The "AI Premium"
What is the "AI Premium"?
AI companies are outperforming and 'outraising' their non-AI counterparts. Q1 data reveals what many of us have suspected – companies with AI at their core are commanding significant premiums in funding rounds compared to their non-AI counterparts.
Looking at the Q1 2025 data across multiple sectors:
📊 Median deal size for AI companies was $5M vs $3M for non-AI – a 67% premium
🚗 The Auto Tech sector shows the most dramatic difference with AI companies securing deals 5.8x larger than non-AI peers ($32.5M vs $5.6M)
🛡️ Defense Tech and Robotics are also seeing massive AI premiums, with deal sizes 4.2x and 5.3x larger respectively
➕ The "AI Premium" extends beyond funding with AI companies scoring higher on both Mosaic Score and Commercial Maturity (both defined below).
As AI companies attract more funding (Q1 set a new record with 20% of all deals globally going to AI companies) and AI adoption increases across markets, the "AI Premium" is only going to exacerbate.
*Proprietary metric definitions:
Mosaic Score: CB Insights’ proprietary measurement of the overall health and growth potential of private companies.
Commercial Maturity: CB Insights' proprietary metric that measures a private company’s current ability to compete for customers or serve as a partner.