Per 萝莉视频 data, and stood out among the most active U.S. venture and lead venture investors in the second quarter. The highest-spending investors, meanwhile, appear to be those who co-led 鈥檚 massive financing.

To get a more expanded sense of how busy startup backers spent their quarter, we put together several rankings for active investors. These include active venture backers, lead investors, highest spenders and prolific seed dealmakers.

Active venture investors

We鈥檒l start with the most active post-seed investors. By this metric 1, the standouts for Q2 were General Catalyst, and Andreessen Horowitz, with 39, 34 and 28 deals, respectively. Of those, more than two-thirds were for AI-focused startups, per 萝莉视频 data.

All are names that repeatedly show up high in active investor rankings. Y Combinator in particular regularly comes up near the top as it habitually makes nonlead follow-on investments in startups that participated in its accelerator program.

Below, we ranked the 19 most active investors for Q2:

Most active lead investors

When we narrow the ranks to only lead investors in venture rounds, the lineup changes some, but not dramatically.

By this metric, Andreessen Horowitz comes in first with 17 deals. and General Catalyst are tied for second, with 13 led or co-led rounds each.

Overall, at least 12 investors led or co-led six or more venture rounds in Q2. We rank them below.

Highest-spending post-seed investors

Of course, the investors with the largest number of lead deals aren鈥檛 necessarily the ones who put the most capital to work.

To get a sense of the highest-spending startup investors for Q2, we look at who led or co-led rounds with the largest aggregate value. It鈥檚 not an exact tally, as investors rarely disclose their share of a particular round syndicate. However, it does give a sense of who has been writing seriously large checks.

For Q2, the top slots in this spendy investor ranking were dominated by backers. This included 10 co-lead investors in 鈥檚 $50 billion May , as well as , which led a $10 billion separate tranche, and , which led a $5 billion tranche.

Overall, there were 23 investors who led or co-led U.S. venture rounds valued at $2 billion or more in Q2. We rank them below.

Active seed investors

Among seed investors, the usual front-runner, Y Combinator, retained the top slot in Q2. The famed accelerator backed at least 225 seed, pre-seed or convertible note rounds for newly formed startups during the quarter.

was a distant second in the ranks, followed by . Below, we rank the 20 most active seed-stage investors in Q2:

No slowdown

Overall, the active investor ranks paint an image of a startup funding scene still in high gear. All the elements are there: big deals, high round counts and vibrant activity across stages.

We鈥檒l see if it keeps up in Q3.

Illustration:

If that introductory sentence sounds familiar, that鈥檚 because it鈥檚 the same storyline we reported for the first quarter, when drove investment to stratospheric heights with the largest venture round of all time.

Total investment for the second quarter of 2026 was comparatively lower, but still ranked as the second spendiest on record. Investors continued to pour huge sums into AI high-flyers, with a giant financing for accounting for about half of the quarterly tally.

Overall, investment in U.S. and Canadian startups totaled a staggering $392 billion for the first half of 2026, per 萝莉视频 data, dwarfing anything we鈥檝e seen before.

For Q2, meanwhile, investment totaled $137.2 billion. That鈥檚 also massively higher than any prior comp, with the lone exception of Q1.

Capital concentration was the name of the game. For both Q1 and Q2, historically high investment levels were the result of giant rounds, not increases in overall deal count. Deal count remained well below prior high marks for recent years, as charted below.

As usual, capital also concentrated at late stage. However, early-stage investment still rose in Q2, boosted once again by AI.

Of course, the past few months were a blowout period for giant exits as well. led in Q2 with the largest IPO of all time. It followed up with the acquisition of , which was a record-setting startup M&A deal. In addition, we saw a handful of comparatively smaller but still sizable public offerings and acquisitions.

For a more granular look at funding and exit dynamics for the second quarter, below we break down investments by stage and look at the role of AI in boosting totals. We also look at standout IPOs and M&A deals.

Table of contents

• Late stage
• Early stage
• Seed
• AI
• Exits
• IPOs
• M&A
• Uncharted territory
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Late stage

We鈥檒l start with later stage and technology growth deals, since that鈥檚 where most of the money went.

For Q2, funding for this category totaled around $101 billion. It was the second-highest tally in five quarters, as charted below, and also the second-highest of all time.

was by far the quarter鈥檚 heftiest fundraiser, pulling in $65 billion at a $965 billion post-money valuation. The financing included $50 billion in a May round led by , , and , as well as corporate-led rounds by ($5 billion) and ($10 billion). Anthropic followed up in June by filing confidentially for an IPO.

Defense tech unicorn also picked up a big round, securing $5 billion in a May Series H financing led by and .

Early stage

Early-stage investment hit the highest level in more than three years in Q2, offering fresh proof that megarounds aren鈥檛 only a thing for more established startups.

Overall, North American early-stage funding totaled just over $31 billion, nearly double year-ago levels and up about 15% from Q1. Deal count, however, hit the lowest point in five quarters, as charted below.

A single deal contributed more than 40% of the quarterly early-stage funding total. That was the $12 billion financing for , a startup focused on physical AI that counts as a co-founder.

The three next-largest deals were far smaller by comparison, but still quite big by early-stage standards. , an AI startup working on 鈥減ersonalized intelligence,鈥� raised $700 million. Behind that came , a startup building an AI system based on the human brain that picked up $500 million, which was followed by , an AI robotics upstart that closed on $400 million.

Seed

While early-stage funding was up, seed investment in Q2 actually declined a bit from prior quarter and year-ago levels.

Per 萝莉视频 data, around $4.9 billion went to seed and angel rounds in the second quarter, down 15% from the prior quarter and down 27% from a year ago. Round counts also dropped, though we expect that number to rise a bit over time as smaller seed deals commonly get added to the dataset weeks or months after they close.

Still, seed totals also got a boost from a handful of unusually large rounds. The biggest was a $200 million financing for , a foundational AI startup focused on R&D. Overall, at least five companies raised seed or angel rounds of $100 million or more in Q2, per 萝莉视频 data.

AI

Once again, venture funding for the quarter was overwhelmingly dominated by AI.

About 80% of investment across stages went to AI-focused startups in Q2, per 萝莉视频 data. Overall funding to AI categories was nearly triple year-ago levels, though still down from Q1, which had the record-setting $122 billion OpenAI financing.

A majority of AI-focused funding for Q2 was from three previously mentioned rounds for Anthropic, Prometheus and Anduril.

Exits

In addition to backing giant rounds, investors also scored some big returns on prior investment in the form of IPO and acquisitions.

IPOs

On the IPO front, Q2 brought us the historic public market debut of SpaceX. The rocket, satellite and AI giant raised $75 billion in the largest IPO of all time in June. With a recent market cap around $2.1 trillion, it鈥檚 currently the sixth-most valuable American public company.

While no one else will come close to topping that, the quarter did also bring us a handful of other sizable debuts by venture-backed companies. Of this, the most closely watched was AI infrastructure and chip designer , which raised $5.6 billion in its May IPO.

Quantum computing company delivered another big debut with its June IPO, followed by , a developer of modular nuclear reactors. For a broader view, below we list the largest IPOs of the quarter by venture-backed North American companies.

M&A

The second quarter also delivered the largest startup acquisition of all time: SpaceX鈥檚 $60 billion of AI coding tool Cursor and its parent company . SpaceX first announced an option to purchase the company in April and consummated the deal after its IPO.

In biotech, the largest purchase was from , which announced in April that it was acquiring , a developer of gene therapies, in a deal valued at up to $7 billion in cash.

Other standout deals include 鈥榮 acquisition of AI chip startup for $4 billion and 鈥檚 1聽acquisition of , a provider of AI-enabled customer experience tools.

Below, we rank the largest transactions:

Uncharted territory

For those wondering where we go from here, it seems pertinent to note that startup history doesn鈥檛 give much material for case studies to compare with the first half and second quarter of 2026. Never before have we seen such massive funding rounds, such a highly valued venture-backed company debut, or a startup acquisition to rival the Cursor purchase.

Looking forward, it appears that high-flying startups and their backers expect the current unprecedented conditions to persist, with Anthropic and OpenAI both signaling their intentions to go public at valuations close to or exceeding $1 trillion. Meanwhile, massive startup funding rounds are still happening at a steady clip, with deals in excess of $1 billion no longer an anomaly.

Will these trends persist? Who knows. At this point, however, it鈥檚 assumed in startup circles that there will be some enormous winners in the age of AI. The question still is: Who will prevail?

Related 萝莉视频 queries:

Related reading:

• 萝莉视频 Data: Global Startup Investment Hit Record $510B In H1 2026 As AI Boom Accelerates Funding And Exits
• North America Q1 Funding Surges Across Stages To Record Level
• SpaceX Shares Close Up 19% After Largest IPO Of All Time
• Anthropic Nears $1T Valuation And Leapfrogs OpenAI On 萝莉视频 With Massive Funding Round
• Lilly Acquiring Kelonia In Largest Funded Biotech Startup Purchase In Years聽

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 萝莉视频, and is based on reported data. Data is as of July 2, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 萝莉视频 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 萝莉视频 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 萝莉视频 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 萝莉视频 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

Nonetheless, amid a period of soaring , rising EV adoption rates, and accelerating progress in fusion and other fields, cleantech investment activity isn鈥檛 slowing down.

In the first half of this year, investors poured $15 billion into seed- through growth-stage rounds for companies in 萝莉视频 cleantech, EV and sustainability-focused categories. That puts funding on track to slightly exceed the 2025 tally, which was the lowest in several years.

On a quarterly basis, funding is also on the rise. Around $8 billion went to companies in cleantech and related categories in the second quarter of this year, the highest quarterly total since 2024.

Even taking into account recent gains, however, cleantech funding remains far below its former peak in 2021 and 2022. Given that overall venture funding has risen with the AI boom, cleantech also accounts for a smaller share of total investment.

Where funding is concentrating

That鈥檚 not to say megarounds aren鈥檛 getting done in the sector. A look at the largest funding rounds of 2026 paints a varied picture of where capital is concentrating.

Stockholm-based green steel producer scored the largest financing of 2026, securing $1.6 billion in a round led by Swedish asset manager . Stegra plans to use the money to complete the construction of its large-scale steel plant.

The next-biggest round went to , a -backed startup that has been generating buzz and reservations for a flagship electric pickup starting at around $25,000 that can be converted to an SUV. Troy, Michigan-based Slate raised $650 million in Series C funding in April and plans to deliver its first trucks to customers later this year.

The third- and fourth-largest financings were fusion deals. The latest of those went to , which raised $465 million in a June Series G funding to go toward building a fusion power plant. The -led round set a $15.5 billion post-money valuation for the Everett, Washington-based company.

A few months earlier, fusion startup picked up $450 million in Series A funding led by . The San Francisco-based company, formed around a fusion breakthrough at , plans to build the world鈥檚 most powerful laser to further its goal of grid-scale energy production.

For a broader view of where large financings are concentrating, below we put together a list of 10 of the largest cleantech-related rounds this year.

Under the circumstances, the space looks underfunded

While sums going to cleantech-related startups aren鈥檛 tiny, looking at total investment tallies does leave one with the impression that the space looks underfunded.

After all, energy is a growth sector, and clean energy is leading the way. The forecasts the share of renewables and nuclear in the world鈥檚 power mix will rise to 50% by the end of this decade. At the same time, global power demand is set to grow by more than 3.5% per year on average over the rest of this decade.

Exits of venture-backed companies are also happening, another source of encouragement for startup investors. The most recent IPO in the space was geothermal provider , which went public in May, raising $1.9 billion. The Houston-based company had a recent market cap around $8.6 billion.

On the nuclear power front, , a developer of small modular reactors, carried out its own Nasdaq IPO in April, raising $1 billion. The Rockville, Maryland, company was recently valued at a little over $5 billion.

Looking ahead, it鈥檚 not far-fetched to see myriad factors that could power clean energy, sustainability and EV sectors higher. For clean power in particular, the voracious energy demands of AI are certainly a catalyst to consider. We鈥檒l stay tuned to see if growing energy demand ultimately translates into greater startup investment.

Related 萝莉视频 query:

Related reading:

• 萝莉视频 Data: Global Startup Investment Hit Record $510B In H1 2026 As AI Boom Accelerates Funding And Exits

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

U.S. startups announced sizable funding rounds at a steady clip during a truncated holiday week, with energy and AI leading the way.

Houston-based energy startup secured the biggest round, a $1.75 billion strategic financing, followed by , a developer of infrastructure for companies running open source AI models, and , a provider of compliance tools for enterprises.

Other big rounds were for companies focused on therapeutics, homebuilding, and even lacrosse.

1. , $1.75B, energy: Houston-based Joulent, a provider of energy infrastructure focused on the demands of artificial intelligence and other compute-intensive industries, raised $1.75 billion in a strategic investment backed by through its arm.

2. , $800M, AI infrastructure: Together AI, developer of an infrastructure layer for companies running open source AI models, secured $800 million in Series C financing. led the round, which set an $8.3 billion post-money valuation for the San Francisco-based startup.

3. , $180M, compliance: LeapXpert, a provider of tools for tracking enterprise communications for compliance needs, closed on $180 million in growth financing. led the financing for the New York-based company.

4. , $135M, AI software development: Redwood City, California-based 8090 Solutions, developer of a platform for building enterprise software with coordinated AI agents under human-led oversight,聽 picked up $135 million in a round led by 1. The company, founded in 2024, counts prominent startup investor as co-founder and CEO.

5. , $126M, biotech: Boston-based Beeline Medicines, a startup focused on precision therapies for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, secured $126 million in Series A extension funding backed by , and . The financing follows a previously disclosed $300 million Series A.

6. (tied) , $100 million, professional sports: The Premier Lacrosse League, a men’s professional lacrosse league in North America, closed a $100 million Series E financing round led by and . New York-based PLL said the deal represents the largest capital raise in the history of professional lacrosse.

6. (tied) , $100M, video-based AI: Twelve Labs, a San Francisco-based startup developing AI systems trained on video archives, raised $100 million in a Series B round co-led by and .

8. , $95M, AI for homebuilding: Higharc, a developer of AI-enabled tools for designing homes and managing workflows around homebuilding, picked up $95 million in Series C funding. led the financing for the Durham, North Carolina-based company.

9. , $85M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Flare Therapeutics, a startup targeting transcription factors to develop treatments for cancer and other ailments, raised $85 million in Series C funding led by and .

10. , $65M, AI privacy: Venice, developer of a platform enabling private, surveillance-free access to a wide array of AI models, secured $65 million in Series A funding led by . The round set a $1 billion valuation for the 2-year-old Sheridan, Wyoming-based startup.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 萝莉视频 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of June 27-July 2. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

That鈥檚 the trend we鈥檙e seeing for the second quarter of 2026. This period has brought us both the largest venture-backed exit of all time, with , and a bevy of other comparatively tinier but still sizable startup exits through acquisition or IPO.

Overall, we鈥檙e still well behind the prior high in terms of the number of big exits, as you can see charted below. The IPO and SPAC boom of five years ago will be hard to match for exit count.

聽Bigger numbers

But while the Q2 exit deal counts may be still below peak, the actual returns are not.

For that, of course, we can thank SpaceX, which earlier this month shattered records with a historical debut that culminated in a staggering $2.1 trillion first-day market cap. Its long-awaited offering raised some $75 billion and served as an enormous liquidity event for founder .

Compared to that, every other Q2 startup exit looks pretty paltry. But by any other comparative metric, these other big exits were also very impressive.

SpaceX鈥檚 $60 billion acquisition of AI coding platform a few days after its IPO, for instance, was the priciest purchase of a private, venture-backed startup ever.

As for IPOs, made a splashy entry in May with an offering that raised at least $5.55 billion. Shares are down from the first-day closing price, but the company still maintains a sizable market cap around $38 billion.

Earlier this month, quantum computing company also had a big debut on , raising $1.7 billion and securing an initial market cap of $15.6 billion. Shares are still up sharply from the initial price.

For a broader view of big deals, below we put together a list of all the Q2 venture-backed private company exits valued at $1 billion or more.

Trend: fewer deals but larger ones

Even though the number of big deals picked up in Q2, the more noteworthy trend is the size of exits rather than the quantity. Size will likely still be the standout feature in coming months, with both and filing confidentially for IPOs that could test the trillion-dollar mark.

At the same time, however, the pace of exits in the billion-dollar-plus club, which in any prior cycle were considered considerable, is showing no signs of slowing.

Related reading:

• The 萝莉视频 Billion-Dollar Exits Board
• Cursor Deal Puts US On Track For Record Startup M&A Year

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

This week, most of the largest U.S. startup funding rounds centered around the sector one would suspect: artificial intelligence. This was true for the week鈥檚 largest venture financing, a $1.5 billion Series F for AI inference technology provider , as well as a majority of rounds in the Top 10. Beyond that, the next-biggest area for startup funding was biotech.

1. , $1.5B, AI inference technology: Baseten, a provider of systems software to run AI applications workloads, raised $1.5 billion in Series F funding, its fourth fundraise in 18 months. , , , and co-led the round, which set a $13 billion valuation for the San Francisco-based company.

2. , $1B, digital marketing: AppsFlyer, a San Francisco-based provider of data analytics with digital marketing as a core use case, reportedly secured more than $1 billion in a Series E funding round at a post-money valuation of $2.7 billion. Backers reportedly include , , and .

3. , $650M, AI inference technology: San Francisco-based Groq closed on $650 million in new funding led by and that it says will be used to scale its AI inference cloud technology and infrastructure. The investment comes just over six months after an acquihire-type transaction in which hired away its founder and key team members and licensed its technology.

4. , $330M, ophthalmic therapies: Ollin Biosciences, a developer of therapies for vision-threatening diseases, picked up $330 million in Series B funding. and led the financing for the Austin-based company.

5. , $320M, foundational AI: General Intuition, developer of a foundational AI model based on gameplay, secured $320 million in Series A funding at a $2.3 billion valuation. led the financing for the New York-based company, while backers including and participated.

6. , $250M, government software: Peregrine Technologies, provider of a platform used by public safety agencies and other government entities, secured $250 million in Series D financing. , , , , and led the financing, which set a $6.8 billion valuation for the San Francisco-based company.

7. (tied) , $200M, risk intelligence: Palo Alto, California-based Quantifind, developer of a risk intelligence platform for financial crime detection and national security operations, closed on $200 million in growth financing led by .

7. (tied) , $200M, foundational AI: San Francisco-based Mirendil, a frontier lab building systems that excel at AI R&D, says it raised a seed round of $200 million led by and . The startup also counts as a backer.

9. (tied) , $190M, AI infrastructure: AI networking infrastructure startup Upscale AI raised $190 million in Series A extension funding, bringing total financing to $500 million. led the round, which set a $2 billion valuation for the Santa Clara, California-based company.

9. (tied) , $190M, biotech: San Francisco-based Osanni Bio, a therapeutics platform focused on ophthalmic therapies and other treatments, secured $190 million in Series B funding led by .

Large non-US deals:

The week also brought some large 萝莉视频 rounds:

, $569M, defense tech: Berlin-based defense tech startup Stark reportedly raised $569 million in a financing led by and .

, $546M, insurance: Paris-based health insurance startup Alan secured $460 million in new investment in primary and secondary equity led by .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 萝莉视频 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of June 18-26. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

Those were the unsurprising findings of a 萝莉视频 analysis of U.S. startup acquisition outlays in 2026. So far this year, acquirers have spent at least $119.8 billion buying private, venture-backed companies, on pace to exceed 2025鈥檚 record-setting tally.

For 2026, however, about half of total M&A spending on U.S. startups comes from a single deal: 鈥檚 $60 billion of AI coding tool Cursor and its parent company . SpaceX first announced an option to the company in April and consummated the deal after its IPO this month.

The Cursor purchase represents the largest startup acquisition of all time, nearly double the size of the prior frontrunner, 鈥檚 purchase of for $32 billion. After that, the next-biggest startup M&A deal was 鈥檚 $19 billion acquisition of in 2014.

Other big M&A deals

While other 2026 startup purchases weren鈥檛 setting records, many of them were still on the historically large size.

To illustrate, we used 萝莉视频 data to put together a list of the 10 largest disclosed-price U.S. startup acquisitions this year.聽1 The bottom nine range from $2 billion to $7 billion.

Biotech was a standout

Biotech was especially big. This is due in large part to , which announced in April that it was acquiring , a developer of gene therapies with a particular focus on cancer treatment, in a deal valued at up to $7 billion in cash. Per 萝莉视频 data, the high end of the purchase price represents the largest acquisition of a venture-backed biotech company in years.

Lilly was also the acquirer in two other deals in our Top 10 ranking. The pharma giant bought , a developer of RNA therapeutics, for up to $2.4 billion, and , a developer of blood cancer therapies, for up to $2.3 billion.

Overall, half of the 10 largest deals this quarter were biotech transactions. However, in most cases the number represents the maximum potential acquisition price, which will require the acquired company to meet pre-determined milestones, typically around clinical results and commercialization.

Brex, Modular and more

Outside of biotech and, of course, Cursor, the next-largest acquisition was 鈥檚 purchase of business credit card and account provider for $5.15 billion. It’s followed by ‘s acquisition, announced yesterday, of AI chip startup for $4 billion.

Further down the list is 鈥檚 2聽acquisition this month of , a provider of AI-enabled customer experience tools, and 鈥檚 purchase of , an industrial AI platform, each at $3.6 billion.

With the second quarter winding to a close, we wouldn鈥檛 rule out the likelihood of another big deal making headlines in coming days. Even if that doesn’t happen, however, it鈥檚 already clear that 2026 is shaping up as a big spending year for startup M&A.

Related 萝莉视频 queries:

Illustration:

During his tenure as chair from 1987 to 2006, Greenspan was renowned for his cryptic utterances on the economy, leaving rate-watchers befuddled as to whether they presaged a likely cut or hike. His wife, veteran correspondent , famously that their marriage took time because 鈥渉e claims he proposed three times before I was able to understand. He was so oblique. It was like his testimony.鈥�

In spite of his long history of obfuscation, however, Greenspan is best known for a fairly unambiguous two-word phrase: 鈥渋rrational exuberance.鈥� He coined it in a 1996 to the聽 , a conservative-leaning think tank, titled 鈥淭he Challenge of Central Banking in a Democratic Society.鈥�

One of the speech鈥檚 core points was the notion that pricing logic in an industrial economy dominated by durable goods and materials is far simpler than for a modern economy increasingly dominated by software and services.

鈥淲hat is the price of a unit of software or a legal opinion? How does one evaluate the price change of a cataract operation over a 10-year period when the nature of the procedure and its impact on the patient changes so radically?鈥� he mused, before turning to that most famous insight.

That insight, if I am translating Greenspan-speak correctly, was linked to the question of how one can establish long-term confidence in valuations of assets tied to fast-changing technologies and business models, like software, where prior notions of unit economics no longer applied.

鈥淗ow do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset values, which then become subject to unexpected and prolonged contractions,鈥� he wondered. It鈥檚 a conjecture that 30 years later still has no obvious answer.

Notably, Greenspan鈥檚 speech actually predated the most heated periods of the dot-com boom, bubble and implosion, which began in the late 1990s and culminated with the hitting its cyclical peak in early 2000. During and shortly after that period, money-losing e-commerce companies like online grocer and pet supply retailer famously went public at then sky-high valuations before abruptly shuttering. Internet infrastructure providers fared even worse, exemplified by networking equipment maker going from Canada鈥檚 most valuable company to penny stock in a couple years.

But while losers lost big, winners eventually eclipsed them. Dot-com-era megastars and , for instance, are now worth nearly $8 trillion combined.

That brings us to one of Greenspan鈥檚 other well-known analogies: the lottery ticket.

In Congressional testimony in early 1999, pressed for his thoughts on then fast-rising share prices of hot internet companies, the Fed chair the stock-buying frenzy to playing the lottery. He observed that people have long been willing to pay more for a lottery ticket than their chances of winning would justify, simply because they are drawn to the remote chance of a huge win.

”And undoubtedly some of these small companies, which have stock prices going through the roof, will succeed and they very well may justify even higher prices,” he said. ”The vast majority are almost sure to fail. That’s the way the markets work in this regard.”

Fast-forward to today, and one is easily drawn to apply Greenspan鈥檚 analogy to the current AI mania. Once again, we鈥檙e seeing unprecedented valuations attached to money-losing companies, many in still relatively nascent stages of development.

In other ways, however, this time it鈥檚 not a dot-com lottery ticket redo. For one thing, the companies in which a retail investor might be buying said ticket are by no means small. , at its current market cap, is the sixth-most valuable U.S. public company. It鈥檚 priced like a winner, not a wanna-be.

Same holds true for recent valuations for and , both of which have confidentially filed for public offerings likely to debut in coming months. Anthropic hit a $965 billion post-money valuation, while OpenAI鈥檚 was recently around $852 billion.

One wonders what Greenspan would say about these stratospheric asset price levels. I鈥檇 suspect there are better than lottery-ticket odds that it would be something cryptic.

Related 萝莉视频 query:

Related reading:

• The AI Startup Funding Boom Is Not A Global Phenomenon
• The SpaceX IPO Filing Looks Nothing Like Those Of The Elite Group Of Tech Giants It’s Hoping To Join

Photo: Dr. Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, speaks at the Per Jacobsson Foundation Lecture, October 21, 2007, in Washington, DC. (Photo by International Monetary Fund Photograph/Stephen Jaffe used under the .)

Illustration:

So far in 2026, U.S. companies have pulled in nearly 80% of global seed- through growth-stage financing, per 萝莉视频 data. That鈥檚 a sharp divergence from the years leading up to the AI boom, when American companies typically secured less than half of all investment.

Gap for AI is even more pronounced

The U.S. share of artificial intelligence-related investment is even greater.

So far this year, nearly 88% of AI-related startup funding, or $319 billion, went to U.S.-headquartered companies, per 萝莉视频 data. Of that, most went to just two recipients, and .

Since both Anthropic and OpenAI are on track for public market debuts later this year, it鈥檚 possible next year鈥檚 comps will be less lopsided, as they won鈥檛 be raising any more giant late-stage financings. We鈥檒l see.

Large venture hubs outperform small and mid-sized ones

Although no other country comes close to the U.S. for startup funding, a few of the larger technology investment hubs are seeing year-over-year gains.

Funding to China鈥檚 startups, in particular, is on the rise after several sluggish years. So far in 2026, startups have raised over $33 billion, per 萝莉视频 data, already surpassing the total for all of 2025.

The United Kingdom is also looking up. U.K.-based startups have pulled in $16.5 billion so far this year, compared to $19.5 billion in all of 2025. AI and fintech are the country鈥檚 leading sectors for investment.

Other mid-sized venture markets are seeing funding levels this year that are on track to be flat or moderately higher year over year, per 萝莉视频 data. In Europe, this includes France, Spain and Germany.

In Asia, India, Japan and South Korea are also neither way up nor way down. Canada and Australia, meanwhile, aren鈥檛 in a slump but also aren鈥檛 seeing any major AI-focused funding raised this year.

Maybe it鈥檚 a US bubble?

Now that more than three-fourths of startup funding is going to U.S. companies, it seems timely to note that the country is home to only a little over 4% of the global population.

On the tech startup front, it鈥檚 undoubtedly an impressive 4%. The U.S. has an unrivaled track record for building leading technology companies, along with the capital and talent to keep on doing so.

That said, certain trends do warrant some serious bubble consideration. The anomalously high concentration of startup funding into American companies is one of them.

Surely many of the countries in which the remaining 96% of people on Earth dwell possess entrepreneurial talent, infrastructure and economic might that could support more than just a measly 12% share of AI startup funding. If one was a betting type, it鈥檚 hard not to argue that the odds for that look pretty good.

Related 萝莉视频 queries:

Related reading:

• Q1 2026 Shatters Venture Funding Records As AI Boom Pushes Startup Investment To $300B

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

Big fundraising deals did not take a pause for summer this week. In the U.S., the largest financings went to enterprise software company and blockchain technology provider . The largest deals of the week, however, were for 萝莉视频 companies, with Germany鈥檚 pulling in $1.4 billion and Finnish space tech company landing $520 million.

1. , $400M, enterprise software: NinjaOne, provider of an IT operations and endpoint management platform, raised over $400 million in Series C extension funding at a $12.3 billion valuation. The Austin-based company said it grew revenue over 70% in 2025 and posted a profit in the first quarter of this year.

2. , $355M, blockchain technology: Digital Asset, a provider of blockchain technology geared for financial institutions, secured $355 million in a later-stage financing led by 鈥檚 crypto fund, . Founded in 2014, the New York-based company has raised at least $847 million in known funding to date, per .

3. , $350M, AI cloud infrastructure: Las Vegas-based TensorWave, an AMD AI cloud technology provider for training and inference workloads, closed on $350 million in Series B funding. and led the financing.

4. , $300M, biotech: Beren Therapeutics, a developer of therapeutics for conditions characterized by defective cholesterol trafficking, raised $300 million in equity and debt funding. The financing for the Thousand Oaks, California-based company includes $165 million in debt funding from as well as $135 million in equity investment.

5. , $200M, robotics: Standard Bots, a manufacturer of AI-native industrial robots, picked up $200 million in Series C funding. and were lead investors in the round, which set a $1 billion valuation for the New York-based company.

6. , $125M, genetic medicines: SonoThera, developer of an ultrasound-mediated genetic medicine platform, secured $125 million in Series B funding. led the financing for the San Francisco-based company.

7. (tied) , $100M, medical devices: Tempe, Arizona-based GT Medical Technologies, developer of a form of radiation therapy called GammaTile that is used at the time of brain tumor removal surgery, picked up $100 million in Series E funding led by .

7. (tied) (aka Genspark), $100M, agentic AI: MainFunc, the company behind Genspark, a developer of agentic AI tools for the workplace, reportedly $100 million in Series B extension funding at a $2.6 billion valuation. Investors reportedly included , and South Korea’s .

9. , $99.5M, biotech: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based City Therapeutics, a developer of RNA interference (RNAi)-based medicines, closed on $99.5 million in Series B funding from backers including new investors and .

10. , $85M, tools for the deaf and hearing-impaired: Rylo, developer of an app for hearing-impaired people, raised $85 million in growth funding from , and existing investors.

Outside the US

, $1.4B, robotics: Germany鈥檚 Neura Robotics, a developer of AI infrastructure for robots to learn, collaborate and operate across real-world environments, says it secured up to $1.4 billion in Series C funding.

, $520M, space tech: Helsinki-based Iceye, operator of a satellite constellation for monitoring conditions on Earth, raised $520 million in a Series F funding round led by , at a valuation of over $12 billion.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 萝莉视频 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of June 6-12. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration: