Entire sub-sectors ranging from autonomous vehicles to healthcare provision to wealth management saw at least double the corporate-backed funding rounds of the same month last year.
Corporate investors sharply increased the number of startup funding rounds they backed in November 2025 compared with the same month a year ago, as areas like robotics, autonomous and electric vehicles, renewable energy and personal finance came into focus.
The number of corporate-backed deals rose 47% to 463 in November compared to a year ago, part of a general upward trend in investment activity this year.
Investments in AI startups went up by 135%, robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles by 108%, and even enterprise software startups saw a 167% uplift in corporate-backed funding rounds. Personal finance more than tripled year-on-year, as did renewable energy.
Connected and autonomous vehicles, as well as care provision and on-demand services both had double the deals they did in November last year.
Many of these were nine-figure rounds, including robotics automation software provider Physical Intelligence, embodied intelligence technology developer Roboterra, physical AI technology developer NestAI, self-driving technology developer Forterra and autonomous electric delivery vehicle manufacturer Harbinger.
The subsectors more than doubled year-on-year benefitted from investment from corporates like FedEx, Coca-Cola, Alphabet, Nvidia, Nokia, Hitachi, CHA Biotech, TSE Energie and many more.
Fernando Moncada Rivera
Fernando Moncada Rivera is a reporter at Global Corporate Venturing and also host of the CVC Unplugged podcast.
