Investors still have an AI FOMO problem: 57.9% of global VC dollars invested in Q1 went to AI and machine learning startups, according to the latest PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. “The fear of somebody else winning your market has never been higher than it is now,” said Maria Palma, general partner at Freestyle Capital. “You haven’t seen a slowdown because the rate of change on the technology side is almost indigestible.” The capital is even more concentrated in North America, with 70.2% of deal value going into AI and ML startups. Globally, the sector raised $73.1 billion in the first quarter—more than half of last year’s annual total. Of that, $40 billion came from OpenAI’s recent round led by SoftBank. The piling of VC into AI companies also means that the investment outcomes will be very uneven. “You’re seeing a lot of extremes happening, and that’s going to mean there’s going to be a lot of losers,” said Nnamdi Okike, co-founder and managing partner at 645 Ventures. “A lot of VC funds are just kind of saying, ‘Hey, this can only go up.’ And that’s usually a recipe for failure—when that starts to happen, you’re becoming detached from reality.”

Full analysis : In Q1 2025, AI and ML startups raised $73.1 billion, accounting for 57.9% of global VC funding, with OpenAI’s recent round led by SoftBank contributing $40 billion.