Venture capital is a global asset class. But lately, North America is gobbling up an increasing share of total investment, driven largely by rising sums going to artificial intelligence startups.
How big is its lead? Using Crunchbase data, we charted funding in recent six-month periods to the six inhabited continental regions of the globe: North America, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Oceania, which includes Australia and New Zealand.
In the first six months of this year, startups in the United States and Canada pulled in $80.1 billion — more than the rest of the world combined. Of that, around 30% went to AI-focused startups, which raised just over $24 billion billion in the first half of this year. Overall, North American companies raised 54% of all funding.
Asia shrinks, Europe expands
While North America (and especially the U.S., which accounts for the vast majority of funding) consumed a larger share of global venture investment, Asia’s portion shrank.
In the first half of this year, Asian startups received $33.8 billion in total funding — down 17% from year-ago levels. Both early- and late-stage investment saw steep declines. China, the region’s largest market, had a particularly sharp drop in Q2, suffering its worst quarter for venture funding since late 2015.
In Europe, by contrast, things are looking up this year. Startups in the region raised $28.5 billion in the first half of 2024, well above year-ago levels. In Q2, for the first time in a decade, quarterly funding to European startups was higher than Asia’s.
As in North America, AI was the leading industry in Europe, with large rounds going to London-based automated driving company Wayve and Paris-based foundation model Mistral AI.
Other regions
Africa, Latin America and Oceania account for less than 5% of global venture investment currently. Given the size of their populations — Africa alone is home to more than 17% of the world’s people — we might expect their shares to be higher.
For now, however, we’re seeing neither a collapse nor huge gains in venture investment in these regions in 2024. Perhaps in time investment will catch on to what’s likely a massively under-recognized pool of entrepreneurial talent.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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