Overview
- AI firms captured roughly 80–81% of global venture funding in Q1 2026, raising about $297 billion overall.
- Four mega‑rounds accounted for roughly $188 billion of that total, with OpenAI at $122 billion, Anthropic $30 billion, xAI $20 billion and Waymo $16 billion.
- After those outsized raises, about $112 billion remained for all other startups, equal to roughly 20% of the quarter’s funding pool.
- The capital squeeze is raising the risk of down‑rounds and valuation markdowns for more than 1,500 unicorns founded before ChatGPT’s launch.
- Investors are shifting money into AI, slowing crypto and other sector fundraising and prompting many legacy startups to add AI features or rebrand as AI‑first while AI firms win faster growth and reported valuation premiums.