Global Venture Funding Hits Record $510B in H1 2026
Global venture funding reached a record $510 billion in the first half of 2026, surpassing the $440 billion invested in all of 2025 and setting a new high for startup investment in any half-year period on record, according to Crunchbase News.
Q2 2026 marked the second-largest quarter on record, with investors pouring $205 billion into more than 5,000 startups. Q1 2026 saw $305 billion invested.
Record Exit Activity
IPOs and acquisitions accelerated in Q2, producing the strongest exit market since the 2021 boom, Crunchbase data shows. The largest IPO ever for a venture-backed company and the largest startup acquisition ever both occurred in the quarter. SpaceX went public at a value of $1.77 trillion, raising $75 billion, and confirmed its intent to acquire Anysphere for $60 billion.
A total of 32 companies went public at values above $1 billion in Q2. Twenty-four companies were acquired at prices at or above $1 billion, totaling $113 billion in value.
Capital Concentration in AI
OpenAI and Anthropic alone accounted for $217 billion, or 43% of all startup funding in H1. Anthropic raised $65 billion in Q2 and became the most valuable private company on the Crunchbase Unicorn Board.
More than 70% of global startup capital in Q2 was invested in AI-focused companies. Two-thirds of Q2 funding went to U.S.-based companies.
Sixteen companies raised billion-dollar rounds in Q2, totaling $108.6 billion, or 53% of second-quarter funding.
Funding by Stage
Late-stage venture funding totaled $134 billion in Q2. Global seed funding totaled $12 billion in Q2, according to Crunchbase News. Of that amount, $2.8 billion went to seed rounds of $100 million and over.
