Active Investors Spent More On Fewer Deals In February

Joanna Glasner jglasner 0 Shares Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More money, fewer deals. That’s the broad direction for active startup investors of late. They’re increasingly concentrating capaital among generative AI heavy hitters and prominent unicorns, and making fewer small bets on unproven founders. February was perhaps the culmination of this trend. The month closed with the largest startup investment of all time — OpenAI’s $110 billion financing — but did not bring a jump in overall deal count, including by many active investors. Still, the top three most-active investors in terms of venture round count last month — Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator and Bessemer Venture Partners — managed to keep busy. And among lead investors, SoftBank, Nvidia and Amazon together collectively backed the biggest deal to date. Below, we look at active investors across multiple metrics, including active venture investors, lead backers and spendiest dealmakers. Active venture investors We’ll start with active investors participating in rounds of $5 million and up. By this metric, Y Combinator came out on top, partaking in 15 reported rounds. The incubator commonly takes small stakes in follow-on financings for companies it helped launch. Andreessen Horowitz was a close second, with 14 deals, followed by Bessemer Venture Partners, with 12. Active lead investors Andreessen Horowitz was far in the lead among the most-active lead investors in rounds over $5 million, with nine reported deals. Next in the ranks were Bessemer Ventures, with five lead deals, followed by Index Ventures, RA Capital Management and Accel, with four each. Below, we rank the 14 most-active lead investors for the month. Highest-spending lead investors The most-active dealmakers, however, were generally not the ones writing the largest checks. To get a sense of who put the most capital to work in February, we looked at lead investors in the most valuable rounds.1 Among lead investors, SoftBank, Nvidia and Amazon, which backed OpenAI’s $110 billion round, were by far the spendiest. Next up was Dragoneer Investment Group, which co-led Anthropic’s $30 billion Series G and Waymo’s $16 billion Series D. After that came the other six firms that co-led the Anthropic financing. Below, we rank the 17 lead investors in the most-valuable funding rounds. Short month, big checks For such a short month, February certainly managed to squeeze in an outsized share of huge rounds, led by OpenAI, Anthropic and Waymo. Yet activity held up at other stages as well, with Y Combinator and others ensuring there’s still a plentiful pipeline of seed-funded companies to grow into the next industry giants. We’ll stay tuned to see if March brings more of the same. Related Crunchbase query: Global Venture Funding In 2026 Related reading: OpenAI’s New $110B Raise At A $840B Valuation Marks The Largest Venture Deal Ever Anthropic Raises $30B At $380B Valuation In Second-Largest Venture Funding Deal Of All Time Massive AI Deals Drive $189B Startup Funding Record In February While Public Software Stocks Reel Crunchbase Data: The AI Boom Has Drastically Changed Who’s Funding The Hottest Companies In 2025 Vs. 2021 Illustration: Dom Guzman Even when individual stakes aren’t disclosed, it’s usually safe to assume that lead investors put a large sum to work, likely a double-digit percentage of the round.↩ TagsAI startups unicorn venture Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily. 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