Venture dealmaking is coming back — at least, for artificial intelligence companies.
Last quarter, US venture capitalists spent $55.6 billion backing startups, up by about half from a year earlier quarter and the spendiest quarter in two years, according to PitchBook data.
But the money went to just 3,108 transactions, the fewest since the second quarter of 2020. The concentration signals that a handful of large AI transactions are skewing the results, including the $1.1 billion raised by AI cloud computing company CoreWeave and the $6 billion raised by Elon Musk’s xAI.
The spending picture partly reflects the subdued fundraising environment. US venture …