AI unicorns dominate 2026 startup valuations as Brazil's angel investment rises

A 2026 ranking of the world’s 30 most valuable private startups shows artificial‑intelligence firms now accounting for about 60% of the combined $3.9 trillion valuation. Anthropic ($965 bn) and OpenAI ($852 bn) lead the list, together representing nearly half of the total value. Other AI‑focused companies such as Databricks, Figure, Scale AI and Cognition also appear, while the United States supplies the majority of the firms. China is represented by ByteDance and an Alibaba unit, and India by Reliance Retail and Reliance Jio.

In Brazil, angel‑investment activity grew 4.2% in 2025 to R$919 million, despite a 1% drop in the number of investors, which fell to 8,044. The average ticket size rose from R$109 k to R$114 k, and female participation reached 21.1%. Investors cited high interest rates as a barrier to expanding the investor base, while expecting a further 10% increase in total funding in 2026 if economic conditions improve.