KUALA LUMPUR (July 24): North America’s lead in the global ranking of start-up funding by continent has widened.

In a report on Tuesday, Crunchbase, which tracks trends, investments and news of global companies from start-ups to the Fortune 1000, said that in the first six months of this year, start-ups in the US and Canada pulled in US$80.1 billion (RM374.35 billion) — more than the rest of the world combined.

It said that around 30% went to artificial intelligence (AI)-focused start-ups, which raised just over US$24 billion in the first half of this year (1H2024).

Overall, North American companies raised 54% of all funding.

Crunchbase said while North America (and especially the US, which accounts for the vast majority of funding) consumed a larger share of global venture investment, Asia’s portion shrank.

The firm said that in 1H2024, Asian start-ups received US$33.8 billion in total funding — down 17% from year-ago levels.

Both early- and late-stage investment saw steep declines.

China, the region’s largest market, had a particularly sharp drop in the second quarter (2Q2024), suffering its worst quarter for venture funding since late 2015.

In Europe, by contrast, things are looking up this year.

Start-ups in the region raised US$28.5 billion in 1H2024, well above year-ago levels.

In 2Q2024, for the first time in a decade, quarterly funding to European start-ups was higher than Asia’s.

As in North America, AI was the leading industry in Europe, with large rounds going to London-based automated driving company Wayve and Paris-based foundation model Mistral AI.

Crunchbase said Africa, Latin America and Oceania accounted for less than 5% of global venture investment currently.

For now, however, Crunchbase said it is seeing neither a collapse nor huge gains in venture investment in these regions in 2024. 

Perhaps in time, investment will catch on to what is likely a massively under-recognised pool of entrepreneurial talent, it said.