Venture Funding Summary – February 2025

• Total Global Funding: $19 billion — one of the slowest months for startup investment in the past year.
• U.S. Market: Led with just over $10 billion invested, representing 54% of total global venture investment.

Although overall venture activity was sluggish, AI and healthcare/biotech led the way, with hardware and manufacturing also gaining momentum.

Sector and Healthcare Highlights

AI was the dominant sector, pulling in $5.7 billion (30% of global funding). However, healthcare and biotech followed closely, securing 22% of total venture investment — roughly $4.18 billion. This strong showing underscores that healthcare and life sciences remain a top priority for investors, even as broader market conditions remain cautious.

Among the largest healthcare-related deals, Eikon Therapeutics raised a $351 million Series D to advance its drug discovery platform, marking one of the biggest rounds of the month across all sectors.

Other significant rounds in February, though not healthcare-specific, included Lambda ($480M for GPU training/inference), Apptronik ($350M for humanoid robots), and NinjaOne ($500M endpoint management).

Market Trends & Outlook

Half of all global venture investment in February — about $9.7 billion — went to late-stage funding, with another $7 billion for early-stage and $2.3 billion for seed-stage companies.

Interestingly, despite the overall funding slowdown, the number of billion-dollar-plus valuation rounds remained steady — 21 companies raised at that level, only slightly down from 23 in January. This suggests investors are still ready to write big checks for scaled, high-potential companies.

That said, economic uncertainty, including potential U.S. tariffs impacting public tech stocks, could weigh on venture markets going into 2025. But for now, critical sectors like biotech and AI continue to attract major capital.

Key Takeaways for Healthcare & Life Sciences

• Life sciences and biotech secured 22% of total venture funding, reinforcing their position as a core focus for investors.
• Major rounds like Eikon Therapeutics’ $351M raise show strong backing for drug discovery and innovative therapeutics.
• Late-stage funding dominated, which could benefit biotech companies nearing commercialization or advanced clinical trials.
• Despite economic headwinds, large healthcare and biotech deals are still getting done, signaling confidence in the sector.
• Given AI’s dominance, convergence between AI and biotech (e.g., AI-driven drug discovery) is likely to remain a hot area for future investment.

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