- U.S. venture capital funding surged to $55.6 billion in the second quarter, marking the highest quarterly total in two years, according to PitchBook data published on Wednesday.
Investors' ongoing excitement around building and adopting AI technology, which could potentially bring significant returns, has fueled the recovery of venture capital funding.After reaching a record high $97.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, U.S. VC funding had been steadily declining. It hit a recent low of $35.4 billion in the second quarter of 2023, amid a high interest rate environment and a sluggish exit market.
Despite the increase in deal activity, exits remain challenging, the data shows, as small deals generated about $23.6 billion in exit value in the second quarter this year, down from $37.8 billion in the first quarter. The initial public offering market has struggled to gain momentum, even after some VC-backed companies such as cloud data management company Rubrik, went public.