Regardless of whether on a global level, across Europe or in Germany – there was a clear and unsurprising trend in VC investments in 2025: more money for startups that have something to offer with AI.
Figures from a wide variety of sources prove this: Crunchbase, for example, came to the conclusion in its investment report for Q3 2025 that 46 percent of the venture capital invested worldwide went to AI companies. The US market research and analysis company CB Insights even reports almost 53 percent in the first quarter.
According to the According to Air Street Capital’s State of AI Report 2025, around $8 billion has flowed into European AI startups so far in 2025. There were quite a few record rounds: In September 2025, the French Mistral raised 1.7 billion euros in a Series C, Nscale from London received the equivalent of 958 million euros in the same month and Helsing collected 600 million euros in July.
In addition, VCs that did not invest in AI in any way this year were the exception. Almost everyone relies on AI. And yet a few venture capitalists are standing out with their commitment here.
We took a close look at who has invested in the very young and extremely fast-growing AI startups in Germany – and which VCs keep meeting up on these deals.
These are the AI repeat offenders
In fact, some returning co-investors are on the horizon. Even if – we want to be transparent – it is difficult to break down the topic objectively. The problems start with the question: When is a startup considered a startup? AI startup? Because isn’t almost everyone doing something with AI?
