Despite a significant drop in venture capital (VC) deal volume during the first half (H1) of 2024, the US market showcased resilience with 2,373 deals worth $61.4 billion. This marks a 5.9% decline in funding value and a 44.8% drop in deal volume year-on-year (YoY), highlighting a strategic focus on high-potential startups, reveals GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database revealed that a total of 4,300 VC funding deals of worth $65.3 billion were announced in the US during H1 2023.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The decline in funding value appears marginal despite the number of deals nearly halving. This signals a cautious approach by VC firms but still willing to place significant bets on startups they find promising. In fact, the announcement of several billion-dollar VC deals* in the US during H1 2024 attests to this trend.”

Some of the notable VC funding deals announced in the US during H1 2024 include: $6 billion worth of fundraising by X.AI, $1.1 billion secured by CoreWeave, $1 billion by Scale AI, $1 billion raised by Wiz and $1 billion raised by Xaira Therapeutics.

Bose adds: “Of these, X.AI achieved unicorn status during the Series B funding round. It is also noteworthy that the US added close to 30 new unicorns during H1 2024. No wonder, the US leads the pack in terms of the number of unicorns as well as VC funding activity globally.”

The US continued to dominate global VC funding activity both in terms of deal volume and value. It accounted for 29% share of the total number of VC funding deals announced globally during H1 2024 while its share of the corresponding disclosed funding value stood at 49.2%.

The US is rallying way ahead in terms of deal volume and value distantly followed China, which accounted for 16.8% share of the total number of VC funding deals announced globally during H1 2024 while its share of the corresponding disclosed funding value stood at 15.8%.

Bose concludes: “The significant investments in a few large deals underscore the confidence in specific sectors, particularly those driving innovation and growth. This cautious yet strategic investment behavior is likely to shape the VC landscape moving forward.”

*Deal valued more than or equal to $1 billion

Note: Historic data may change in case some deals get added to previous months because of a delay in disclosure of information in the public domain.