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Global startup funding was up 16% in the second quarter, according to Crunchbase data, led by an uptick in mega-rounds. That increase was led, unsurprisingly, by the AI sector. Funding to companies in AI made up 30% of all dollars invested and actually doubled quarter over quarter to $24 billion.\n\nOn today's episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Mary Ann was joined by Gen\xe9 Teare, a Senior Data Editor at Crunchbase and Crunchbase News, to talk through the numbers. Teare is a well-known analyst of the global venture capital market, and was instrumental to Crunchbase\u2019s early life and remains one of its more tenured staffers.\n\n\u201cI was actually quite shocked by the doubling in AI because we're six quarters in from the launch of Chat GPT,\u201d Teare said. \u201cI think part of that is that in venture, things take time to sort of filter through.\u201d\n\nThere were also signs that larger M&A deals increased in the second quarter, providing much needed liquidity in a continued dry IPO market.\n\n\u201cWe're definitely seeing a stronger M&A environment compared to 2022,\u201d Teare said. \u201cThe big expectation is that M&A is going to pick up more significantly and I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ve seen that yet, partly because prices have come down. There's a lot of companies who might realize they're not gonna make it to going public in the next 3 to 5 years\u2026So, I think it has improved but not as much as many in the bench community were wanting or expecting.\u201d\n\nEquity is back on Friday with our weekly news roundup. So come back then!\n\nBefore we let you go, some disclosures: We invited Gen\xe9 on the show because we wanted to get her valuable insights regarding the venture capital markets. We knew she\u2019d be great on the topic, because Mary Ann worked with her for years at Crunchbase. During her tenure at Crunchbase, she was paid partially in stock options, and retains a minor stake in Crunchbase itself. We do our best at Equity to cite the best data source for whatever topic we\u2019re looking at, which means we use Crunchbase data as well as information from its competitors at PitchBook and CB Insights. For instance, we had a PitchBook denizen on the show to chat through Q2 2023 results last year. We think we put together the best possible show for you on its merits alone, but did want to note some professional overlaps right up top.