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AI snagged largest number of venture capitalists in 2021

March 15, 2022

Artificial intelligence technology attracted the largest number of venture capital investors during 2021, while Internet of Things and cybersecurity led in terms of investors-to-idea ratio and average deal size, according to GlobalData.

The data analytics company found that 3,166 AI start-ups received funding worth $89.2 billion from 6,786 venture capital investors during 2021, which is the highest among all the technology themes. Meanwhile, cybersecurity occupied the top position in terms of average deal size, which stood at $34.9 million in 2021. IoT registered the highest investors-to-idea ratio last year of 3.6.

"With gradually increasing dependency on technology and virtual platforms in almost all facets of life, AI is gaining prominence," Aurojyoti Bose, lead analyst at GlobalData, said in a press release. "Venture capital investors are also evincing interest in IoT based service providers as factors like automation and ease of doing work with connected devices are increasing."

Leading companies in those technology sectors were mostly concentrated in the U.S. or Asia-Pacific regions such as China. In 2021, those companies included the U.S.-based Robinhood Financial, Databricks and Chinese firm, Horizon Robotics.

Cybersecurity solutions providers, such as Lacework and Transmit Security, were also among the key companies that were on venture capitalists investors' radar last year. In addition, two of the largest IoT-based service providers of 2021 included Trax Technology Solutions and Banma Network Technologies.