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Global dealmaking has reached $2.6 trillion, the highest for the first seven months of the year since the 2021 pandemic-era peak, as a quest for growth in corporate boardrooms and the impact of a surge in AI activity has overcome the uncertainty caused by U.S. tariffs.
The number of transactions to August 1 is 16% lower than the same time last year, but their value is 28% higher, according to Dealogic data, boosted by U.S. megadeals valued at more than $10 billion. READ MORE
With revenues likely to soar past $1 billion this fiscal year, the Big Ten’s deep pockets give its membership advantages well beyond its competition. But even for college athletics’ richest conference, the cash never seems enough in today’s ever-changing sports landscape. READ MORE
Global venture funding totaled $29.7 billion in July 2025, flat year over year and down month over month from the $43 billion invested in June, Crunchbase data shows.
Despite a month-over-month dip in venture dollars, July offered hopeful signs for startup investors: AI remains a funding juggernaut, and Figma’s stellar IPO performance could be the catalyst needed to unlock the public markets for dozens of high-growth, revenue-generating tech unicorns that have been waiting in the wings. READ MORE
The VC landscape is getting heated and expanding over AI, but another topic seems to be populating investment memos, GTM strategies and expansion plans. Tariffs, those seemingly boring policy tools, are redrawing the investment map across continents and deciding on winners versus losers in ways that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. READ MORE
Women are making strides in the venture capital world, according to a new report published by the nonprofit All Raise and as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
All Raise released a report that said 18.6% of the top roles at leading VC firms are held by women, which is double what it was in 2018. The survey also found that many women (a quarter of survey respondents) were promoted last year and that investors were still interested in backing underrepresented founders (75% of investors said they were looking to make such deals). READ MORE
A new buzzword for many VCs today is “rollups.”
This year, a slew of VC firms have turned to the PE playbook of buying and merging multiple similar small companies in the hope of building industry leaders. But unlike its big brother, VC’s secret sauce is technology, specifically AI. READ MORE
President Trump is considering whether to encourage retirement funds to invest in private equity, a financial sector that’s hungry for capital after shrinking last year for the first time in decades.
Trump is mulling an executive order that would instruct the Securities and Exchange Commission and Labor Department to guide directors of 401(k) and individual retirement account plans to make investments in private equity funds, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month. READ MORE
As the AI investment landscape reaches greater maturity, investors are observing a decisive "shift from 'hype' to 'discipline'" in evaluation criteria. While AI undoubtedly offers what many describe as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," investors are increasingly demanding evidence of "sustainable growth and proven profitability" rather than accepting promises based purely on technological potential. READ MORE
The Weekly Notable Startup Funding Report takes us on a trip across various ecosystems in the US, highlighting some of the notable funding activity in the various markets that we track. The notable startup funding rounds for the week ending 8/2/25 featuring funding details for ESB, Observe, Salient, and twenty-nine other deals representing $10.5B in new funding that you need to know about. READ MORE
For many HR pros, startups are a career sweet spot. That’s the case for Stacey Richey, who currently is global VP of people at Smartcat, a Series C AI translation company.
She’s worked at companies during hyper-growth periods. What first gave Richey the startup bug, she told HR Brew, was a formative early career experience working at a private equity firm, and consulting its portfolio companies on their talent strategies. READ MORE
Silicon Valley famously rewards outliers. Greylock Partners' Reid Hoffman invested in Airbnb—now an $87 billion publicly traded company—when seven other firms had turned the nascent startup down. First Round Capital's Rob Hayes turned the firm's seed investment in Uber into a 5,000x return. READ MORE
President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4 the joint domestic spending and tax package, dubbed the "Big Beautiful Bill," and some provisions will impact startups and VCs. While investors will continue to enjoy favorable taxation of their carried interest alongside some other wins, the final bill also includes provisions that will sting. READ MORE
Limited partners in private equity funds are usually reluctant to sell their positions at a loss, fearing reputational risk. The steeper the discount, the stronger the hesitation. READ MORE
The growth of the private equity in recent years has raised concerns about its consequences. This column matches 2.5 million workers who were employed by 3,600 firms in the US that underwent leveraged buyouts with workers at firms that were not acquired to explore the effects of private equity on labour market outcomes. The authors find that unemployment for workers at bought-out firms rises and wages fall substantially after buyouts, with wage losses concentrated among those who leave the bought-out firm. These dynamics appear to be the result of private equity acting to increase efficiency rather than exploiting labour market power. READ MORE
This update discusses a new and interesting development with respect to how certain non-US and US tax-exempt investors can receive a “rebate” of previously paid management fees with respect to their investments in private equity funds. We are encountering this new rebate alternative, usually presented in the subscription booklets of private equity funds, with increased frequency. Below is a high-level summary of this new rebate alternative and the potential tax considerations for investors who wish to select it. READ MORE
It’s time to take the temperature of the venture and private equity sectors, and we’ve got some new numbers.
VC investing in startups is on the upswing, with venture firms pouring $91 billion into companies during the second quarter, a roughly 11% increase year over year, according to business data and predictive intelligence firm Crunchbase. Second quarter’s $91 billion represents a 20% drop from the first quarter when startups raised $114 billion. However, Q1 was the strongest quarter for venture investment since Q2 2022. (First quarter also included OpenAI’s $40 billion financing, the largest private round ever.) READ MORE
The value of global funding rounds backed by private equity and venture capital rose to $189.93 billion in the first half of 2025 compared with $152.24 billion for the same period in 2024, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
In June, the total transaction value increased to $25.73 billion, compared with $23.38 billion in May. READ MORE
Leading AI startups are growing so fast that they’re forcing investors to rethink how they evaluate firms in the sector, venture capitalists say.
San Francisco-based Anysphere’s AI coding assistant Cursor reportedly hit US$100 million in annual recurring revenue in January, just 14 months after launch. The firm’s revenue run rate had topped US$500 million by June. Stockholm-based Lovable Labs, which also makes AI development tools, claimed in May to have reached US$50 million in annual recurring revenue in six months. READ MORE
The global Venture Capital (VC) market was valued at USD 250.26 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 1,283.27 billion by 2032, expanding at a CAGR of 20.1% during the forecast period from 2024 to 2032.
The market's robust growth is fueled by surging investment in technology startups, rising entrepreneurial activity worldwide, and the proliferation of disruptive innovations across industries. READ MORE