Zocks, a San Francisco-based startup, has successfully raised $45 million in a Series B funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and QED Investors. This financing round, which included participation from all prior investors such as Motive Ventures and 14Peaks Capital, comes less than a year after Zocks' $13.8 million Series A raise. Founded in 2022 by Mark Gilbert, a former Microsoft and Twilio executive, and Akos Ratku, Zocks utilizes AI to help financial advisers streamline their workflows by organizing meeting notes and extracting valuable client insights while maintaining strict security and privacy standards. The company’s software, deployed in over 5,000 financial firms including Ameritas Life Insurance and Cambridge Investment Research, supports advisers by automating tasks from follow-ups to compliance-driven responses. Reporting an 8-fold revenue growth year-over-year, Zocks aims to address the adviser shortage and improve financial planning by proactively suggesting personalized actions based on comprehensive client data integration. Looking ahead, the startup plans to expand beyond the U.S. and Canada into European markets.

Cybersecurity startups attracted a surge in funding during 2025, reaching the highest level in three years. Investment topped $18 billion, marking a 26% increase over 2024, driven largely by large funding rounds for AI-centered security firms. Despite a slight drop in the number of deals, the amount raised grew significantly, especially at the early stages where $7.5 billion was invested—a 63% increase fueled by AI-security innovations. U.S.-based companies dominated the market, securing 74% of total deals and sizable exits. Highlight deals included Cyera's near-billion-dollar funding rounds and Google's planned $32 billion acquisition of cloud security firm Wiz. The year also featured major IPOs and acquisitions, signaling strong confidence in cybersecurity's growth and resilience.

In 2025, global venture capital funding for fintech startups reached $51.8 billion, marking a 27% increase from $40.8 billion in 2024, propelled by significant late-stage investments. Despite a 23% decline in the number of deals to 3,457, the total funding surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Major investments highlighted include Polymarket's $2 billion round, Binance's $2 billion infusion, and Kalshi's $1 billion Series E funding. Experts attribute the healthier funding environment to a market reset post-2022, with a focused investment approach favoring quality over quantity, particularly in areas like AI and stablecoins. This marks a shift from the rapid, less selective funding seen in 2021–2022 when fintech benefited from pandemic-driven digital adoption and low interest rates.

Latin America's startup ecosystem saw a notable 14.3% rise in investment during 2025, reaching a total venture funding of $4.1 billion, compared to $3.6 billion in 2024, according to Crunchbase data. Mexico experienced a remarkable funding jump of 53%, with $1.1 billion invested, second only to Brazil's $2.1 billion. The influx was driven by both early- and late-stage investments, particularly in financial services, as Latin America’s expanding middle class and digital innovation continue to attract investor confidence. Despite this rebound, funding still trails behind the peak years of 2021 and 2022. Investors highlight the region's strategic advantages like growing digital access, regulatory innovation, and structural inefficiencies ripe for disruption. Fintech dominates as the primary focus, with Mexico City emerging as a regional hub, alongside growing interest in AI and enterprise software targeting under-digitized sectors.

Alberto Onetti outlines an expansive journey of the global startup economy fueled by over $4 trillion in venture capital investments since the early 2000s. Nearly 100,000 scaleups have emerged, including thousands that have raised significant capital, yet the global innovation landscape shows little change in power dynamics. North America and APAC lead in scaleup numbers and investment, while Europe lags behind, under-capitalized and fragmented. However, the ecosystem is growing thicker with nearly 900 startup ecosystems today compared to 500 a decade ago, suggesting latent dynamism beneath a seemingly stable surface. The report anticipates over 1,500 ecosystems by 2030, posing challenges for investors navigating this enriched but complex landscape. Regions such as Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa remain underrepresented at the higher stages of ecosystem development, hinting at potential yet to be fully realized.

Rain, a New York-based startup focused on payment infrastructure using stablecoins, has raised $250 million in a Series C round led by Iconiq, valuing the company at $1.95 billion—a 17-fold increase since last March. This latest funding follows rapid successive rounds: a $58 million Series B less than five months ago and a $24.5 million Series A ten months prior, bringing total funding to over $338 million. Rain enables businesses to issue cards and wallets linked to stablecoins, allowing customers to spend stablecoins like regular money at merchants accepting Visa. Its platform facilitates converting traditional currencies to stablecoins for vendor, employee, and customer payments, easing cross-border transactions. CEO Farooq Malik highlighted a 30x rise in active card users and a 38x surge in annualized payment volumes, amounting to over $3 billion in transactions annually for clients such as Western Union and Nuvei. The fresh capital will support Rain's expansion into new markets and growth in enterprise clientele. Iconiq underscores the shift from traditional payment systems toward programmable digital asset infrastructure, emphasizing Rain's potential to become the leading platform in this evolving space.

In 2025, funding for startups across the U.S. and Canada reached a robust $280 billion, marking a significant 46% increase over the previous year. This growth was largely driven by investments in AI-related companies, which attracted around $168 billion, or 60% of the total funding, including major rounds for firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Despite a slight drop in the number of deals, the overall capital inflow concentrated on larger funding rounds, especially in late-stage and early-stage companies, which saw sizeable investments of $191 billion and $69 billion respectively. Seed funding saw a modest decline compared to 2024 but remained substantial, highlighted by big-ticket seed deals. The year also witnessed notable IPOs and M&A activities, including Google's $32 billion acquisition of Wiz and Nvidia's $20 billion purchase of AI chip developer Groq, signaling a vibrant exit market. Indicators suggest that the venture capital momentum, especially surrounding AI startups, is expected to continue strong into 2026, despite concerns about an AI bubble.

After a period of stagnation, global startup funding rebounded strongly in 2025, according to Crunchbase data, showing a 30% increase to $425 billion invested across more than 24,000 companies. The year set new milestones including the largest private funding round ever—$40 billion to OpenAI—and the highest private valuation on record for SpaceX at $800 billion. U.S. startups attracted $274 billion, now 64% of the global total, primarily driven by AI startups that commanded half of all venture capital funding. Other sectors like healthcare, biotech, and financial services also saw notable funding increases. The market saw significant capital concentration, with large funding rounds and a record-high M&A deal volume, including Google's $32 billion acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz. Looking ahead, increased IPO activity from highly valued private companies is anticipated to continue fueling growth in venture funding.

Editor's note: This article is part of Crunchbase's 2026 forecast series. The IPO market is showing a renewed vibrancy after a period of dormancy, driven by better public market conditions, stable interest rates, and growing investor enthusiasm for growth companies. Leveraging Crunchbase’s predictive analytics, which consider funding rounds, growth indicators, investor diversity, and market timing, we've identified 15 companies across sectors like AI, enterprise software, fintech, space, defense, healthcare, and consumer tech that are poised to potentially go public in 2026 if favorable market momentum continues. Highlights include AI infrastructure unicorn Crusoe Energy Systems, AI and data giants like Databricks and Cohere, design platform Canva, quantum computing firm Quantinuum, space tech leaders K2 Space and SpaceX, defense innovator Anduril, healthcare data platform Innovaccer, cybersecurity firms Huntress and Ledger, and fintech disruptors such as Plaid, Revolut, and Monzo. Each company demonstrates strong revenue growth, sizable funding, strategic investor support, and readiness signals for public market entry. While IPO predictions are not guarantees, these companies show many of the typical markers leading up to a public listing, backed by Crunchbase’s detailed methodology.

Editor’s note: Part of our 2026 forecast series including IPO market and startup M&A outlooks. In 2025, venture funding surged to the third highest on record, driven largely by AI, with $205 billion raised by midyear and the largest rounds ever, including $40 billion for OpenAI and $14.3 billion for Scale AI. Looking ahead to 2026, top venture capitalists expect a 10-25% increase in total venture dollars deployed, concentrated mainly on growth-stage AI companies with larger rounds while early stages hold steady or see some cooling. AI-related sectors—specifically foundation models, agentic infrastructure, and vertical AI—are projected to dominate investment share, while legacy SaaS and some climate tech sectors may decline. Capital will increasingly flow to ventures deeply embedded in AI technology rather than superficial AI wrappers. Liquidity events, including IPOs and M&A, are predicted to rise modestly as investors prioritize revenue growth and operational efficiency in funding decisions. Venture fundraising is expected to remain strong, with a preference for funds specializing in AI and domain expertise. Overall, 2026 is expected to reward startups with genuine AI innovation and robust fundamentals.