As global venture funding kicks off this year at record-setting levels, startup investors are also minting new early-stage unicorns at an unprecedented clip.
A total of 47 seed- and early-stage companies joined the unicorn ranks in the first quarter of this year, per Crunchbase data. Barring a major slowdown, that puts 2026 on track to deliver the largest cohort of young unicorns to date.
This year’s newcomers follow a good-sized 2025 cohort of early-stage companies that secured valuations of $1 billion or more as well. Per Crunchbase data, 59 hit this valuation milestone last year, up about 50% from 2024.
Over the past 10-plus years, meanwhile, the number of new early-stage unicorns has fluctuated widely, from a couple dozen to more than 100, as charted below.
Recent early unicorns are all about AI
Virtually all of the early-stage unicorns minted in the past couple quarters are AI-focused.
This includes several of the most heavily funded newcomers. Examples include Project Prometheus, the physical AI startup launched by Jeff Bezos, Thinking Machines Labs, the foundational AI company co-founded by former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, and Nscale, a London-based AI infrastructure unicorn that has raised over $5 billion.
All this represents the opposite of a surprising development, given that 80% of global venture funding this past quarter went to AI. Additionally, later-stage AI companies are famously securing unheard-of private market valuations, with OpenAI and Anthropic recently valued at $852 billion and $380 billion, respectively.
While we’re not seeing those kinds of numbers for more recently minted early-stage unicorns, several are hitting post-money valuations previously unheard of for such young companies. Thinking Machines Lab, valued at $12 billion for its first funding, is reportedly looking to secure a $50 billion valuation for its next round. And 2-year-old Reflection AI, which secured an $8 billion valuation late last year, is reportedly seeking fresh funding at a $25 billion value.
Fastest climbers
In addition to their high valuations, many newcomers to the early-stage unicorn club are also noteworthy for the speed of their ascents.
Quite a few unicorns minted in the last 15 months were founded in 2025. And one — Advanced Machine Intelligence — was apparently founded just this year. For a broader view, we used Crunchbase data to aggregate some prominent examples of recently founded early-stage unicorns.
By now, some of our early-stage unicorns have also already moved on to later stage. Nscale, for instance, closed a Series C this month. And residential backup power provider Base Power closed on $1 billion in Series C funding in October, just eight months after its Series B. Others are already close to securing new funding at Series C and beyond.
Was this the peak?
Given the new funding records set last quarter, and the blistering pace of early-stage unicorn creation, it’s worth considering whether this could be the peak for the ultra-high AI newcomer funding rounds and valuations. After all, public markets haven’t done well in recent weeks, and private markets have a history of following suit.
For those of us who’ve followed startup funding ebbs and peaks for some time, it’s clear the current environment shares characteristics of a market top. By the same token, top performing tech startups have long demonstrated that doubters are often wrong.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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