Venture Pulse Q2 2026

Global VC investment remained strong in Q2’26, reaching $227.4 billion across 8,440 deals. While down from Q1’s record quarter, investment stayed historically elevated, led by major AI financings and continued activity across the Americas, Asia and Europe.

Global highlights of Q2'26

Global VC investment reached $227.4 billion across 8,440 deals
Q2’26 was the second-highest quarter ever for global VC investment
AI accounted for many of the quarter’s largest financings, led by Anthropic’s $65B raise and Project Prometheus’ $12B raise
The Americas attracted $150B across 3,999 deals, while Asia rose to $50.8B across 2,676 deals and Europe reached $25.6B across 1,636 deals
Exit activity spiked, skewed by SpaceX’s record IPO and Cerebras’ successful Nasdaq debut

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Americas attract largest share as Asia continues its rebound

The Americas attracted the largest share of global VC funding in Q2’26, with $150 billion invested across 3,999 deals, led by $144.9 billion in US investment across 3,644 deals. Asia strengthened for a fifth consecutive quarter, reaching $50.8 billion across 2,676 deals, while Europe posted another solid quarter with $25.6 billion invested across 1,636 deals.

AI remains the dominant force globally

AI continued to drive global VC investment in Q2’26, with large raises across the US, China, Singapore and Europe. The quarter’s largest deals included Anthropic’s $65 billion raise, Project Prometheus’ $12 billion raise, DeepSeek’s $7.4 billion raise, and Anduril Industries’ $5 billion raise. Investors focused on large language models, AI infrastructure, robotics, legaltech, drug discovery and industry-specific AI solutions.

Defensetech, spacetech, biotech and quantum attract attention

Ongoing geopolitical tensions kept defensetech and dual-use technologies high on investor agendas, highlighted by Anduril Industries’ $5 billion raise in the US and continued defensetech activity in Europe. SpaceX’s record IPO reinforced interest in spacetech, while life sciences, biotech and quantum computing also attracted investor attention across multiple jurisdictions.

Trends to watch for Q3’26

Heading into Q3’26, AI is expected to remain the largest driver of VC investment globally, particularly industry-focused solutions. Defensetech is also expected to remain active given ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, while the US IPO market will be a key area to watch following SpaceX’s record listing and potential IPOs from Anthropic and OpenAI. Fintech, healthtech and biotech are also expected to remain important pockets of activity across select regions.

Looking at the first six months of the year, we’re seeing numbers revert back to levels we haven’t seen since 2022. Market activity is booming — in hardware, AI, advanced manufacturing, energy and other key areas. It’s amazing. AI has definitely been a major driver of this activity because so much of the investment we’re seeing is linked to it in some way, whether in robotics or semiconductors. Over the next six months, it will be good to see this momentum continue.

Zoe Shi

Partner

KPMG China