Global venture capital investments developed robustly in the first quarter of 2025. This is shown by the new Venture Pulse from KPMG, for which the global venture capital market is regularly evaluated.
Global investments reached a new high in the first three months of the year: at 126.3 billion US dollars, “more funds were made available than at any time in the last eleven quarters – despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, tense trade relations and a persistently weak IPO market.”
The increase is primarily due to several major investments “in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), including the record USD 40 billion financing round in the American AI company OpenAI.”
Other US startups were also able to secure “significant financial injections.”
While the global financing volume increased significantly, the number of transactions fell “for the fourth time in a row: 7,551 completed deals mark a historic low and illustrate the increasing reluctance of many investors outside the booming AI sector.”
The trend is clearly moving towards “selective, large-volume investments in more established start-ups.”
Despite economic uncertainties – “triggered by US customs measures, among other things – the European venture capital market is proving resilient.”
18 billion US dollars were invested in “a total of 1,883 financing rounds – a stable figure compared to the previous quarter.”
Germany was also able to consolidate its central role “within Europe with 2.2 billion US dollars in 189 deals.”
This puts Germany directly “behind the United Kingdom (USD 5.5 billion) and well ahead of France (USD 1.7 billion).”
One downside remains, however: the number of deals in Germany once again fell significantly, with “early-stage start-ups in particular finding it difficult to find investors who were reluctant to invest due to the uncertain outcome of the German general election.”
Despite the uncertainties, fintechs and start-ups in “the fields of AI and deep tech as well as defense remained quite attractive for VC investors in Germany.”
New funding initiatives from the EU and national governments “could further increase confidence in the European AI ecosystem and give the market a further boost.”
Outside of the AI segment relating “to automation, defense technologies and cyber security, however, experts expect investment activity to be rather subdued in the second quarter of 2025.”
Concerns about an “ongoing trade conflict and general geopolitical uncertainty are deterring many investors.”
They are holding back on major investments “until there is more clarity about the global economic environment.”
In another separate update from KPMG, it was noted that the Big Four auditing firm examined over 660 individual offender profiles “based on 256 real cases of white-collar fraud from around the world.”
The analysis shows that typical white-collar criminals “are by no means outsiders, but in many cases valued employees who have been with the company for many years.”
Over 80 percent of perpetrators “are male, the majority between 36 and 55 years old.”
Two thirds have been employed by the company for “more than six years. Personal problems rarely play a role in their offenses; financial greed or opportunism (“Because I can”) are much more common motivators.”
More than half of the cases “involved team misconduct.”
In most cases, two to five people were involved – often “from central functions such as purchasing, finance or management.”
In four out of ten cases, the network consisted exclusively “of employees of the company concerned.”
The people involved were exposed primarily “through email analyses, interviews and financial data.”
The most common form of fraud is the “misappropriation of assets – usually through embezzlement or manipulated procurement (52%). 29 percent of cases involve forged documents, slightly fewer (24 percent) involve theft.”
In one in five cases, financial reporting “was manipulated, often through premature or fictitious booking of turnover.”
The majority of financial losses were “less than 200,000 US dollars.”
However, in cross-border cases “in particular (13 percent of the total), the losses amounted to over 5 million US dollars.”
In addition to the direct financial impact, the companies “affected suffer from a loss of trust and reputational damage for years to come.”
In 76 percent of cases, weak internal controls “made the fraud possible.”
More than half of the companies affected “had no anti-fraud measures in place. And where controls were in place, they often failed: ethical guidelines or internal audits often remained ineffective.”
Whistleblowers, on the other hand, played the “central role in detecting fraud: 45 percent of fraud cases came to light through whistleblowers or informal tips – far ahead of technical testing procedures.”
Particularly serious: in half of the cases “with losses of more than one million US dollars, the perpetrators had unrestricted decision-making powers.”
The most common facilitating environmental factors “were a culture of fear, isolated working and an aggressive working environment.”
The results of the study clearly show “that companies should not be lulled into a false sense of security by loyalty, length of service or hierarchical position. Prevention must be systematic – across all levels.”
Clear internal controls with “defined responsibilities, a practiced ethics culture with a secure whistleblowing system and the targeted use of data-based analysis methods are crucial.”
Organizations should regularly “review, document and question sensitive functions and external business partners in particular.”
Technological developments – for example in the area of cyber risks or AI – should also be “anticipated at an early stage and integrated into the company’s own defense strategy.”
Methodology
The study provides an in-depth picture of at least “669 fraudsters and the crimes they have committed.”
It is based on 256 real fraud cases that have “been investigated by KPMG country offices on behalf of affected organizations over the last five years and evaluated on the basis of questionnaires, detailed case analyses and direct interviews with the perpetrators.”