Markets
Q1 2026 VC Shatters All Records at $300B — AI Claims 80% of Global Venture Capital
Crunchbase data shows $300 billion invested across 6,000 startups globally in Q1 2026 — up 150%+ QoQ and YoY, totaling nearly 70% of all VC spending in 2025 in a single quarter. AI claimed $242B (80% of total). Four megadeals — OpenAI ($122B), Anthropic ($30B), xAI ($20B), Waymo ($16B) — absorbed $188B or 65% of global investment. The U.S. captured $250B (83% of global funding, up from 71% in Q1 2025). Seed deal count fell 30% even as seed dollars rose 31%, signaling larger checks to fewer companies.
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