AI Funding Booms in 2025 with Early Billion-Dollar Rounds

AI Funding Booms in 2025 with Early Billion-Dollar Rounds AI Funding Booms in 2025 with Early Billion-Dollar Rounds
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The AI industry continues its blistering pace into 2025, building on a record-setting 2024 where 49 startups raised $100 million or more. That year saw three companies secure multiple “megarounds” and seven startups pull in over $1 billion each.

With only a few months into 2025, momentum shows no signs of slowing. The first quarter alone has seen more AI megarounds close in the U.S. than during the same period last year — including several billion-dollar deals.

Notable U.S. AI Funding Rounds in 2025 (So Far)

April

  • SandboxAQ raised $450M (Series E) on April 4, valuing it at $5.7B. Investors included Nvidia, Google, and Ray Dalio.
  • Runway, a media-focused AI model creator, secured $308M (Series D) on April 3 at a $3B valuation, led by General Atlantic with SoftBank, Nvidia, and Fidelity also backing the round.

March

  • OpenAI closed a historic $40B round on March 31, pushing its valuation to $300B. Led by SoftBank, it included Microsoft, Thrive Capital, and Coatue.
  • Nexthop AI raised $110M (Series A) on March 25, led by Lightspeed and supported by Kleiner Perkins and Battery Ventures.
  • Insilico Medicine secured $110M (Series E) on March 13, co-led by Value Partners and Pudong Chuangtou, valuing the firm at $1B.
  • Celestial AI pulled in $250M (Series C) on March 11, now worth $2.5B. Fidelity led the round with Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan and BlackRock participating.
  • Lila Sciences raised $200M in a seed round to build a scientific superintelligence platform. Flagship Pioneering led the raise.
  • Reflection.Ai landed $130M (Series A) on March 10. The Brooklyn startup, just a year old, is now valued at $580M.
  • Turing, an AI coding firm, raised $111M (Series E) on March 7, valuing it at $2.2B.
  • Shield AI collected $240M (Series F) on March 6 at a $5.3B valuation.
  • Anthropic, an LLM leader, raised a staggering $3.5B (Series E) on March 3 at a $61.5B valuation.

February

  • Together AI closed a $305M (Series B) round on Feb 20 at a $3.3B valuation. Co-led by Prosperity7 and General Catalyst.
  • Lambda raised $480M (Series D) on Feb 19, pushing its valuation near $2.5B.
  • Abridge secured $250M (Series D) on Feb 17, now worth $2.75B.
  • Eudia, an AI legal startup, raised $105M (Series A) on Feb 13, led by General Catalyst.
  • EnCharge AI raised $100M (Series B) also on Feb 13, backed by Tiger Global and Samsung Ventures.
  • Harvey, another legal AI firm, raised $300M (Series D) on Feb 12, at a $3B valuation, led by Sequoia.

January

  • ElevenLabs, a synthetic voice startup, closed a $180M (Series C) on Jan 30, now valued above $3B.
  • Hippocratic AI, developing LLMs for healthcare, raised $141M (Series B) on Jan 9 at a $1.6B+ valuation.

The first quarter of 2025 suggests this year could surpass even the landmark figures of 2024. Investor enthusiasm remains high, especially in infrastructure, healthcare, legal tech, and generative media — pointing to continued innovation and competition in the AI space.

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