PayPal, Fidelity Close Venture Units as Corporate AI Investors Drove 68% of 2025 Deal Value
Updated
Updated · Crunchbase News · Jul 14
PayPal, Fidelity Close Venture Units as Corporate AI Investors Drove 68% of 2025 Deal Value
1 articles · Updated · Crunchbase News · Jul 14
Summary
PayPal last month confirmed it is winding down PayPal Ventures, a 2016-launched unit that grew to more than $850 million across three funds, while Fidelity International quietly shut its London-based venture arm weeks earlier.
Jefferies is exploring secondary-market sales of PayPal portfolio stakes including Plaid and Anchorage Digital, underscoring how corporate parents are pulling capital from noncore venture programs rather than exiting venture investing altogether.
Bain Capital said corporate investors accounted for 68% of global AI deal value in 2025, but that strength was concentrated among a few deep-pocketed tech groups such as Nvidia, Meta, Alphabet, Salesforce and Cisco.
For smaller funds and startups, the split is already tightening financing: SVB data showed corporate funds pursued fewer, more targeted deals, while secondary-market use rose to 22% in 2025 from 15% in 2024.
The broader shift is a bifurcation in corporate venture, with permanent-capital tech giants treating startup investing as core strategy while other companies close even established programs when cost cuts or competing priorities intensify.