actionable insights - Investors: insist on ARR milestones, customer concentration metrics and CAC payback. - Corporates: pilot integrations to capture developer productivity gains and lock-in. - Professionals: upskill in prompt engineering, MLOps and secure AI deployment to stay relevant. - Founders: demonstrate enterprise KPIs (deployment speed, defect reduction, TCO). Expert takeaway / forecast Expect continued strong funding for AI leaders but increasing scrutiny on revenue metrics and defensible moats; anticipate consolidation and strategic M&A into 2026. What do you think? Share your experience with AI tooling adoption in your org. — Viktor Kopylov, PhD, CFA.

Some founders are rethinking how to build in the age of AI, building with teams that are lean, automated, and driven by data from day one. This week, Claremont Colleges founder Sammy Greenwall shares what it takes to build and scale an AI-native company in a fast-changing market. He explains how small, focused teams can outperform large organizations through automation and why founders who make AI a core part of their strategy will define the next generation of industry leaders. It’s a Claremont Colleges world out there. 👇 https://lnkd.in/g3RsdD-r

A mate of mine who runs a national wealth advisory firm opined to me recently that "AI is just workflow automation - not a moat!" 🤔 Yes, and no. I'm not sure I'd trivialise the importance of workflow automation or how powerfully AI can enhance that automation by referring to it as "JUST" workflow automation. That said, I agree that off-the-shelf AI for workflow automation is not a moat. So what's all the AI fuss about? And why are sophisticated investors piling in to '"some" AI powered companies? For AI to create a technology moat investors can bank on, it requires things like unique or proprietary data, domain specificity, model & algorithmic innovation and vertical specialisation. When our technology team built our internal AI layer, it was designed to be domain specific, it was trained on 10+ years of proprietary campaign, investor behaviour and transaction data, it was built internally enabling us to tweak the model and the algorithm as we (and it) learns, and it was focused on vertical specialisation from day one. A very specific use case, with very specific tasks designed to solve very specific - and historically the most frustrating - parts of the capital raising process. Our agents now automate functions (compliance checks, campaign structuring, messaging, investor matching, investor analysis and next step actions) that traditionally require teams of highly experienced professionals, in seconds and for free ... and the results are insane: - 30% revenue uplift post-AI rollout - 220% increase in founder signups - 700+ campaigns currently under construction - $446M in capital demand from founders ... and we haven't even started to apply it to property deals, investment syndicates or managed funds yet - watch this space though! 😉 VentureCrowd is an agentic enterprise and it is being recognised at a global level at the world's LARGEST technology conference right now. Shortly our CTO Diego M. will share our story on stage at Dreamforce in San Francisco, as we show how VentureCrowd's AI solutions are shaping the future of investing and capital raising. If you want to be part of our growth story, become an investor in VentureCrowd here https://lnkd.in/gmuf6d3w OR watch the video at https://lnkd.in/gjQTZ2sU #DF25 #Dreamforce #Agentforce #AgenticAI #AI #VentureCrowd

The AI funding landscape is buzzing, but are founders truly ready for how investors are playing the long game? A recent Forbes article (Sept 17, 2025) titled "AI Funding Isn’t Slowing. Investors Are Just Playing The Long Game" reveals a critical shift: VCs are looking beyond immediate hype, focusing on sustainable value and capital efficiency. This means demonstrating not just *what* your AI can do, but *how* it creates enduring value and optimizes resources. It's about showing a clear path to profitability and a lean operational model. For founders, this translates to: → **Hyper-efficiency**: Are you maximizing every resource, especially your precious time? → **Data-driven pitches**: Can you articulate your long-term vision with solid metrics? → **Streamlined investor engagement**: Are you engaging only qualified investors who truly understand your sustainable model? The "spray-and-pray" approach to fundraising is officially outdated. Investors want to see thoughtful, strategic engagement and a deep understanding of your unit economics. 💡 **Question for founders**: What's the single biggest change you've made to your fundraising strategy to adapt to investors "playing the long game"? Share your insights below! At TalkingPitch, we believe in building for longevity. Our AI-powered platform turns your website into an interactive pitch in 20 seconds, streamlining investor screening so you can focus on building a sustainable, long-term vision. Learn more about how to engage investors efficiently: talkingpitch.com #TalkingPitch #Fundraising #StartupFounders #InvestorScreening #AI #VentureCapital #FundraisingTips #StartupLife #LongGame #CapitalEfficiency

AI agents have a knack for appearing promising, only to go off the rails. But agentic startups remain super HOT. Below is a look at the top 20 agent startups by revenue as per CBInsights data: Here are some key things I noticed: - They are setting record ARR growth rates with tremendous revenue efficiency (think even multiple millions per employee). - Investors are banking on this crazy growth offering even up to 150x revenue multiples - Vertical and horizontal agents are competing neck to neck. Though programming AI agents dominates revenue (as of now!) - Legacy players are playing catch up: Cursor (founding year: 2022) leads at $500M, while StackBlitz (2017) and Clay (2017) sit in 10th to 11th position (with less than 10% of Cursor's revenue) PS: Get actionable AI market gap reports on stuff like AI agents by subscribing here: https://botmemo.com/