AI & Cross-Industry Startups Seize $2.19B in July Rounds

July 2025 Series A+ Funding: What Founders Should Know Now

July’s fundraising landscape for Series A and beyond offers a sharp snapshot of both the opportunity and competition facing ambitious founders. Behind the steady hum of deal-making, distinct patterns emerged, on check size, sector momentum, and where the “winner-take-most” dynamic is intensifying.

Let’s cut through the noise and drill into the takeaways that matter most for your next move.

Mega-Rounds Still Stretch the Field—But Strong A Rounds Prevail

July tracked 366 Series A+ rounds, and the story starts with the classic funnel: Series A dominated in volume (233 rounds), with rounds averaging $26M (median: $15M). Bigger companies, especially at Series B ($45.8M avg, $35M median) and Series C ($103M avg), kept up the “go big or go home” energy, but true outlier rounds continued to shape the top end.

A mere 14 deals (4% of the total) at $100M+ accounted for a massive share of total capital deployed. Winners included Replit ($250M, Series C, AI/Dev Tools), XPANCEO ($250M, Series A, AR hardware), and Ambience Healthcare ($243M, Series C, AI Health). These mega-raises clustered in fields demanding both capital and vision: Generative AI, advanced hardware, biotech, health innovation, and aerospace.

For most, though, the norm was the “standard deal” peg: $20M, with plenty of competitive fundraising in AI, SaaS, fintech, and manufacturing. The jump from median to mean in round sizes confirms that a handful of giants are moving averages upward, don’t let the headline numbers set unrealistic expectations for your own raise.

The Smart Money Chases AI—And Its Allies

Artificial Intelligence (AI) claimed the lead in both capital raised ($2.19B) and sheer deal flow (79 AI rounds). Close behind: Information Tech, Health Care, Biotech, Manufacturing. Notice a trend? Investors put their trust, and their biggest checks, into platforms and tools that plug AI into a wide swath of industries, developer tools, health systems, automation, and more.

Multi-industry convergence caught particular attention. The largest rounds and highest averages went to companies straddling AI + IT + software (think Replit), health care + biotech (think Dispatch Bio), and AR + hardware + virtual reality (see XPANCEO’s outlier Series A). Sophisticated founders are packaging themselves as high-leverage, cross-disciplinary bets, and the market’s paying for it.

Geography: The Old Guard Leads, But New Hubs Are Rising

The U.S., especially California, remained the epicenter, delivering the largest slice of both deal count and total Series A capital. San Francisco in particular has yet to lose its luster, claiming $470M across just 17 deals (average: $27.7M). Palo Alto and New York followed as strong secondary U.S. hubs.

China continued its ascent, with cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing delivering both volume and size. Single-deal outliers, like Stockholm’s $200M round, demonstrate pockets of premium valuation in Europe; Israel’s founders closed the highest average Series A ($32.7M) among countries with meaningful deal flow.

The big lesson: Exceptional rounds can (and do) happen outside the Valley, but founders must know whether their home market is skewed towards volume, outlier capital, or both. This has direct consequences for how you position your round, especially on valuation and lead investor selection.

Capital Efficiency: Later Rounds, Lower Ratios

This month’s capital efficiency benchmark reminds us: as your company matures, each new round becomes a smaller part of the total pie. Series A rounds contributed about half of reported total funding for those companies (median ratio: 0.52), while Series B and C saw the ratio drop further (median for C: 0.30). Early rounds are your fastest capital stack, later rounds are incremental, and keeping efficiency high is a key investor question come diligence time.

TL;DR

• Series A dominates: 233 rounds; average $26M, median $15M. Large Series A deals are skewing the average upward.
• Mega-round concentration: Top 14 raises ($100M+) claimed a huge share of total capital, led by Replit, XPANCEO, Ambience Healthcare.
• AI rules the landscape: AI led all sectors (capital and volume). Multi-industry plays (AI + IT + Software, Biotech + Health) drew the biggest checks.
• Geographic reality: U.S. still #1 for both deal count/capital, but China, Israel, and select European cities (Stockholm, Oslo) are home to outsized rounds.
• Capital efficiency drops as companies mature: Series A rounds average ~50% of total funding to date; later rounds a smaller slice.
• Sector gravity: AI, Health Care, Biotech, and Advanced Manufacturing remain the top draws for investors seeking transformational outcomes.

Founders:

• Be ambitious with round size, but benchmark against your stage, sector, and city.
• If you’re building at the intersection (AI + X), you're in the best spot to command premium capital.
• Mega-rounds are rare; focus on getting into the right percentile for your stage.
• Geography still shapes expectations: know your market’s norms and where valuation premiums are likely (think SF, Palo Alto, select European or Israeli hubs).

The bar for capital, and creativity, keeps rising. Stay focused on the fundamentals: real traction, sharp narrative, and the right blend of industry convergence. The market is rewarding vision, but only when it comes paired with substance.