Startups worldwide raised a record $510 billion in the first half of 2026, according to a Crunchbase report. That exceeds the $440 billion invested across all of 2025 and beats the previous half-year record of $375 billion from the second half of 2021.
Unsurprisingly, AI drove the boom, with OpenAI and Anthropic alone accounting for $217 billion — 43% of all startup funding. The concentration in two frontier labs is unprecedented, though Crunchbase notes the boom has spread into AI infrastructure, defense, robotics and healthcare.
Mega-rounds and exits
In Q2, investors put $205 billion into more than 5,000 startups — the second-biggest quarter on record. Sixteen companies raised billion-dollar rounds totaling $108.6 billion. Exits also surged: 32 companies went public at billion-dollar-plus valuations, including SpaceX’s $1.77 trillion IPO and Cerebras Systems’ listing.
The largest startup acquisition ever also landed in Q2: SpaceX agreed to acquire AI coding tool Cursor maker Anysphere for $60 billion. AI companies took more than 70% of all startup capital in the quarter, up from under half a year earlier.
U.S. startups captured about two-thirds of total funding, though that share dropped from 83% in Q1 as Asian and European mega-rounds increased. Funding rose across every stage, with late-stage deals up 141% year-over-year.
