Original Reddit post

If you read tech news, it seems every new startup is an artificial intelligence company. However, real data from 1,016 venture capital rounds ($126.8B analyzed by Just Raised between September and October 2026) shows a very different reality. Here is the actual market breakdown:

  1. AI money depends on very few players AI infrastructure (models, compute, data): Represents 18% of rounds (184), but captures 50% of all money ($63.6B). Median is $20.5M. Non-AI (biotech, chips, robotics, energy, defense): Accounts for 60% of all rounds (610) and 42% of capital ($53.6B). Median is $11M. Applied AI (software with generative AI): 22% of rounds and only 8% of capital (median $8M). The bias is clear: if you remove the five largest rounds (OpenAI at $30B, Anduril at $5B, Mistral AI at $3.5B, Crusoe at $3B, and The Boring Company at $3B), AI infrastructure’s share drops from 50% to 33%, while non-AI startups rise to dominate with 55% of capital . https://preview.redd.it/9o37oo37ayxh1.png?width=976&format=png&auto=webp&s=5432b2a674c5c8c95e7f03f7c2230f3f559439a0
  2. At Seed and Series A, cheques are identical Contrary to common assumption, a startup that doesn’t do AI doesn’t need to disguise itself as an AI company to raise early-stage capital: Seed: $7M for AI infrastructure, $5.9M for applied AI, and $5M for the rest. Series A: All three categories tie at an exact median of $20 million . The real gap doesn’t open until Series B , where AI infrastructure jumps to a $111M median compared to $50M for the rest. https://preview.redd.it/njln0zj8ayxh1.png?width=978&format=png&auto=webp&s=50fc0b54c0514a9c1dc77b59d05820ea3ec22270 https://preview.redd.it/i2zy11obayxh1.png?width=988&format=png&auto=webp&s=9bd647ba6ac34a9786dcafd4cf5e88fbec980734
  3. Where is the 60% that doesn’t make headlines? Most non-AI rounds concentrate in industrial and scientific sectors: Health & Biotech: 111 rounds ($5.2B). Deeptech & Hardware: 81 rounds ($13.7B). Climate & Energy: 68 rounds. Fintech: 63 rounds. Space & Defence: 38 rounds. In fact, there were 103 rounds of $100M or more in non-AI companies, compared to 79 for both AI groups combined. https://preview.redd.it/xcajx6cdayxh1.png?width=950&format=png&auto=webp&s=9a02dcaacc252f576208bdfea51c42468debdf3d
  4. The infrastructure seller is the most active investor In Europe (across a sample of 468 rounds), the most active investor isn’t a traditional VC fund, but Nvidia , present on 22 rounds (leading 13 of them in just one week in October as part of its $10B investment commitment to the region). https://preview.redd.it/j6nvh70fayxh1.png?width=990&format=png&auto=webp&s=88d0d9674dfbe6c5a6751f765e5c6692c85d8d83 Source: https://justraised.io/blog/ai-takes-the-money submitted by /u/carapatata_

Originally posted by u/carapatata_ on r/ArtificialInteligence