Artificial intelligence is eating venture capital. Or at least its dollars.

By the numbers: AI startups received 53% of all global venture capital dollars invested in the first half of 2025, according to new data from PitchBook.

• That percentage jumps to 64% in the U.S.
• AI startups also comprise 29% of all global startups funded, and nearly 36% in the U.S.

The big picture: There's nothing new about venture capitalists skating hard to where the puck is going, particularly when it comes to a technology that looks to become ubiquitous.

• What is different, however, is the capital concentration in a small number of companies. In Q2, more than one-third of all U.S. venture dollars went to just five companies.
• We simply didn't see multi-billion dollar funding rounds during the dotcom boom, even if adjusting for inflation.

The bull case: This feels like the start of a sea change whose magnitude will drown prior tech revolutions. The reward is worth the risk.

• It's no longer just about being price agnostic. It's also about being check size agnostic, particularly in an age where incumbents like Meta are willing to spend big on AI acquisitions. Plus, SPVs can help limit portfolio concentration risk.

The bear case: Another big break with the past is that those incumbents are paying attention and playing offense, whereas prior startup surges had the element of surprise.

• There's also an argument that many of the foundational model deals look more like project finance than traditional venture capital, which means they have different return profiles.

The bottom line: Diversification is dying. Long live dominance.

G/O Media, a Great Hill Partners portfolio company, has sold gaming news site Kotaku to Swiss media company Keleops.

Why it's the BFD: This is the effective end of G/O, a digital media rollup that courted both consolidation and controversy.

• It still has one remaining property, The Root, which is on the block.

Catch up quick: Other brands previously owned by G/O included Deadspin, Lifehacker, The Onion, A.V. Club, Jalopnik, Jezebel, and Quartz.

• Many of these were part of the former Gawker empire, purchased by G/O from Univision.

The bottom line: CEO Jim Spanfeller yesterday published an "epilogue," taking shots at media unions and blaming COVID and secular media trends for not achieving the "hockey stick" growth that G/O and Great Hill originally anticipated.

• At the same time, he claimed that "we will exit having increased shareholder value." No specifics followed, and Great Hill didn't return a request for comment on ROI.

• Bilt, a New York-based rent rewards startup, is raising new funding at around a $10b valuation, per Axios Pro. axios.link/44cglsP

• Impossible Metals, a San Jose, Calif.-based deep-sea mining startup, will seek to raise over $1b later this year, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4ey8wRz

• Hived, a London-based parcel delivery startup, raised $42m in Series B funding. NordicNinja led, joined by Bolt and Einride. Wex VC, Marunouchi Innovation Partners, Elemental Impact, Yamato Holdings, Future Back Ventures, Rocketship VC, and Planet A. axios.link/403xgeK

• QEDMA, an Israeli developer of quantum noise resilience solutions, raised $26m in Series A funding. Glilot Capital Partners led, joined by Glilot+, IBM, and Korean Investment Partners. qedma.com

🚑 Liki24, a Ukraine-founded health and wellness marketplace, raised $9m in Series A funding from U Ventures, TA Ventures, iClub, N1 Ventures, SID Venture Partners, MA7 Ventures, and DniproVC. axios.link/44JHlzY

• Nordic Air Defence, a Swedish developer of drone interceptor solutions, raised $3m in new pre-seed funding led by Inflection. axios.link/3TYB2Co

• Cekura, an SF-based voice agent testing startup, raised $2.4m in seed funding from YC, Flex Capital, Hike Ventures, Kulveer Taggar, and Pioneer Fund. axios.link/4evI4br

• CIMware, an Indian data center infrastructure startup, raised $2.3m led by Transition VC. axios.link/40neoHR

• Balthazar, an Amsterdam-based R&D platform, raised €1.2m in pre-seed funding led by CapitalT. axios.link/3TQhyjs

• Abry Partners invested in Oracle RMS, a Canadian commercial and personal lines insurance brokerage. oraclerms.com

• Advent International and Platinum Equity are the most likely buyers for DuPont's (NYSE: DD) protective equipment business, including body armor brand Kevlar, per the FT. A deal could fetch around $2b. axios.link/3TVdQoG

• Athora, backed by Apollo, reportedly is in advanced talks to buy U.K. insurer PIC for around £6b from firms like CVC Capital Partners. axios.link/403fHLP

• Altaline invested in Brazos Safety Systems, a Fort Worth, Texas-based provider of flight safety tech and analytics. brazossafety.com

• Blackstone is buying the minority stake it doesn't already hold in events software platform Cvent from Vista Equity Partners for $1.3b. axios.link/3GpASkz

⚡ Delta Utilities, a Bernhard Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired Entergy's (NYSE: ETR) two regulated natural gas utilities serving New Orleans and East Baton Rouge Parish. deltautilities.com

• Foundation Investment Partners acquired AAA Industrial Supply, a Garrett, Ind.-based distributor of industrial supplies and safety equipment. aaaindustrialsupply.com

• Laz Parking, backed by Argo Infrastructure Investors, acquired a 60% stake in Indigo Park Canada. axios.link/4nr9Slr

🚑 Symplr, a Houston-based portfolio company of Clearlake Capital Group and Charlesbank Capital Partners, acquired Smart Square, a scheduling software provider, from AMN Healthcare (NYSE: AMN). axios.link/4kgK5td

• Syspro, an Advent International portfolio company, acquired RiteSoft, a St. Cloud, Minn.-based provider of mobile warehouse and time tracking software for manufacturers and distributors. syspro.com

• Thoma Bravo agreed to acquire restaurant SaaS provider Olo (NYSE: OLO) for around $2b, or $10.25 per share. axios.link/44dnZmN

• Verdane invested in Guardsquare, a Belgian mobile application security company backed by Battery Ventures. guardsquare.com

• Ambiq Micro, an Austin, Texas-based developer of lower-power semiconductors, filed for an IPO. It's raised over $400m from backers like Kleiner Perkins and EDB Investments, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (AMBQ). axios.link/44tcV3J

• 1RT Acquisition, a digital assets SPAC formed by 1RoundTable Partners, raised $150m in its IPO. axios.link/3SLf7hN

🚑 Abry hired JPMorgan to find a buyer for physician social network Sermo, which could fetch between $600m and $800m, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3ThgLYG

🚀 Open Cosmos, a British developer of "sustainable" low-Earth orbit satellites that's raised nearly $60m from VCs, acquired Connected, a Portuguese provider of IoT connectivity from space that was seeded by such firms as Iberis Capital, Shilling, and Fund Box. axios.link/4khTq3Z

• Thesis*, a bitcoin-focused venture studio, acquired Lolli, a Durham, N.C.-based Bitcoin rewards platform that raised around $28m from firms like Acrew Capital, Bitkraft Ventures, and DCG. axios.link/4ewFfXt

• Zurich Insurance (Swiss: ZURN) agreed to acquire Boxx Insurance, a Canadian cyber risk management that had raised VC funding from such backers as Zurich Insurance, SixThirty Ventures, and Cyber Mentor Fund. axios.link/44bAD5M

• HSBC (NYSE: HSBC) agreed to sell its U.K. life insurance unit to Chesnara (LSE: CSN) for £260m. axios.link/3I9qdem

• Starboard Value has amassed over a 9% stake in Tripadvisor (Nasdaq: TRIP), "after the online travel-review company eschewed takeover offers in the past year," per the WSJ. axios.link/44Aopmh

⚡Tata Group of India is in talks to buy a majority stake in Singaporean power generation and transmission firm Resurgent, in which Tata holds a 26% position, per Bloomberg. Sellers would include ICICI Venture Funds, KIA, and Oman Investment Authority. axios.link/3ZXaK7d

• Khosla Ventures is raising up to $4.45b for a trio of new funds, per SEC filings. It includes a limit of $1.95b for its ninth flagship fund, $1.25b for its third growth fund, and $750m for its seventh seed fund. khoslaventures.com

• David Torrence joined Wells Fargo as executive director of tech investment banking. He previously was with Morgan Stanley. axios.link/44JGIX8

The U.S. economy added 147k jobs in June, beating expectations and defying growth slowdown fears. The unemployment rate was down a tick to 4.1%.

• This doesn't put any new pressure on the Fed to lower rates.