VC funding and M&A deal activity in the AI space remained inconsistent in both value and volume terms during Q1 2019 – Q4 2019. However, despite the fluctuations, both VC and M&A deal volume showcased an increase in Q4 2019 compared to Q4 2018. In contrast, VC and M&A deal value declined in Q4 2019 compared to Q4 2018. Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: "AI start-ups have been getting lots of VC investors' attention for the past few years. However, the growth in deal value has slowed recently, which seems to be a short-term phenomenon with long-term prospects likely to remain positive."

AI startups experienced their best funding year ever, raising a record $9.33 billion, or nearly 10% of last year's total VC investments that reached $99.5 billion, an 18-year high since the dot-com era.Getty The Artificial Intelligence (AI) winter is definitely over. As venture capital (VC) funding nears record since the dot-com era, with U.S. companies raising $99.5 billion versus $119.6 billion in 2000 according to the latest PwC MoneyTree Report, AI startups also experienced their best year ever, raising a record $9.33 billion, or nearly 10% of last year's total VC investments. Since 2013, VC investments in AI startups had regularly increased over the following four years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 36%. However, AI-related funding significantly jumped last year, increasing 72% compared to 2017, despite a dip in deal activity, with 466 startups funded from 533 in 2017, and after increasing for four years. The report also reveals that seed-stage deal activity among AI-related companies rose to 28% in the fourth-quarter of 2018, compared to 24% in the three months prior, while expansion-stage deal activity jumped to 32%, from 23%.

AI startups experienced their best funding year ever, raising a record $9.33 billion, or nearly 10% of last year's total VC investments that reached $99.5 billion, an 18-year high since the dot-com era.Getty The Artificial Intelligence (AI) winter is definitely over. As venture capital (VC) funding nears record since the dot-com era, with U.S. companies raising $99.5 billion versus $119.6 billion in 2000 according to the latest PwC MoneyTree Report, AI startups also experienced their best year ever, raising a record $9.33 billion, or nearly 10% of last year's total VC investments. Since 2013, VC investments in AI startups had regularly increased over the following four years, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 36%. However, AI-related funding significantly jumped last year, increasing 72% compared to 2017, despite a dip in deal activity, with 466 startups funded from 533 in 2017, and after increasing for four years. The report also reveals that seed-stage deal activity among AI-related companies rose to 28% in the fourth-quarter of 2018, compared to 24% in the three months prior, while expansion-stage deal activity jumped to 32%, from 23%.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) attracted $162M in investments across 12 deals in the first half of 2017, the highest amount of funding in Canada in the past five years, according to the MoneyTree Report from PwC Canada and CB Insights. Despite the record high in AI deals, investments in venture-backed companies based in Canada slowed down in the first half of 2017. Funding decreased to $885M in the first half of 2017 from $1.027B (14%) from the same period in 2016. The number of deals also decreased to 127 deals from 170 (25%) from the same period last year. Quarterly activity in Q2 2017 saw $400M deployed across 58 deals. This is a decline from Q2 2016 which saw $600M deployed across 58 deals.

According to CB Insights and PwC's Canada's latest MoneyTree report, 2017 is off to a slow start for VC funding in Canada. The report looks at VC activity in Q2 and provides perspective on the first half of this year overall (all dollar amounts in the MoneyTree Canada report are in USD, and have been converted to CAD throughout this article). Canadian VC-backed companies saw $504 million ($400 million USD) in total financing across 58 deals in Q2 2017, down 18 and 16 percent from Q1 2017, respectively. In Q1 2017, Canadian VCs invested $623 million ($460 million USD) in 64 deals. Activity has also slipped since hitting a high in Q4 2016, when deal activity for VC-backed companies hit 91 deals.

Over 25 companies raised equity funding rounds in the last quarter. Deal activity was up 7x from Q1'11. Deal activity in artificial intelligence has now hit record highs for two quarters straight. Deal count had already leapt to 24 in Q4'15, ten more deals than the previous quarter. The trend continued in Q1'16, with deals reaching a 5-year quarterly high, and passing the 25-deal threshold.