More money, fewer winners: Inside venture capital’s uneven comeback | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

So, why did Andreessen Horowitz just raise 15 billion bucks? Let’s ask Ben Horowitz.

The entrepreneur and co-founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm said he’s looking to back the USA.

“At this moment of profound technological opportunity, it is fundamentally important for humanity that America wins,” Horowitz said in a Jan. 9 statement. “There is no other country that comes close to giving everyone a chance to grab that opportunity and build.”

Andreessen Horowitz, which has invested in such companies as ChatGPT creator OpenAI, Airbnb (ABNB), Substack, and Coinbase, announced five different funds that include growth investments, biotech and healthcare, and “American Dynamism”.

“As the American leader in Venture Capital, the fate of new technology in the United States rests partly on our shoulders,” Horowitz said. “Our mission is ensuring that America wins the next 100 years of technology.”

Horowitz vowed that the firm would invest in the “best and the brightest entrepreneurs” and help them to build generational companies.

“In doing so, we will work doubly hard to make sure the benefits go to America, the American people, and our many friends and allies around the world,” he said.

AI companies raised $226 billion in 2025, capturing 48% of total venture funding—the largest share on record.

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Venture capital is making a comeback

Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg, a former Formula 1 racing champion, has raised $100 million for his venture capital firm, Bloomberg reported, making it one of the largest technology investors from a former athlete. Rosberg Ventures, formed in 2022, mostly operates as a fund of funds, backing prominent VC firms.

The company has also increasingly invested directly in startups, including ClickHouse, a database technology company spun out of Russian tech giant Yandex, which was valued at $6.35 billion in May.

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Sports stars like LeBron James and Serena Williams have also set up funds to back startups, and the recent artificial intelligence boom has drawn in more famous investors, including footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, Bloomberg said.

Venture capital is making a comeback of sorts, analysts say, but it’s not for anybody.

Global venture funding rose 47% to $469 billion—with the fourth quarter reaching $152 billion, the best since the first quarter of 2022, according to the market intelligence platform CB Insights.

However, the overall deal count fell 17%, even as mega-round deals increased 77% to account for 65% of total funding.

U.S. startups raised $328 billion—70% of global funding —meaning U.S. market shifts could have outsized impacts on global venture.

AI companies raised $226 billion in 2025, capturing 48% of total venture funding—the largest share on record, with the biggest rounds going to AI startups, led by OpenAI and Anthropic, CB Insights said.

The Japanese multinational holding company SoftBank finalized a $40 billion investment in OpenAI in late 2025, making it OpenAI’s largest financial backer.

SoftBank will build a syndicate of co-investors to provide $10 billion of the total, while it expects to fund the other $30 billion, with $10 billion of that amount through debt.

Robotics got a significant boost in 2025, with companies raising a record $40.7 billion 2025, 9% of total venture funding. Industrial humanoid robots led all markets with 80 deals.

Hyper-focus on AI investments

“After two years of capital scarcity, liquidity is finally returning to the venture ecosystem (even if unevenly),” Wellington Management said in its Investment Outlook. “In 2026, we believe venture investors will need to navigate a more selective, quality-driven environment where access, underwriting discipline, and cross-market insights will matter most.”

“We see this as a period of reinvestment: a moment to lean into innovative leaders while preserving flexibility across liquidity pathways.”

The firm said the heavily prophesised reopening of the IPO window built significant momentum in 2025 and, despite stumbling during the volatility in April, saw substantial progress in the third quarter of the year. IPO volumes and proceeds grew 20% and 84%, respectively.

“We believe that the strong performance of high-profile IPOs in 2025, combined with a growing backlog of IPO-ready companies, suggests pent-up supply that should extend momentum into 2026,” Wellington said.

Global mergers and acquisitions also surged last year, the firm said, fueled by a wave of late-quarter megadeals and buoyant equity markets, as well as increased confidence in a potential Federal Reserve rate-cutting cycle.

Private equity sponsors led the charge, Wellington said, as buyout firms looked to capitalize on improved market conditions.

“We believe M&A activity in 2026 will likely be driven by interest rates, with the ongoing rate-cutting cycle potentially accelerating with a new Fed chair in the spring,” Wellington said.

The firm said the VC opportunity set is bifurcated, with strong, often AI-driven companies attracting capital while all others struggle.

“This hyperfocus on AI has had widespread impacts on fundraising for other sectors. Given the tighter purse strings in non-AI opportunities, only companies with the strongest competitive positions are attracting substantial funding,” Wellington said. “Investors are prioritizing companies with strong unit economics, growth, and defensible market positions.”

“As concentration in top-tier assets persists, we believe 2026 will continue to reward selectivity and conviction.”