AI Venture Funding Surpasses Crypto by $19 Billion in Q1 2025

Crypto venture funding in the U.S. reached approximately $861 million in Q1 2025, significantly lower than AI's nearly $20 billion during the same period, as reported by Pitchbook.

• 795 deals were completed in AI, featuring major investments like Databricks' $15.3 billion and Anthropic's $2 billion rounds.
• The largest crypto deal was Abu Dhabi’s MGX investing $2 billion in Binance, marking the first institutional investment in the exchange.
• Other notable crypto raises included $82 million from Mesh, $70 million from Bitwise, and $58 million from Sygnum.
• In 2024, AI startups attracted one-third of global VC investment totaling $131.5 billion, while crypto garnered $4.9 billion across 706 deals.

Historically, venture capital has favored AI over crypto, with AI funding growing from $670 million in 2011 to $36 billion in 2020. Crypto exceeded AI funding only once during a bullish cycle in 2021.

A report from Dragonfly noted that between 2020 and 2024, the largest airdrops generated $7 billion, highlighting alternative funding mechanisms in crypto beyond traditional venture capital.