In recent years, venture capitalists have struggled with limited liquidity, as the IPO pipeline stalled and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) slowed down. While the IPO market remains relatively quiet, the trend in AI-dealmaking is shifting, with a surge in acquisitions involving AI-related startups.

So far in the first quarter of 2025, 65 AI startups backed by venture capital have been acquired, according to Crunchbase data. This already surpasses the number of deals in Q4 and Q1 of last year and may even reach the average of 76 deals seen in the second and third quarters of 2024.

Notable Deals in AI-Dealmaking
The biggest acquisition recently was ServiceNow’s purchase of Moveworks, an AI assistant platform, for $2.85 billion in cash and stock. This deal stands as the largest AI-related acquisition since the start of 2024.

But the momentum doesn’t stop there. The previous week, Nvidia-backed CoreWeave acquired the AI development platform Weights & Biases for $1.7 billion, marking the third-largest AI acquisition of 2024. Another major deal last month saw Metaphysic, known for AI-generated, photorealistic content in entertainment, purchase Brahma, an AI and content technology company, for $1.4 billion. This was the fourth-largest deal in AI since last year.

Other significant deals include UiPath’s acquisition of the agentic AI startup Peak.ai, although the financial terms were not disclosed.

In total, nearly $7.4 billion has been spent in AI-dealmaking, marking a dramatic increase compared to the $377 million in Q1 2024, a rise of over 1,750%. Compared to Q4 2024, where $1.5 billion was invested, this is nearly a 400% jump.

What’s Next for AI-Dealmaking?
While Q3 2024 saw $4 billion in AI-related deals (where terms were disclosed), Q1 2025 is already shaping up to be a strong quarter for VCs looking to invest in AI-dealmaking. A tech M&A banker recently shared that stock market uncertainty has tempered initial predictions of a massive dealmaking resurgence, expecting “incremental growth” rather than an overwhelming surge of cash.

The fast pace of innovation in the AI sector may make it harder for buyers to focus on specific technologies or targets, the banker added. However, despite these challenges, many buyers seem eager to take advantage of the current opportunities in AI-dealmaking.

The AI-dealmaking landscape is evolving quickly, and it seems investors are ready to make bold moves to secure the next big AI-related acquisition.