AI funding hits $242B in Q1
- Crunchbase reported global startups raised $300 billion in first-quarter 2026, with artificial intelligence companies taking $242 billion across record-setting venture rounds. - OpenAI’s $122 billion raise led a quarter in which Anthropic, xAI and Waymo together pulled in another $66 billion. - PitchBook said the boom was highly concentrated, with top deals masking weak returns and tight liquidity. (nvca.org)
Global venture funding hit $300 billion in the first quarter of 2026, and artificial intelligence startups captured $242 billion of it. (news.crunchbase.com) Crunchbase said AI accounted for 80% of all venture funding in the quarter, up from 55% in the first quarter of 2025. (news.crunchbase.com) Four of the five largest venture rounds ever recorded closed in the quarter: OpenAI raised $122 billion, Anthropic $30 billion, xAI $20 billion, and Waymo $16 billion. (news.crunchbase.com) Those four companies alone absorbed $188 billion, equal to 65% of all global venture investment from January through March. (news.crunchbase.com) The money was not spread evenly across startups. Crunchbase said investors backed about 6,000 companies globally in the quarter, while another 10 companies still managed rounds of $1 billion or more. (news.crunchbase.com) The United States dominated the surge. U.S.-based companies raised $250 billion, or 83% of global venture capital in the quarter, while China drew $16.1 billion and the United Kingdom $7.4 billion. (news.crunchbase.com) PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association reported a similar pattern in the U.S. market: $267.2 billion in quarterly deal value, but a 73.2% drop if the five biggest deals are excluded. (pitchbook.com) (nvca.org) PitchBook said liquidity remained tight despite the headline numbers, and median internal rates of return for North American venture funds launched since 2019 stayed in the single digits. (pitchbook.com) (nvca.org) That leaves a venture market with record dollars at the top and a far thinner market underneath. The quarter’s headline was $242 billion for AI, but the underlying story was concentration. (news.crunchbase.com) (nvca.org)
