Megadeals Drive Record H1 Funding
So far this year, 60% of global startup funding across stages, around $320 billion, went to rounds of $1 billion or more, according to Crunchbase News. Such rounds were instrumental in pushing global funding for the first half of the year to record levels.
The U.S. funding tallies are even more tilted to megadeals this year, with 73% of funding going to billion-dollar-plus rounds. Of the $290 billion invested in these deals, just two rounds for AI leaders OpenAI and Anthropic account for more than half the total.
Frequency of Giant Rounds Increases
Giant rounds are happening with greater frequency. So far this year, U.S. startups have closed 23 known rounds of $1 billion or more, per Crunchbase data. That puts 2026 already on par with 2025, a record-setting year, with about five months left.
These megarounds are generally later-stage rounds or corporate financings. Only two of this year’s billion-dollar-plus rounds, Prometheus and World Labs, were seed or early-stage rounds, per Crunchbase data.
History of Billion-Dollar Rounds
The billion-dollar-plus venture funding round is a fairly contemporary phenomenon. The first American example, per Crunchbase data, was Uber’s $1.2 billion Series D in 2014. Over the next three years, a handful of others pulled in 10-figure rounds, including SpaceX, Airbnb, Lyft, SoFi, Snap, Grail, WeWork, Fanatics and Argo AI.
Most of those companies went on to go public and reach valuations that well-exceeded levels set for prior megarounds. SpaceX ($1.6 trillion recent market cap), Uber ($148 billion) and Airbnb ($87 billion) were the standout success stories. Two of the megafund recipients, Argo AI and WeWork, did not fare so well, while Grail has been up and down. Fanatics remained private and is still thriving.
Current Cycle Extends Scale
In the current funding cycle, rounds in the tens of billions or even over $100 billion are occurring. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have already filed confidentially to go public, according to Crunchbase News.
