Seed Funding In 2025 Broke Records Around Big Rounds And AI, With US Far In The Lead

The idea of a new normal arising in seed funding presumes there was once an old normal. But of course, there was not.

The only real consistency about the asset class is it’s reliably volatile. Sectors in vogue one year are out a few quarters later. Angel syndicates must increasingly compete with venture big shots. And founders who secure the biggest rounds can’t assume more capital is en route.

For 2025, the seed investment environment exhibited its typical quirkiness, with a few trends standing out. In particular, it was a huge year for huge rounds. Predictably, it was also a banner period for AI dealmaking. And in geographic trends, we saw the U.S. pull in a bigger-than-usual share of total investment.

Below, we take a look at each of these trends in greater detail.

No. 1: A huge year for huge rounds

The concept of a seed round being very small is rather retro. Today, both eight- and nine-figure rounds are reasonably common, especially for a startup with highly regarded founders, expertise in a hot sector, and an early technological advantage.

For 2025, investors have backed close to 700 seed-stage rounds of $10 million or more, per Crunchbase data. That puts this category on track to hit an all-time high.

It was also a record-setting year for really, really huge seed rounds. By this, we mean financings of $100 million or more — once unheard of, but now not that uncommon.

We kept the dataset of these deals to U.S. startups for simpler vetting. But even with this limit, the total was enormous — topping $3.6 billion this year, a new record.

However, keep in mind: most of the rise was due to a single round. This was the $2 billion seed financing for Thinking Machines Lab, the AI startup co-founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. This month, another giant deal also boosted the totals, a $475 million financing for Unconventional AI, which is designing a computer to optimize energy efficiency for AI.

No. 2: Another banner year for AI

Seed investors poured money into AI startups at a more exuberant pace than even last year, which was already record-setting. For 2025 so far, over 42% of all global seed funding has gone to companies in artificial intelligence-focused industry categories, per Crunchbase data. That’s up from 30% in 2024.

The numbers have also gotten bigger. Just over $15 billion has gone to AI-focused seed rounds this year, per Crunchbase, up about 50% from 2024. Below, we take a look at AI investment total and share for the past six years.

No. 3: Half of seed funding goes to US companies

Besides pouring money into AI, investors also increasingly concentrated their bets in U.S.-based companies.

American startups pulled in close to $18 billion in total seed funding so far this year, which accounted for about half of all global seed investment, per Crunchbase data. That’s the largest share in years.

As you can see in the chart below, U.S. startups pulled in well over 40% of all seed investment in each of the past six years. But 2025 is the only year that it’s just shy of half. We can point to the giant AI seed rounds mentioned above as the differentiating factor.

A robust year that supersized the notion of seed

Overall, we can point to 2025 as a robust year for seed spending, but also a period of heightened consolidation among perceived early winners.

Given that venture returns are driven largely by a handful of huge winning bets, it’s not shocking to see investors clustering around the few upstarts that seem best poised to deliver those. Still, it’s a bit disruptive to the classic idea of the seed round as a small wager on a promising founding team.

As always, we’re rooting for the most recent class of seed-funded startups to grow into greatness. For many, however, they won’t have much other choice, as a quick, small exit isn’t an option when you’re already at a nine- or 10-figure valuation.

Related Crunchbase query:

• Seed Funding, 2025

Related reading:

• Thinking Machines Lab’s $2B Seed Round Is Biggest By A Long Shot

Illustration: Dom Guzman