Startup funding jumped again in November with $39.6B invested worldwide, up 28% YoY. 🔥 Megarounds reached a 3-year high, with 14 companies pulling in $500M+ each. AI continued to drive momentum, while the U.S. captured 70% of all capital. 🔗: https://t.co/OtlegXEmyR

ICYM — New York-based @Kalshi just announced it raised $1B in Series E funding at an $11 billion valuation. 🤯 Crypto-focused investment firm @paradigm led the financing with a host of well-known investors also participating. 👉

Germany’s @bfl_ml just raised $300M at a $3.25B valuation — one of Europe’s biggest AI rounds this year. 👏 As European AI funding climbs, the Flux model developer is emerging as a key rival to U.S. heavyweights. Get the full story. 🔗:

Antitrust law was written for another era. Today’s tech giants move faster than regulators can react. After the FTC v. Meta ruling, what does “monopoly” even mean? 🤔 Our latest guest commentary by Aron Solomon explores the question. 🔗:

Global defense spending is on the rise, startups are vying for a larger share of the outlays, & it looks like there’s plenty of capital to go around. Last year, world military expenditures rose 9% to top $2.7 trillion. 📈 Get the full story. 🔗:

While there’s no single explanation for the decline in investment to consumer-facing product startups, it has been a tough area for returns, a trend affecting areas including fashion, consumer electronics and the once-burgeoning direct-to-consumer space. https://t.co/W2OzXMavPB

Early fundraising depends on trust, relationships and familiarity, writes Alex Menn of Begin Capital, who urges new fund managers to build connections, look for unconventional capital sources, and choose anchor investors who value partnership over control. https://t.co/ca1ipjRftK

Perhaps investors wanted to get their term sheets squared away. Or maybe AI is still heating up in a big way in the startup sphere. Whatever the reason, this past week was an exceptionally busy one for very large startup financings. https://t.co/6wQzr54Qoj

A startup founded by former @nvidia researchers that’s “building the brain for humanoid and human-capable robots,” @FlexionRobotics has raised $50 million in funding, it tells Crunchbase News exclusively. https://t.co/mAKMOvW0l2

AI funding represents nearly half of global startup investment, writes Steve Brotman. But rather than signaling a bubble it reflects the early stages of a major platform shift that is spawning new infrastructure, applications and company formation. https://t.co/LEhGtsTjr3

AI-enabled toys are gaining traction this holiday season, but we are simultaneously seeing renewed interest in older technologies including analog toys and screen-free gadgets. https://t.co/Bm4ocfPngN

A startup promoting a sports competition that permits use of performance-enhancing substances, @enhanced, announced Wednesday that it plans to go public through a SPAC merger. https://t.co/2XIVJMy9o8

While the toy industry doesn’t receive much venture funding, some companies in the space are getting cash. We looked for what funded startups are selling this year, and found some trends from landline-style WiFi phones to plush dinosaur AI companions. https://t.co/Bm4ocfPV6l

AI can help fix the systems that shut out many qualified blue-collar workers, writes Daniel Walsh of @vero_skills, who points out that AI-driven hiring can shrink vacancies, expand labor pools, and strengthen both businesses and the broader U.S. economy. https://t.co/3OKExD7Lma

We used Crunchbase data to assemble a list of startups funded in 2025 with products on the market. We also dig into some of the broader trends around consumer gadgets and goods startups that have received investor cash this year. https://t.co/W2OzXMavPB

London-based digital bank @Revolut has completed a secondary share sale that boosts its valuation to $75B and makes it one of the most valuable private companies based in Europe. https://t.co/JqYvdBe9ed

The capital concentrating into AI signals that we’re in the early stages of a generational platform shift, not the end of a speculative bubble, writes guest author Steve Brotman of Alpha Partners. https://t.co/LEhGtsTjr3

As regulated industries adopt AI, the winners will build domain-specific, vertically integrated platforms that bridge the gap between demos and fully operational, real-world systems, write guest authors Laura Connell of @atomico and Andreas Cleve of Corti. https://t.co/ktLtPsC2cz

Transportation has been underrepresented for venture investors recently, as money increasingly concentrates in hotter niches. Even so, we are seeing enthusiasm around areas including sustainable batteries and the autonomous driving software stack. https://t.co/1DO5UIzJVk

A total of 20 companies joined The Crunchbase Unicorn Board in October, adding $44.5 billion in value. This was the highest valuation amount added to the unicorn board for a new cohort in the past three years. Once again, AI led the herd. https://t.co/kIeC0TOu90