Between March and June 2025, AI startups worldwide raised an impressive $47.3 billion, marking the second-highest funding quarter on record. But while the boom was significant globally, Africa saw little of it.
African AI startups raised just $14 million across five deals in Q2, representing a mere 0.02% of the global total, making it the least funded region in the world by far, Tech In Africa reported.
The United States led the pack by a huge margin, with AI startups there raising $39.7 billion across 728 deals, a commanding 83.9% share of global funding for the quarter.
Europe came in second with $4.4 billion across 307 deals, accounting for 9.3% of the total.
Asian startups secured $2.1 billion in 300 deals (4.4%), while Canadian startups raised $700 million in 33 deals (1.47%).
Oceania pulled in $300 million across 12 deals (0.6%), and Latin America brought in $50 million across 17 deals (0.1%).
Africa, however, remained at the bottom of the list. Despite this imbalance, Q2 2025 still proved historic.
The $47.3 billion raised across 1,403 deals made it the second-largest funding quarter ever for AI startups, driven in part by Meta’s $14.8 billion minority stake in Scale.
Deal activity rose 2.5% from Q1, and the median deal size for 2025 so far reached $4.6 million, the highest in four years, as investors became more selective and assertive.
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However, the quarter’s funding total fell 31.3% from the $68.9 billion raised in Q1 2025.
Even so, AI startups have now exceeded $40 billion in quarterly funding for three consecutive quarters, signaling sustained investor interest in the sector.
Halfway through the year, 2025 has already become the most funded year ever for AI startups.
As of mid-year, they have raised $116.1 billion globally, up 10% from the $105.7 billion secured in all of 2024, and nearly double the combined totals for 2023 and 2022.
The wave of investment has been accompanied by a record number of acquisitions.
In Q2 2025, there were 177 exits of AI startups globally, breaking the previous records of 100 exits in Q1 and 120 in the quarter before that.
The U.S. was the main driver of this surge, with acquisitions of American AI startups nearly doubling compared to the prior quarter.
In Africa, fintech remains a major focus for investors, with equity funding accounting for 58% of the $1.03 billion invested in African fintechs in 2024.
But when it comes to AI, the continent’s startups are still struggling to attract significant backing.
While they have yet to capture substantial investor attention, many are building innovative solutions to address local challenges, and observers believe it may only be a matter of time before they secure the funding they need.
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