Crunchbase data shows global venture investment totaled $189 billion in February — the largest startup funding month on record — although 83% of capital raised went to just three companies. They include OpenAI, which raised $110 billion, also in the largest round ever raised by a private, venture-backed company.
The record month for venture funding took place against the backdrop of a trillion-dollar stock market drop as AI compute and tooling unsettled leading public software companies.
All told, venture investment was up close to 780% year over year from the $21.5 billion raised by startups in February 2025.
OpenAI was not the only company to raise tens of billions of dollars last month. Its closest rival, Anthropic, raised $30 billion, marking the third-largest venture round on record.
Waymo, Alphabet‘s self-driving division, raised $16 billion. Together, those three rounds totaled $156 billion, representing 83% of the global venture capital raised in February.
A further four companies each raised $1 billion or more last month: Tokyo-based semiconductor manufacturer Rapidus; London-based self-driving platform Wayve; San Francisco-based AI for robotics World Labs; and Sunnyvale, California-based AI semiconductor company Cerebras Systems.
These massive rounds were led by strategic corporate investors, a host of private equity and alternative investors, as well as a few multistage venture investors and a government agency.
Capital concentration
Seed-stage funding was down around 11% year over year with $2.6 billion raised, per Crunchbase data. Early-stage funding held up with $13.1 billion invested, up 47% year over year.
The trend of capital concentration was not only visible in the larger late-stage financings. Seed, Series A and Series B rounds’ median and average amounts have increased each year since 2024, and continued to do so through February.
US dominated
U.S.-based startups raised $174 billion last month, Crunchbase data shows. That was the country’s largest percentage of global venture funding — 92%, and up from 59% a year earlier.
AI and hardware surge
AI-related startups raised $171 billion in February, accounting for 90% of global venture funding. Other sectors that stood out include hardware-related startups dominated by autonomous-vehicle technology, semiconductors, robotics and networking products.
Two months into the year, the public and private markets are off to a very different start. Despite optimism that the IPO momentum we saw in 2025 would continue into 2026, public market volatility and uncertainty have stalled new offerings again. As a result, mobile marketing firm Liftoff and fintech brokerage firm Clear Street both withdrew their listings last month.
The private markets, by contrast, are on fire. Just a couple of months into the year, global venture funding has already topped 50% of the total invested in 2025.
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Methodology
The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of March 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. Crunchbase 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 Crunchbase 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. Crunchbase 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. Crunchbase 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 “Series [Letter]” 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 “venture” round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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