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Q1 2025 VC Deals Fell Year Over Year, but Global Funding Dollars Rose

PitchBook-NVCA regional deal counts fell year over year in Q1 2025, while Crunchbase’s global funding total rose 54%—a divergence shaped by a few mega-rounds.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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Q1 2025 venture deal counts fell year over year across every region reported by the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, but global startup funding dollars did not dip in Crunchbase’s dataset: they rose 54% to $113 billion. The apparent contradiction comes down to what is being measured—and how much a few exceptionally large rounds affected the dollar total.

Did global VC investment fall in Q1 2025?

Not by every measure. The PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor figures reported by VentureBeat show fewer deals in each of five broad regions than in Q1 2024. Separately, Crunchbase counted $113 billion in global startup funding in Q1 2025, up from $73 billion a year earlier.

Those figures describe different datasets and measures. Deal count tracks the number of transactions; funding dollars track the capital reported. Neither dataset should be treated as a direct substitute for the other or combined into a single market total.

How many deals were reported by region?

VentureBeat’s April 2, 2025 report, drawing on PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor figures, reported year-over-year declines in all five listed regions:

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Region Q1 2024 deals Q1 2025 deals Year-over-year change
North America 4,282 3,155 Down 26%
Europe 2,917 1,852 Down 37%
Asia 3,111 2,063 Down 34%
Latin America 225 156 Down 31%
Rest of the world 561 325 Down 42%

Percentages are rounded from the reported counts. These are regional deal counts, not dollar totals, and they do not establish that every funding stage or company in each region experienced the same change. VentureBeat’s report attributes the figures to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.

Why did funding dollars rise while deals fell?

A small number of very large rounds can lift a dollar total even as the number of transactions drops. Crunchbase reported $113 billion in global startup funding for Q1 2025, 54% more than its $73 billion total for Q1 2024. It says OpenAI’s $40 billion round accounted for about one-third of the quarter’s global total.

That concentration matters when interpreting the headline. A rising market-wide total does not mean a typical startup raised more easily, or that capital was broadly available. PitchBook’s Kyle Stanford described the U.S. market as “very bifurcated between a handful of companies able to raise an endless amount of money, and the rest of the market that continues to struggle through a capital shortage.”

Which sectors and regions drew large amounts?

In Crunchbase’s global dataset, AI companies raised $59.6 billion in Q1 2025, equal to 53% of global funding. Healthcare and biotech drew $18 billion, while financial services drew $10.8 billion. Those sector figures describe Crunchbase’s funding-dollar data, not the PitchBook-NVCA regional deal counts.

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For Asia, VentureBeat quoted Melanie Tng, Asia Pacific private capital analyst, saying the number of deals declined while total capital invested rose sharply, driven by larger B2B rounds. She identified Binance’s $2 billion raise as the region’s largest deal. This is an example of deal count and invested capital moving in opposite directions within a region, rather than evidence that transaction activity increased.

How should U.S. figures be compared with the global total?

An indexed excerpt from the Q1 2025 PitchBook-NVCA report, as of March 31, 2025, gives U.S. deal value of $91.5 billion, up 18.5% quarter over quarter, and an estimated deal count of 3,990. These figures are U.S.-only and use PitchBook-NVCA’s measure; they are not comparable to Crunchbase’s $113 billion global startup-funding total. The deal count is identified as an estimate.

The time periods also differ: the U.S. deal-value comparison is quarter over quarter, while the global Crunchbase comparison above is year over year. A quarter-over-quarter increase cannot be read as a year-over-year increase without the corresponding prior-year comparison.

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What the Q1 figures can—and cannot—tell you

  • Deal activity weakened across the listed regions. Each regional count reported from PitchBook-NVCA was lower than its Q1 2024 figure.
  • Global funding dollars increased in Crunchbase’s data. The increase was heavily influenced by a single $40 billion OpenAI round.
  • Large sector totals do not show how a typical company fared. AI made up more than half of Crunchbase’s reported global total, indicating concentration rather than broad access to capital.
  • The datasets have different scopes and definitions. Crunchbase says its Q1 data reflects reported information as of April 2, 2025; seed and early-stage totals can rise as rounds are added after quarter-end. It also converts foreign-currency events at historical spot rates. Its stage categories should not be assumed to match another provider’s.

Crunchbase’s figures are therefore a snapshot, especially for early-stage activity, rather than a final count immune to later revisions. Its methodology notes and global funding analysis are available in its Q1 2025 funding report.

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What about venture exits?

Deal and funding totals do not capture exits. In VentureBeat’s April 2 report, Stanford said Q1 showed signs of exit-market excitement, citing CoreWeave’s high-profile IPO, the announcement of a $32 billion Wiz acquisition that had not yet been completed, and other well-known IPO filings. Those were developments noted at the time, not a measure of completed exit value for the quarter.

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