Overview

• Seed funding fell 39% to $727 million, early-stage slipped 10% to $2.7 billion, and late-stage dropped 27% to $4.3 billion for January through September.
• Only 10 funding rounds exceeded $100 million as the median round size doubled to $1.5 million, indicating larger cheques for fewer startups.
• Enterprise applications led sector totals with $2.3 billion, followed by retail at $2.0 billion and transportation and logistics tech at $1.79 billion.
• Exit activity rose to 110 acquisitions in the period, up 15% year on year, alongside 26 IPOs or secondary offerings.
• Venture funding for digital lending declined about 21% to $324.8 million, reflecting investor focus on profitability and asset quality.