US venture capital funding jumps to $412.7B in H1 2026 as AI deals dominate

U.S. venture capital invested $412.7 billion in the first half of 2026, about 30% more than the entire previous year, with artificial‑intelligence companies receiving $355.9 billion (86% of the total). Large rounds of $100 million or more accounted for 87.5% of the capital deployed, and seven $1 billion‑plus financings closed in Q2, five of them to AI firms. The biggest was Anthropic’s reported $65 billion raise, pushing its post‑money valuation to $965 billion, though roughly $15 billion represented previously pledged money.

Notable $1 billion funding rounds this week included Keyfactor, a cybersecurity identity‑management firm, and SambaNova, an AI‑infrastructure startup, each securing a $1 billion private‑equity or Series F round. Other sizable deals featured quantum‑computing startup Oratomic ($300 million), geothermal pioneer Quaise Energy ($134 million), AI platform Prime Intellect ($130 million), crypto‑infrastructure company Gauntlet ($125 million) and compliance‑AI provider Norm AI ($120 million).

SpaceX’s initial public offering valued the company at $1.7 trillion and raised $75 billion, the largest U.S. venture‑backed IPO ever, while its $250 billion purchase of xAI and a pending $60 billion all‑stock deal for Cursor added further scale. Corporate venture arms participated in 21% of deals, and venture‑debt issuances totalled $64.7 billion.