In 2025, VC continued to grapple with fundraising and liquidity challenges despite a handful of high-profile exits. However, deal activity is beginning to accelerate—particularly among first financings—sparking renewed optimism about the market’s growth in 2026.
While some high-profile exits generated headlines and enthusiasm, total IPO count in 2025 remained muted, similar to other post-pandemic years. AI drove dealmaking and a narrative of venture rebound, capturing nearly two-thirds of deal value and 40% of deal count in 2025, but nearly all other verticals continued to experience stagnation.
In this webinar, experts fromPitchBook, NVCA, J.P. Morgan, Dentons, and EisnerAmper discussed findings from the Q4 2025 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, current VC trends, and our market outlook for 2026.
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Key topics:
- Large firms with dry powder are controlling the market environment and increasing activity at seed and early-stage, while the lack of distributions has held back many firms from restocking capital stores to take advantage of the developing market.
- The number of closed funds in 2025 was the lowest of the past decade, a reflection of current LP sentiment.
- Exit activity continues to lag, prompting VCs to explore ways to generate liquidity through secondaries or continuation vehicles, though we are cautiously optimistic for 2026.