Startup funding shatters records in Q1

Global startup funding reached an unprecedented $297 billion in Q1 2026, more than doubling the previous quarter and surpassing all prior annual totals before 2019. This surge was driven by four massive deals, including OpenAI's record-breaking $122 billion funding round, valuing the company at $862 billion. Anthropic also secured a significant $30 billion, and xAI and Waymo raised $20 billion and $16 billion respectively. These mega-rounds accounted for over 63% of the total funding, indicating a strong investor appetite, particularly for AI startups which are seeing higher valuations at earlier stages.