Venture capital investments worldwide plunged 44.3% in March to $29.15 billion from $52.32 billion a year earlier, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

The number of funding rounds was down 54.3% to 1,085 rounds from 2,374 rounds in March 2022.

However, March totals showed an increase from the previous month, when $17 billion was raised across 1,150 rounds.

– Download a spreadsheet with the data featured in the story. – Read about private equity entries in the first quarter. – Explore more private equity coverage.

Largest funding rounds

Chinese flash memory and storage device manufacturer Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. Ltd. raised the largest funding round in March with a transaction value of $7.09 billion. Huaxin Investment Management Co. Ltd. and Hubei Province Changjiang Industry Investment Group Co. Ltd. participated in the round. Yangtze will use the proceeds to increase its efforts to shore up domestic chip production.

The next-largest transaction was a $6.50 billion series I funding round for online payments company Stripe Inc. The round was led by returning investors that included Andreessen Horowitz LLC and Founders Fund Inc.

Investments by sector

The technology, media and telecommunications industry dominated venture capital investments in March by attracting 48% of the total funding raised globally. It was followed by the financials sector, which secured 26.3%, while healthcare accounted for 11.3%.