VCs poured 8 times more money into AI than clean tech in 2025, report finds

AI startups raised $192 billion in venture capital in the first three quarters of 2025, surpassing every previous annual total on record for any sector.

For comparison, the funding frenzy of 2021-2022 saw VCs funnel a record $86 billion into climate-related technologies. In the first three quarters of this year, the clean tech industry has raised a total of $24 billion – eight times less than AI and machine learning (ML) companies.

These figures were laid out in a recent report from financial analysis firm BestBrokers, based on data from PitchBook, CB Insights, and recent venture capital firms’ filings.

Here's how the AI funding boom compares to other spheres of VC investment:

The findings come amid concern that AI is taking the oxygen out of climate tech investment.

Lubomila Jordanova, CEO of Berlin-based carbon accounting firm Plan A, previously told Impact Loop that the wider "industry obsession" with AI is leaving climate startups starved of capital.

"I know a bunch of founders that are pretty pissed off because their companies went bankrupt because the investors disinvested them, because, you know, climate tech isn’t hype anymore," said Jordanova.