$506 billion in six months: 2026 on track for record VC year – driven by AI
Global startup funding hit a new high in the first half of 2026. According to the fresh “Half-time Report” by data provider Dealroom, $506 billion in venture capital flowed into startups worldwide between January and June – more than in any previous half-year.
At that pace, the full year would top $1 trillion for the first time ever. Dealroom itself considers that unlikely: almost half of the half-year total – $237 billion – came from a handful of mega-rounds by OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI, and a repeat of that cluster in the second half is seen as improbable. Even so, the data points to 2026 becoming the biggest year in global VC to date.
AI startups take 77 percent of all capital
The driver is unambiguous: AI startups accounted for around 77 percent of all global VC investment in the first half of 2026. Dealroom stresses that this is not a generous categorisation. The team looks closely at which companies genuinely have AI at the core of their business, Browne said during the presentation – as opposed to firms that merely mention AI somewhere on their website.
More billion-dollar rounds than in all of last year
The concentration in very large deals is striking. In the first six months of 2026 alone, Dealroom counted more funding rounds above $2 billion than in the whole of 2025. Their share of total funding rose from 21 percent last year to 57 percent in H1 2026.
Three deals are largely responsible: OpenAI’s $122 billion round, plus two rounds by Anthropic worth $65 billion and $30 billion.
US share above 80 percent
Geographic concentration is equally pronounced. The United States accounted for more than 80 percent of total global VC volume in the first half. At the same time, the US shows the highest projected growth of any country raising at least $1 billion in VC per year, according to Dealroom.
Chiavarini pointed to the contrast with the previous VC peak, when capital was spread far more widely, with record levels in regions such as Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. Today, activity has concentrated much more heavily in mature, established markets.
Defence at an all-time high, climate tech flat
Alongside AI, a second sector stands out: defence, security and resilience reached an all-time high of $40 billion in the first half of 2026. A decade ago the segment barely registered in venture capital; driven by Russia’s war against Ukraine and several other conflicts, it has since become a strategic priority.
Climate tech tells a different story. Growth remains flat, with Dealroom projecting roughly $39 billion for the full year 2026 – broadly matching last year’s figure.
Consolidation as the underlying pattern
Taken together, the half-year data describes an ecosystem in transition: capital is concentrating both geographically and by sector more sharply than in earlier boom phases, and multi-billion-dollar rounds that were almost unheard of a few years ago now shape the statistics. The current winners are AI and several deep-tech fields such as robotics and semiconductors.
