24 billion dollars

Investment in AI start-ups doubled

According to a study, investors pumped significantly more money into artificial intelligence (AI) developers in the second quarter than at the beginning of the year. Start-ups in this field raised 24 billion dollars in their financing rounds between April and June.

This was the result of a survey published on Tuesday by the industry service Crunchbase. According to this, the sector received more than twice as much as in the opening quarter.

At six billion dollars, xAI, the AI company of billionaire Elon Musk, received the largest cash injection in the reporting period. Cloud provider CoreWeave, which specializes in AI data centers, secured 1.1 billion dollars. This was the main driver for the increase in total investments in start-ups from 16 percent to 79 billion dollars, the study continued.

Higher interest rates slow down investments
However, the current figures lag behind those of previous years. In the first half of 2024, start-ups worldwide received 147 billion dollars in fresh money. This is a drop of five percent compared to the same period last year. One reason for the decline is the rise in interest rates, which make loans more expensive and other asset classes more attractive.