The global funding boom for AI startups has been a remarkable trend, with AI startups around the world raising a total of $47.3 billion between March and June 2025 (Q2). However, this boom is not truly global, as reports show that African startups received only a fraction of this amount.

In Q2, 2025, African AI startups raised a modest $14 million across five deals, representing just 0.02% of the global funding total. This places Africa as the least funded region in the world by far. In stark contrast, the United States emerged as the dominant player in global AI funding, with startups in the country securing $39.7 billion across 728 deals. This accounted for a staggering 83.9% of the global total raised in the quarter.

Europe followed at a distant second, raising $4.4 billion across 307 deals, which represents 9.3% of the global funding for the quarter. Asian AI startups garnered $2.1 billion through 300 deals, amounting to 4.4% of the total raised. Canadian startups raised $700 million across 33 deals, making up 1.47% of the global total. The Oceania region secured $300 million through 12 deals, contributing 0.6% of the total funding. Latin American startups raised $50 million across 17 deals, which accounted for 0.1% of the total funding. Africa, however, remains the least funded region.

Despite the imbalance in regional funding, Q2 2025 marked the second-highest funding quarter for AI startups globally. The quarter saw AI startups raising $47.3 billion across 1,403 deals, making it the second-largest funding quarter ever. A significant contributor to this total was Meta’s $14.8 billion minority stake in Scale. The overall deal volume grew by 2.5% compared to Q1 2025. Investors have become more assertive in their decisions, as evidenced by the median deal size reaching $4.6 million in 2025 YTD, a four-year high.

Quarterly funding, however, declined from the $68.9 billion raised in Q1 2025, reflecting a 31.3% drop. Still, the total raised for AI startups exceeded $40 billion for the third consecutive quarter, illustrating a strong, sustained interest in companies focused on artificial intelligence.

Looking at the year as a whole, 2025 has already become the most funded year on record for AI startups, even though we are only six months in. As of mid-2025, global funding for AI startups stands at $116.1 billion, a 10% increase from the $105.7 billion raised in all of 2024. This figure is nearly double the total raised in both 2023 and 2022 combined.

Equity funding accounted for 58% of the $1.03 billion invested in African fintechs in 2024, reflecting significant interest in this sector as well. Alongside funding, there has been an increasing interest in the acquisition of AI startups, with 177 exits recorded globally in Q2 2025. This marks a record high for quarterly exits, surpassing the 100 exits in the previous quarter and the 120 in the quarter before that. Notably, the United States was the driving force behind this surge in exits, with acquisitions of U.S.-based AI startups nearly doubling from the previous quarter.

As artificial intelligence continues to infiltrate both personal and professional spheres, investment in AI technologies continues to rise. However, while AI startups globally are securing large portions of funding, African AI startups have not garnered much attention from investors. Despite this, as African startups continue to create innovative solutions to local challenges, it is likely only a matter of time before they begin to receive the financial support they need.

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