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The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Fintech Attracts Biggest Rounds While AI Holds Strong
Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2025 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Board. This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here. This week was a productive period for fintech funding, with two companies in the space — iCapital and Bilt Rewards — pulling in the largest rounds. In addition, we also saw sizable financings for companies in a range of other industries, including micromobility, drug discovery and green steel. 1. iCapital, $820M, fintech: iCapital, a fintech platform for alternative investments and investors, raised more than $820 million in a funding round that took its valuation to over $7.5 billion. SurgoCap Partners and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price co-led the financing for the New York-based company. 2. Bilt Rewards, $250M, fintech: Bilt Rewards, a rewards program for home renters to use with local merchants, raised $250 million in a venture round led by General Catalyst and GID. The financing sets a $10.75 billion valuation for the New York-based company. 3. Also, $200M, micromobility: Also, a micromobility startup spun out of Rivian, raised a reported $200 million in a new financing led by Greenoaks at a $1 billion valuation. The Palo Alto, California-based company is developing small EVs, with an initial product launch anticipated next year. 3. Varda, $187M, spacetech and drug discovery: El Segundo, California-based Varda, a self-described “microgravity-enabled life sciences company,” raised $187 million in a Series C led by Natural Capital and Shrug Capital. The company bases its research on the finding that materials including active pharmaceutical ingredients crystallize differently in space, enabling novel drug formulations. 4. MaintainX, $150M, equipment maintenance: MaintainX, which operates an equipment maintenance and asset management platform, raised $150 million in a Series D backed by a long list of investors including Bessemer Venture Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. The financing boosted the San Francisco-based startup’s valuation to $2.5 billion. 5. Harmonic, $100M, AI: Harmonic, a developer of AI mathematical reasoning models, announced a $100 million Series B financing led by Kleiner Perkins. The round brings total funding to date for the 2-year-old, Palo Alto, California-based company to $175 million, per Crunchbase data. 6. Neuros Medical, $56M, neurostimulation: Neuros Medical, developer of an electrical nerve stimulation system used to treat chronic post-amputation pain, raised $56 million in a Series D round. EQT Life Sciences led the financing for the Aliso Viejo, California-based company. 7. ServiceUp, $55M, vehicle repair: Los Gatos, California-based ServiceUp, developer of a platform for fleet operators to manage repairs and maintenance, raised $55 million in a Series B round led by PeakSpan Capital. 8. Renasant Bio, $54.5M, biopharma: Renasant Bio launched with $54.5 million in seed funding to develop treatments for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. 5AM Ventures led the financing for the Berkeley, California-based startup. 9. (tied) Boston Metal, $51M, green steel: Green steel maker Boston Metal announced that it raised $51 million in a convertible note investment from existing investors including BHP Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Piva Capital and SiteGround. The funds will be used in part for a metals plant in Brazil, slated to come online next year. 9.(tied) Spacelift, $51M, enterprise software: Redwood City, California-based Spacelift, developer of an infrastructure orchestration platform for enterprises, raised $51 million in Series C funding led by Five Elms Capital with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and Inovo.vc. Methodology We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of July 4-11. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week. Illustration: Dom Guzman
Alt Investment Platform iCapital Raises $820M At $7.5B Valuation With An Eye Toward Acquisitions
iCapital, a fintech platform for alternative investments and investors, has raised more than $820 million in a funding round that takes its valuation to over $7.5 billion, the company announced on Thursday. That’s up from the just over $6 billion it was valued at in 2021 after raising $50 million in a round led by WestCap. Founded in 2013, New York-based iCapital has raised over $1.5 billion in total funding to date, per Crunchbase data. SurgoCap Partners and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and T. Rowe Price Investment Management co-led iCapital’s latest financing. Existing backers Temasek, UBS and BNY also participated in the round. iCapital says it plans to use its new capital toward strategic acquisitions, geographic expansion and further investment in its technology. The fintech has already bought more than 23 companies, including AltExchange and Parallel Markets. Presently, it has 1,875 employees across 16 global offices. The company services $945 billion worth of assets globally on its platform, saying its interface “unifies” onboarding, document workflows, performance data and regulatory compliance. It aims to help wealth managers invest in private markets, structured investments and annuities alongside traditional holdings. For asset managers, the company offers a digital marketplace, data management, AI-powered services and tools, and sales distribution support and reporting. The funding announcement comes two days after The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. tapped iCapital “to beef up its alternative investment capabilities.” Crunchbase data shows that investment for U.S. companies in financial services industry categories has held up at robust levels in recent quarters. In particular, wealthtech has been attracting investors as of late. In early July, Savvy Wealth raised a $72 million Series B, and in April Altruist landed a $152 million Series F at a $1.9 billion valuation. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
Germany Leapfrogs UK To Lead European VC Investment In Q2 As Region’s Funding Settles
Funding to Europe startups settled in Q2, coming in flat quarter over quarter, but down 24% from the peak second quarter in 2024, Crunchbase data shows. A total of $12.6 billion was raised by around 1,200 startups across Europe last quarter, with funding amounts comparable with the previous two quarters. And for the first time since 2012, Germany-based startups jumped ahead of the United Kingdom by amounts invested in a quarter. Still, the largest funding in Q2 did not go to a startup from Germany. It was a $1.25 billion round to Turkey-based mobile game developer Dream Games. After Dream Games, many of Europe’s largest rounds this past quarter were in deep tech sectors including defense, quantum computing, energy, robotics, aerospace and therapeutics, as well as in fintech and software services. Berlin-based AI defense tech Helsing raised the next-largest round — a $694 million Series D — and Spain-based quantum software developer Multiverse Computing followed with a $218 million Series B. A total of $2.8 billion was invested in Germany-based startups, while U.K.-based companies raised $2.5 billion — the lowest quarter on record since 2019. Startups based in France, the third-largest European country for investment, raised $1.8 billion. Table of contents Europe posted strong M&A As it did globally and in North America, startup M&A in Europe gained steam in Q2, totaling $7.2 billion across 172 exits. Four of the 18 venture-backed companies globally that were acquired for $1 billion or more in Q2 hailed from Europe, Crunchbase data shows, with companies from many different sectors exiting. Those acquisitions include: Late stage In Q2, around $5.7 billion was invested across 75 deals into Europe startups at growth stage, according to Crunchbase data. That represented around 10% of global late-stage venture funding, the smallest proportion compared to other funding stages. Early stage Early-stage companies in Europe raised $5 billion across more than 270 funding rounds last quarter. European funding was 19% of global early-stage funding and just over a third as large as North America at $14.3 billion. Seed European seed funding totaled $1.9 billion in Q2 across 845 seed rounds, representing 19% of global seed funding and a third the size of North America seed funding at $5.9 billion. Europe subsides in a global context Europe’s share of global venture capital subsided in the first half of 2025 to just 13%. That’s well below the region’s 19% share of global funding in H1 2024, per Crunchbase data. Funding for the first half of 2025 was down 11% year over year in Europe. North American funding, by contrast, surged year over year in the first half of the year; $145 billion was invested in H1, with particular investor enthusiasm for AI companies. Based on an analysis of Crunchbase data, late-stage financing in Europe was a far smaller proportion of global funding compared to funding at earlier stages, prompting the question: Does a less robust late-stage funding environment make it more difficult for European companies to compete on a worldwide basis? Methodology The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Provisional data reported is as of July 3, 2025. Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year. Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price. Glossary of funding terms Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less. Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. Crunchbase includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million. Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the “Series [Letter]” naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round. Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a “venture” round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.) Illustration: Dom Guzman
VC-Backed Startups That Stitch AI And Fashion Together See Strong Investor Interest
Venture capitalists, as a group, aren’t exactly notorious for their keen fashion sense, but many have taken a strong interest in backing startups that thread AI technology into the apparel industry. Overall numbers are still relatively small for this emerging sector, but venture investment in fashion-related AI startups has risen or held steady in the past five-plus years. That’s even as VC funding generally has fallen from its pandemic-era highs, Crunchbase data shows. Funding to startups at the intersection of AI and apparel spiked to $162 million in 2022 — when China-based Zhiyi Tech, which helps clothing brands spot and predict fashion trends, raised $100 million alone — and has clocked in around $100 million annually since then. Investors’ interest in fashion-related tech makes sense, given that as a species, we’re estimated to spend an astonishing $1.8 trillion globally each year on attiring ourselves. That figure is projected to climb to $2.3 trillion by 2030. The true economic and environmental costs of the fashion industry are of course much higher, by the time you account for production waste and pollution, the resources that go into shipping clothes halfway across the world, and frequent returns and exchanges — not to mention concerns about labor conditions in garment factories. We identified dozens of companies operating at the fashion-and-AI intersection that raised venture funding in recent years, many of them working on issues such as more efficient manufacturing or faster trend-spotting. Some offer AI-driven creative design tools, others are focused on AI-enabled demand prediction or manufacturing, and several companies offer personalized shopping or customized garments. Let’s take a closer look. Predicting fashion (before it’s no longer fashionable) The best-funded startup at the intersection of fashion and AI appears to be Zhiyi Tech. The Xiaoshan, China-based company, which works with many China-based apparel companies, searches the internet and social media for trending designs, and combines that with sales data from e-commerce platforms to help brands quickly capitalize on viral trends. Investors appear to be particularly eager to back companies that tap AI to predict fashion trends. In the U.S., another top funding recipient is Finesse, which has raised close to $45 million total from investors. The Los Angeles-based startup describes itself as the “first AI-led fashion house” and creates fast-fashion clothes based on social media votes, shopping data and viral trends spotted by its machine learning technology. “I call it ‘Zara meets Netflix,’ ” CEO and co-founder Ramin Ahmari told Crunchbase News in 2021, when the company raised its $4.5 million seed round. “We all love fashion and the beauty industry, but fashion is a huge world largely untouched by technology. There are now new trends in efficiency and data, and Finesse is all about using data to reduce the tons of waste in fashion.” While reviews of its clothes have been mixed, the company went on to raise a $40 million Series A led by TQ Ventures. Another well-funded startup in the fashion demand prediction realm is Syrup Tech. The New York-based company has raised $25.1 million total for its AI-driven predictive software used by fashion brands. AI fashion design and creation tools Fashion designers are also increasingly using generative AI to help them design clothes and make 3D digital mockups of items before they ever go into production. Along those lines, funded startups include Raspberry AI, which earlier this year raised $24 million in an Andreessen Horowitz-led Series A. The New York-based startup’s platform turns designers’ sketches into photorealistic renderings, showing in rich detail how products will look, fit and drape in real life. Another AI fashion design tool is AI.Fashion. The Los Angeles-based startup makes AI-driven tools for virtual photoshoots and fashion content creation. It raised a $3.6 million seed round led by Neo in February 2024. BLNG, meanwhile, applies generative AI to jewelry design, converting sketches or text prompts into photorealistic 3D renders. The Los Angles-based company has raised $4.5 million, including a $3 million seed round in April, per Crunchbase. Discovery and personalization AI is also changing how consumers discover clothing and footwear. Startups in this category use machine learning to personalize recommendations, improve product tagging and offer smarter shopping experiences for consumers to help them better find what they want. Among the most high-profile recently funded companies in this cohort is Daydream, an AI-powered shopping platform founded by e-commerce veteran Julie Bornstein, who previously founded The Yes and sold it to Pinterest three years ago. Her new startup makes personalized fashion recommendations through a chat-based interface. The San Francisco-based company raised a $50 million seed round in June from investors including Forerunner Ventures and Index Ventures. Other companies in this subsector include Lily AI. Its platform translates retailer product attributes into more consumer-friendly language, with the aim of improving site search and personalization. The Mountain View, California-based startup has raised $71.9 million to date. Other funded fashion discovery startups include: Virtual try-ons, precision fit and customization Tracking down what looks like the perfect dress to wear to that summer wedding reception is one thing. Knowing it will actually fit and look good on you when it arrives is another. Companies tackling that problem include several virtual try-on startups that aim to make it easier to gauge how a garment will fit before you buy it online — both to reduce buyer frustration and to reduce the chances of costly returns for retailers. Along those lines, virtual try-on and social shopping app Doji last month raised $14 million in a seed round led by Thrive Capital. The San Francisco-based company’s app lets users create avatars for virtual try-ons of clothing. Similarly, Paris-based Veesual offers diverse AI-generated virtual models to showcase how clothes look on different bodies. The startup has raised $7.6 million to date, mostly in a seed round last year led by AVP and Techstars. A smaller subset of startups is working on actually personalizing the size and fit of shoes and clothes. Among the most notable of the bunch is New York-based IAMBIC, which uses AI to make precision-fit footwear. The company, whose completely custom sneakers were named to TIME’s Best Inventions list in 2023, has raised $1.3 million through research grants. Another is New York-based Laws of Motion, a seed-funded DTC brand that has raised $10.2 million on the promise of precision-fit clothing for women through virtual body scans and AI technology. Smart manufacturing and supply chain optimization Other startups are turning to AI to improve the way garments are made. Funded companies in this group include those working on demand forecasting, advanced textiles and material optimization, process automation, and textile recycling. For example, Smartex.ai installs AI and computer vision technology into textile factories to help them automatically detect textile defects. The Portugal-based startup has raised $27.6 million in funding, per Crunchbase. Several startups focused on fashion-related sustainability have also raised funding in recent years. They include Matoha Instrumentation, which builds AI-enabled infrared scanners for rapid textile sorting to support recycling. The London-based startup raised £1.5 million in an April seed round. Refiberd, meanwhile, uses AI and hyperspectral imaging to enable intelligent sorting in textile-to-textile recycling. The Cupertino, California-based company has raised $2.7 million total from venture rounds and grants. There’s also some funding in the area of new textile technologies developed with the help of AI. One example is Solena Materials, which raised a $6.7 million seed round in May. The startup, also based in London, uses AI-driven protein sequence design to engineer new biodegradable fibers produced by microbes. Looking ahead: AI will stay on trend With AI overall en vogue with investors, startups weaving that technology into the fashion industry seem poised for more growth. We expect that as clothing brands continue to battle supply-chain pressures, consumer churn and shifting online behavior, AI tools will remain on trend in coming seasons. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: AI On Top Again, Led By xAI’s Massive Raise
Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2025 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Board. This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here. The pace of large U.S. startup financing announcements was somewhat muted in a shortened Fourth of July workweek. However, there was one big exception with xAI reported to have closed on a whopping $10 billion in debt and equity funding. In addition, we saw some good-sized rounds for startups in wealth management, procurement and biotech, among other areas. 1. xAI, $10B, generative AI: Elon Musk’s generative AI startup, xAI, reportedly raised $10 billion in fresh debt and equity financing consisting of $5 billion in strategic equity investment, with the remainder of the capital obtained through term loans and secured notes. 2. Savvy Wealth, $72M, wealth management: New York-based Savvy Wealth, a provider of AI-enabled tools for financial advisers, announced a $72 million Series B round led by Industry Ventures. Founded in 2021, Savvy has raised $106 million to date, per Crunchbase data. 3. Levelpath, $55M, procurement: Levelpath, a provider of AI-enabled procurement tools, said it raised over $55 million in a Series B round led by Battery Ventures. The San Francisco-based company’s platform uses AI agents to autonomously handle procurement tasks for businesses. 4. Terrana Biosciences, $50M, agtech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Terrana Biosciences launched this week with $50 million in initial funding from Flagship Pioneering to develop RNA-based agricultural products to deliver protective and enhanced crop traits without altering the plant genome. 5. (tied) Campfire, $35M, enterprise software: Campfire, a provider of enterprise resource planning tools, announced that it raised $35 million in a Series A round led by Accel. The San Francisco-based company said it has also grown revenue 10x over the past two years. 5. (tied) Field Medical, $35M, medtech: Field Medical, a developer of technology used in cardiac ablation, closed a $35 million Series B financing led by BioStar Capital and Cue Growth Partners. The round brings funding to date for the Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, company to $89 million, per Crunchbase data. 7. Syntis Bio, $33M, therapeutics: Boston-based Syntis Bio, a developer of oral therapies for obesity, diabetes and rare diseases, secured $33 million in a Series A round led by Cerberus Ventures. The company said it also received up to $5 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health. 8. Ambrook, $26M, agriculture software: Ambrook, a provider of accounting and recordkeeping software geared for U.S. farmers and ranchers, announced that it closed on a $26.1 million Series A funding led by Thrive Capital. 9. Emerald AI, $24.5M, energy software: Washington, D.C.-based Emerald AI, a developer of software aimed to help the electric power system keep up with AI’s soaring energy demand, announced its launch along with $24.5 million in seed funding led by Radical Ventures. 10. Gallant Therapeutics, $18M, animal health: San Diego-based Gallant Therapeutics, a biotech startup focused on stem cell therapies for pets, announced the closing of an $18 million Series B financing led by Digitalis Ventures. Non-US rounds While the holiday week may have slowed the pace of funding announcements in the U.S., we did see some very big rounds overseas. Standouts include: Methodology We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of June 28-July 3. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week. Illustration: Dom Guzman
California Share Of Startup Funding Is Still On The Rise
Don’t bet against California. For the past six decades, any tech investor would have been wise to take that advice. From semiconductors to personal computing to online search to AI, the leading companies of successive technology eras have originated in or around Silicon Valley. Such density may be a boon, as it allows talent and genius to congregate in a particular place, helping ideas to cross-pollinate and ambitious new ventures to form, all within easy access to capital. Or it may be a burden, concentrating vast wealth in a small geography, pushing up living costs and contributing to housing shortages and traffic woes. Other locales, meanwhile, miss out on the jobs and investment that come with being home to longstanding and emerging tech giants. But however one might weigh the positives and negatives of tech investment concentration, the numbers speak for themselves: Startup investors love California companies, and the amount of capital consolidating in the Golden State is only growing. So far, 2025 is proving out this thesis. In the first half of this year, roughly 68% of all U.S. startup funding went to California-headquartered companies, per Crunchbase data. That’s a historically high level, as charted below, with California companies averaging closer to half of total funding in other recent years. In dollar terms, California’s 2025 haul is also enormous, penciling out to around $94.5 billion. That’s even higher than statewide funding for the first half of 2021, when startup investment was hitting record highs. OpenAI: Exception or exemplar? Of course, this year had one enormous, unprecedented single round that really tilted the investment totals California’s way. By this, we’re talking about SoftBank’s $40 billion investment in OpenAI, announced at the end of March. The deal stands out as the largest startup funding round in history, 4x larger than any previous one. It also accounts for more than 40% of total California startup funding for this year. Given this round’s hugeness, it’s tempting to write off California’s funding surge this year as an anomaly, a fluke of a deal amid a feverish period for investment in formative artificial intelligence companies. But history tells us that such a take might be misguided. After all, is it an anomaly that the two most valuable public companies today — Apple and Nvidia — are Silicon Valley-based? Is it a fluke that all five of the most valuable U.S. unicorns — SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe, Databricks and Anthropic — are California companies? If so, it’s an anomaly that seems to recur with great frequency: Ambitious California startups growing into extraordinarily influential and valuable companies. Other top California funding rounds Besides OpenAI, several other California companies also scored multibillion-dollar venture funding rounds this year. Top names include: Overall, large investment recipients are an AI-centric cohort. This isn’t surprising given that Northern California is far-and-away the leading hub for startup funding in the space. The next chapter We’re still in the early chapters of the rise of generative AI and autonomous agents. So, it’s probably a tad early to speculate on the next wave of technological progress likely to attract record-setting sums of venture investment. However, looking at past history, one bet seems fairly secure: Whatever the future may bring, it’ll likely involve technologies developed and scaled in California. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
5 Expert Tips For Securing Debt Financing In A Challenging Market
By Rob Morelli Ask most lenders and they’ll tell you their appetite for deals hasn’t changed over the past year. They’re still “open for business,” “putting money to work,” and “excited to support great companies.” And they’re not lying. In fact, if you dig into the numbers, you’ll find that private credit loan volumes have been steadily increasing since the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in March 2023. But dig a little deeper and you’ll see the real factors behind that growth: larger loans to fewer, higher-performing companies. Rob Morelli of Overlap Holdings According to Hamilton Lane’s April 2025 analysis, there’s a $1.4 trillion gap between private equity buyout dry powder and credit origination dry powder as of Q3 2024. Add that to a $600 billion-plus maturity wall of performing loans through 2028, and we’re looking at a comfortably $2 trillion funding gap over that period. As a result, lenders are becoming extremely selective. Capital is flowing to a narrower band of outperformers, while many CFOs are scrambling for access. This is a stark contrast to what most CFOs are hearing from lenders. The truth, in an economic and political environment that’s more uncertain than it was a year ago, is that preparation and timing matter more than ever. Underwriting is tighter, credit committees more risk-averse, and fewer loans are being made to companies that are not marquee names. So if you’re not on the Fortune 500, do you have a chance at getting a loan for your business? Absolutely — if you’re prepared. I’ve spent a decade in asset-backed finance, a decade building my own business, and have spent the last three years advising venture-backed companies as they navigate the debt landscape. Below are my top five pieces of advice for CFOs looking to scale up their businesses. Don’t need debt today? Then now’s the best time The first rule of a smart debt strategy is counter-intuitive: The less you need it, the easier it is to get. Lenders are most eager to work with companies that are growing and have plenty of runway. That’s especially true in uncertain markets like 2025. If you’re seeing quarter-over-quarter growth, have an acquisition in the works, or recently brought on a strong equity partner — now is the time to start your debt process. Don’t wait until you’re under pressure; that’s when your options shrink, terms tighten and timelines drag out. Choose the right lender Debt deals are multiyear commitments. They’re expensive to set up and can be even more expensive to unwind. Treat lender selection the same way you’d bring on an equity investor. That means: Don’t overdo your preparation Each lender will have a different set of due diligence requirements, but there are common elements. You won’t need a full M&A-style data room, but be ready with these basics: Have a nonconfidential teaser deck ready. Keep it brief and to the point; focus on the company overview, team, key financials and use of proceeds. Then, practice the pitch you’ll give alongside this presentation. You should be able to tell your story in under 20 minutes. Keep in mind that this is not an equity pitch. You do not need to convince anyone that you could be the next unicorn — just that you can repay the loan on time. It’s important to note that time kills all deals. Make sure your calendar is clear and that you’re ready to respond quickly to due diligence requests. Do not play “hard to get.” The due diligence process is the first real opportunity you have for collaboration. You don’t want to be perceived as difficult to work with. But know your numbers cold Know the historical drivers of your business as well as you know yourself. How will these numbers change in the new economic or political environment? Have they started to change already? Consider both positives and negatives to paint a balanced picture. Then you get to the fun stuff. What does your company look like with this fresh infusion of capital? What is the plan for its use? How will this capital unlock future growth opportunities? Your financial projections post-successful raise need to strike the right balance. If you paint too conservative of a picture, you may not qualify for the loan you’re looking for. If you go too optimistic, lenders may underwrite to your stretch case and then use it to set tough covenants. Be realistic and be able to defend it. Most importantly, show lenders how they get their money back without needing additional external capital. In 2025, fewer lenders are underwriting to your ability to raise equity or refinance your way out of this loan. Fundamentals are more important than momentum right now. Strap in for a bumpy ride Even in the best of times, debt processes can be unpredictable. You’ll hear “no” when you expect a “yes.” You’ll get term sheets that don’t match your ask. You’ll wonder if the list of diligence questions will ever end. Be prepared going in, make sure you’re working with the right people from the outset, and stay proactive. The more knowledgeable and responsive you are, the smoother the process will go — and the better your odds of landing the right deal, at the right time, with the right partner. Rob Morelli is the chief operating officer of Overlap Holdings and head of Overlap’s Capital Solutions business. He began his career at UBS Investment Bank, where he rose to become head of syndicate and structuring for the firm’s mortgage and asset-backed structured products business. Morelli holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.
The Billion-Dollar Banker: How AI Is Supercharging Wall Street’s Top Talent
By Samir Dutta Even Gordon Gekko would have to admit: AI is taking over Wall Street. And it’s not because jobs are disappearing — it’s because the very best bankers are about to become more valuable than ever. The productivity boom and the new talent arms raceSamir Dutta, co-founder and CEO of Farsight AI Artificial intelligence is turbocharging front-office professionals, setting the stage for a new era where individual productivity and compensation hit unprecedented heights — some estimates suggest that by 2026, AI-empowered investment bankers could generate an additional $3.5 million in revenue each, redefining what it means to be a rainmaker in the industry. The surge in productivity driven by AI is already rewriting the rules of the talent game. As these technologies empower bankers to work smarter and faster, the competition for AI-savvy talent is intensifying. The divide between those fluent in AI and their peers is also widening, creating a new elite class of financial professionals. Early adopters of AI are already reaping major revenue gains, leading to a clear advantage for those who move fast. Compensation structures are evolving in tandem. Bonuses and rewards are increasingly linked to AI-driven revenue and productivity, prompting banks to rethink pay packages to better reflect the outsized value AI-augmented bankers bring to the table. This human-AI partnership is reshaping how financial institutions manage talent and incentivize performance. The new disruptors A variety of tech-forward investment banks are proving to be the nimblest players in this race (at least so far). These firms are adopting AI solutions 2x to 3x faster than their slower-moving counterparts, gaining a competitive edge in deal origination and execution quality. By leveraging AI-driven sourcing, content creation and execution tools, these banks are increasing their competitive advantages in the market and disrupting traditional deal-winning processes. The implications of this shift extend beyond mere productivity. Many banks are now carving out new market share by harnessing AI to identify and execute deals with unprecedented speed and precision. This democratization of technology is reshaping the competitive landscape — forcing all institutions to rethink their strategies or risk losing ground. Human expertise still matters Yet, despite these technological leaps, the human element remains crucial. Security, data privacy and accuracy continue to pose significant challenges for investment banks integrating AI. Success hinges on thoughtful integration with existing workflows and appropriately intertwining deep institutional knowledge into AI systems. Tailored AI solutions and rigorous governance are essential to mitigate risks and maximize benefits. Moreover, the cultural shift within banks is palpable. Teams are evolving, blending traditional financial expertise with new AI fluency. Training programs are being revamped to equip bankers with the skills needed to thrive in this hybrid environment. The future banker is as much a savvy technologist as a dealmaker. The transformation is not only about technology, but also about evolving a banker’s role: Professionals who can blend data-driven insights, relationship management and strategic thinking will become the new power players on Wall Street. As AI systems automate repetitive tasks and surface actionable intelligence, bankers will have more time to focus on creative deal structuring, nuanced negotiations and continuing to build trust with clients — skills that remain uniquely human and irreplaceable. The AI revolution is underway. Firms that embrace this change stand to unlock unprecedented value while those that hesitate risk falling behind. The $3.5 million banker isn’t just a productivity milestone; it’s a fundamental reimagining of what’s possible in financial services. In this new paradigm, human expertise is amplified to extraordinary new heights. The question is no longer if AI will reshape investment banking, but how quickly firms can use it to transform their workforce into the super-bankers of tomorrow. The race is on, and those who lead will define the future of financial advisory for decades to come. Samir Dutta is co-founder and CEO of Farsight, a company accelerating financial workflows by providing the industry’s first AI-powered automation tools that work directly within native software environments. Illustration: Dom Guzman