The first quarter (Q1) of 2026 marked an unprecedented moment in global venture capital, fueled largely by massive investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure and frontier technology labs.
According to Crunchbase data, investors deployed approximately $300 billion across 6,000 startups worldwide, representing a surge of over 150% both quarter over quarter and year over year.
This figure stands as the highest quarterly venture investment ever recorded, surpassing all previous benchmarks. Notably, the total investment in Q1 2026 alone accounted for nearly 70% of the entire venture capital deployed throughout 2025 and exceeded every full-year total prior to 2018.
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A significant portion of this capital flowed into artificial intelligence companies, particularly a select group of U.S.-based firms executing record-breaking funding rounds. Among the largest beneficiaries were OpenAI, which raised $122 billion, Anthropic with $30 billion, xAI securing $20 billion, and Waymo raising $16 billion. Together, these four companies accounted for $188 billion, approximately 65% of total global venture investment during the quarter.
Overall, AI companies attracted $242 billion in funding, representing 80% of total global venture capital in Q1. This significantly surpassed the previous record set in Q1 2025, when AI accounted for 55% of total funding. U.S.-based startups dominated the landscape, raising $250 billion, or 83% of global venture investment, up from an already elevated 71% in the same period last year.
Outside the United States, China emerged as the second-largest market, attracting $16.1 billion in venture funding, followed by the United Kingdom with $7.4 billion. Both regions recorded strong growth both quarter over quarter and year over year.
The surge in funding was heavily concentrated in late-stage deals, which totaled $246.6 billion across 584 transactions, an increase of 205% compared to the previous year. Notably, $235 billion was invested in just 158 companies that each raised $100 million or more.
Early-stage funding reached $41.3 billion across 1,800 deals, reflecting modest quarter-over-quarter growth but a 41% increase year over year, largely driven by Series A rounds. Seed-stage funding totaled $12 billion, up 31% year over year; however, the number of deals declined by 30% to 3,800, indicating a trend toward larger but fewer early-stage investments.
Despite the surge in venture funding, the IPO market remained relatively subdued, particularly in the United States, where new listings slowed amid a broader downturn in software stocks. In contrast, China’s IPO market gained momentum during the quarter.
Globally, 21 venture-backed companies achieved exits exceeding $1 billion, with the majority concentrated in Asia. Thirteen of these exits occurred in China, four in other parts of Asia, and only four in the United States.
The largest IPO of quarter one (Q1), was PayPay, a Japan-based fintech firm that debuted with a valuation of $10 billion. Additionally, Chinese AI companies Z.ai and MiniMax went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, each achieving valuations exceeding $6 billion.
While IPO activity lagged, mergers and acquisitions remained robust. Startup M&A transactions reached a combined value of over $56.6 billion, marking the third-strongest quarter since the market downturn in 2022.
Among the largest deals were Savvy Games Group’s planned $6 billion acquisition of Moonton from ByteDance, and Capital One’s $5.15 billion acquisition of fintech startup Brex. In summary, Q1 2026 redefined the venture capital landscape, with artificial intelligence at the center of an extraordinary surge in global investment activity.