Deal activity in artificial intelligence has now hit record highs for two quarters straight.

Deal count had already leapt to 24 in Q4’15, ten more deals than the previous quarter. The trend continued in Q1’16, with deals reaching a 5-year quarterly high, and passing the 25-deal threshold.

However, total funding dropped 18% to $83M from $101M in Q4’15, when over 20 companies raised funds.

Our artificial intelligence category covers startups primarily focused on developing AI technologies, across areas including image processing, natural language processing, machine learning, deep learning, and predictive APIs, among other core applications.