AI startups accounted for 41% of the $128 billion in venture dollars raised by companies on Carta last year, a record-high annual share. Investors were particularly active in deploying capital to AI startups, with 10% of startups accounting for half of the funding. These companies, including Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI, raised double-digit billions at high valuations. While funding rounds have become harder to raise, capital for each round has increased, suggesting the cost of running AI models is high. The report also noted that funds raised in 2023 and 2024 have posted the highest internal rate of return (IRR), compared to funds raised between 2017 and 2020.