AI startups on pace to break funding records in 2019

Artificial intelligence's potential to transform a growing range of industries has venture capitalists writing checks to promising startups at a rate that will likely set a new record in 2019 for the industry. According to the Q3 2019 data from the National Venture Capital Association, 965 AI-related companies in the U.S. have raised $13.5 billion in venture capital through the first 9 months of this year. That should eclipse the 1,281 companies that raised $16.8 billion in 2018, according to the 3Q 2019 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. In a sign of the sector's relative youth, NVCA also notes that the average deal size and valuations still tend to fluctuate quite a bit from quarter to quarter. That suggests the numbers can still be skewed by the occasional mega-round for an AI startup.