Global startup funding reached $510 billion in the first half of 2026 — already surpassing the $440 billion invested across all of 2025 — according to Crunchbase data published July 2. The milestone reflects the accelerating concentration of capital around artificial intelligence.
AI dominates venture capital
More than 70% of Q2 global startup investment went to AI-focused companies, up from just under 50% a year earlier. OpenAI and Anthropic together accounted for $217 billion — 43% of all H1 funding. Anthropic’s $65 billion Q2 raise pushed the company past SpaceX to become the most valuable private company on Crunchbase’s Unicorn Board.
The two quarters tell different stories. Q1 ($305 billion) was shaped by four of the five largest venture rounds ever recorded: OpenAI’s $122 billion raise, Anthropic’s $30 billion, xAI’s $20 billion, and Waymo’s $16 billion. Q2 ($205 billion) saw 16 companies complete billion-dollar rounds totaling $108.6 billion.
Exit markets reopen
The funding boom coincided with a strong revival in exits. Thirty-two venture-backed companies went public above a $1 billion valuation in Q2. SpaceX’s IPO at a $1.77 trillion valuation was the headline event; its $60 billion acquisition of Anysphere — maker of the Cursor coding tool — was the largest venture-backed M&A deal of the period. Twenty-four additional companies were acquired at $1 billion or above, totaling $113 billion, the highest quarterly M&A total on record.
Two-thirds of Q2 funding went to U.S.-based companies, reinforcing the geographic concentration that has defined the current AI investment cycle.