FILE PHOTO: Figurines with computers and smartphones are seen in front of the words "Artificial Intelligence AI" in this illustration taken, February 19, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoU.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. The recent influx of capital into AI startups has reversed the downward trend, prompting more investors to double down on AI foundation model companies as well as applications from code generation to productivity tools.
"For VC returns to see an increase, large tech companies must begin to list publicly at a higher pace than we have seen through the first half of the year," Pitchbook analyst Kyle Stanford said in a statement.