A record $515.8 billion flowed into the U.S. venture investment market through September this year. Mega fundraising by AI companies lifted the market, but exits are not keeping pace.

SiliconANGLE, citing data from PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) on Oct. 8, reported that U.S. venture investment this year exceeded the previous annual record by about 44 percent. OpenAI and Anthropic raised more than $200 billion combined in the first half alone. Excluding the two companies, investment flows were not much different from since late 2024, the analysis said.

Third-quarter investment totalled $98.4 billion, down about 40 percent from the previous quarter, but the number of deals, 5,012, was close to the highest level since early 2022. AI accounted for a record 82.7 percent of total investment this year. In the third quarter alone, the share fell to 65.9 percent. The quarter's largest fundraising was $5 billion by cloud-based data and AI platform Databricks.

The problem is the exit market. A single deal, SpaceX's acquisition of Cursor developer Anysphere, accounted for 53.1 percent of third-quarter exit proceeds. SpaceX acquired Anysphere in an all-stock transaction valuing it at $60 billion. Excluding the deal, quarterly exit proceeds were $53 billion, the lowest level since late 2024.

Initial public offerings were also not active. Eighteen venture-backed companies listed in the third quarter, including 12 healthcare companies. A much-anticipated listing by a major AI company did not materialise. PitchBook also cited delays to OpenAI's and Anthropic's IPO schedules as a key variable for venture market liquidity.

The backlog of unlisted companies has also worsened. As of end-September, the number of unicorns valued at $1 billion or more hit a record 992, with a combined value of $5.7 trillion. By contrast, 78 percent of $108.5 billion raised for venture funds was concentrated in large funds of $500 million or more. AI has expanded the size of the investment market, but concentration of capital and exit opportunities in a small number of companies and large funds is becoming more pronounced.