Tech and fintech funding surge amid AI-sensitive market volatility

This cluster tracks heavy capital flows into tech and fintech—space startups pulling in nearly $12B last year, nine-figure rounds for infrastructure and cybersecurity, Plaid’s $8B tender offer, and ByteDance marked at a $550B valuation—even as public markets wobble around AI and Big Tech. Nvidia’s earnings are repeatedly moving major indices, data center and semiconductor stocks are whipsawed by renewed AI credit risk fears, and stock market concentration has surpassed 1930s levels. Against a backdrop of ongoing tech layoffs and a sober long‑term budget outlook, investors are split between offense and defense: some pile billions into beaten‑down software and Big Tech, others seek resilience via dividend plays, diversified ETFs, and new platforms like halal-compliant and app-based investing tools. Together, these pieces show an innovation economy still well-funded but trading through a narrower, more volatile market regime.