Venture Pulse Q2 2026
The Venture Pulse report provides insights around trends, opportunities, and challenges in the US venture capital market.
VC investment in the US continued to be very healthy during Q2’26, with $144.9 billion invested across 3,644 deals. The robust VC deal value, second only to Q1’26 ($268.9 billion), was helped by expansive investment in AI at all deal stages.
In the US in Q2’26
- VC investment hits a record $144.9B, led by AI
- Two $10B+ AI megadeals reshape market dynamics
- Median deal sizes rise across stages, driven by late‑stage rounds
- IPO market pauses amid geopolitical conflict
- LPs concentrate capital in established, large funds
US VC investment remains highly concentrated on AI
The energy and pace of VC investment in the US was very strong during Q2’26, although much of this investment was concentrated in the highly active AI space. During the quarter, AI accounted for the vast majority of $1 billion+ deals in the US, including LLM-focused Anthropic ($65 billion), Project Prometheus ($12 billion), AI-powered defensetech Anduril Industries ($5 billion), and AI coding company Cognition AI ($1 billion). The continued frenetic interest and investment in the AI space highlights the perceived transformative power of AI both across industries and within them. While LLMs in the US have raised many of the largest funding AI rounds to date, VC investors have demonstrated a willingness to pour significant sums of money into AI startups even at the earliest deal stages.
IPO environment keeps improving amid activity by AI giants, but SaaS companies still facing pressure
Despite ongoing market uncertainty related to the tensions between the US and Iran, the IPO market in the US was positive during Q2’26. In particular, the quarter saw significant activity from AI and spacetech companies. In May, AI infrastructure firm Cerebras held an IPO on the Nasdaq, raising $5.5 billion; the company saw shares pop 108 percent during first day trading.1 In June, SpaceX, which acquired xAI in Q1’26 for $250 billion, raised $75 billion in the largest IPO ever seen. LLM companies Anthropic and OpenAI also filed IPO paperwork during the quarter, which could lead to their exits in the back half of 2026.
The IPO market showed some bifurcation during Q2’26; while AI companies eyed exit opportunities with increasing positivity, SaaS companies fell at the opposite end of the spectrum amid concerns about their survival in the age of AI.
Defensetech investment sees big growth in US
Over the last few quarters, interest and investment in the US defensetech space has increased significantly. While defense historically has largely been viewed as a no-go sector, this is no longer the case; VC investors have increasingly recognized defensetech as a high-potential sector for investment given the size of the asset category, increasing awareness of how warfare is changing, and growing recognition of the dual-use capabilities and use cases of many innovative technologies, including drones, autonomous vehicles, space and satellite technologies, and cybersecurity solutions.
Deal sizes in the defensetech sector have also been growing; already in 2026, the space has seen three $1 billion+ funding rounds in the US, including the $1.5 billion raise by drone company Shield AI and the $1.7 billion raise by autonomous ship company Saronic in Q1’26, and the $5 billion raise by Anduril Industries in Q2’26.
CVC investment in US grows as corporates rethink ecosystems
CVC investment in the US was very strong during the first half of 2026, even taking out the outlier raises by OpenAI and Anthropic and the acquisition of xAI by SpaceX. Heading into the second half of the year, annual CVC investment is well on pace to exceed the four-year annual average by more than 25 percent. This substantial uptick reflects large corporates taking a closer look at their ecosystems in the face of enormous disruption, on the AI front in particular. With companies recognizing the critical need to stay relevant, many have started prioritizing buy-over-build strategies in order to accelerate their innovation agendas. Large corporates are increasingly targeting small and mid-sized startups with in-demand capabilities, strong proofs of concept and operationalized systems able to slot into their businesses.
Trends to watch for in Q2’26
Looking ahead to Q3’26, VC market activity in the US is expected to remain positive, with energy continuing to pour into the AI space in particular. Given the significant amount of money available in the market, fundraising activity will likely remain soft outside of proven mega funds and boutiques. That said, potential changes to 401(k) rules could lift investment flows if enacted.
Over the next couple of quarters, a lot of attention will likely be on the IPO market given expectations that Anthropic and OpenAI will exit before the year is out should market conditions remain stable. While these IPOs are expected to make major waves in the public markets, they could also extend the IPO timelines for some startups concerned about going public in their shadow. With SpaceX’s IPO now completed and other very large exits likely on the horizon, one area to watch over the next few quarters will be the early-stage deals environment. Given the amount of capital that has been locked up over the past two years, deal activity at the earliest deal stages has been very soft. Now, with capital starting to get returned to the market, there is growing hope that early-stage deal activity will get invigorated.
Footnotes
1 Julie Bort, “Cerebras raises $5.5B, then stock pops 108%, in the first huge tech IPO of 2026”, 14 May 2026, TechCrunch.com, accessed 5 July 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/14/cerebras-raises-5-5b-kicking-off-2026s-ipo-season-with-a-bang/
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Venture Pulse Q2 2026
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