PitchBook Reported $355.9 Billion In AI Venture Deals

The PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor said US venture capital deal value reached $412.7 billion in the first half of 2026, with AI companies taking $355.9 billion of the total.

The PitchBook AI venture funding figures show how much of the half-year market was tied to one technology theme rather than a broad recovery across startup categories.

The report said AI companies accounted for about 86% of venture dollars spent in the six-month period.

It described the shift as structural, citing AI coding tools that lower software-building costs and foundation models that give founders a base layer without training their own systems.

Rounds Of $100 Million Or More Took 87.5 Percent Of Deployed Capital

PitchBook said rounds of $100 million or more accounted for 87.5% of capital deployed in the first half.

The report said deals below that mark drew $51.4 billion, even though they still represented most transactions by count.

The report said smaller deals' share of total value has fallen from 43.8% in 2024 to 33.1% in 2025 and 12.5% in the first half of 2026.

PitchBook's figures centre the funding story on a few very large rounds instead of a wider early-stage rebound.

PitchBook said seven rounds of $1 billion or more closed in the second quarter.

The report named Anthropic, Prometheus, Anduril Industries, Baseten Labs, MiRus, Kalshi and Cognition AI, and said those rounds were worth $87.2 billion together.

PitchBook said five of the seven went to AI companies.

Anthropic Round Lifted Its Post-Money Valuation To $965 Billion

PitchBook listed Anthropic's $65 billion round as the largest deal in the group and said it lifted the company's post-money valuation to $965 billion.

The report said Anthropic had raised at a $350 billion pre-money valuation three months earlier and that the new round marked it at $900 billion, up 157%.

The report also said the headline figure was softer than it looked because about $15 billion had been committed in earlier pledges.

PitchBook said that caveat left the cash actually added by the new financing below the full $65 billion headline amount.

SpaceX Exit Value Dominated The IPO Total

PitchBook said Space Exploration Technologies completed a $1.7 trillion initial public offering in the second quarter.

The report said the IPO raised $75 billion, pushed SpaceX's market capitalisation above $2 trillion in early trading and exceeded the combined value of US venture-backed exits from the previous decade.

The report also cited two other SpaceX-linked deals: a $250 billion acquisition of xAI in the first quarter and a pending $60 billion all-stock deal for coding startup Cursor.

PitchBook said quarterly exit value would sit close to constrained recent-year levels if SpaceX were excluded.

Cerebras Systems also completed a $34.3 billion IPO after cancelling a 2025 attempt, according to the report.

PitchBook said the stock initially traded at more than twice the offer price and later fell below the offer level.

Venture Firms Raised $72.4 Billion Across 405 Funds

Fundraising showed the same concentration pattern.

PitchBook said venture firms raised $72.4 billion across 405 funds in the first half, close to the $74.9 billion raised in all of 2025.

The report said funds of $1 billion or more took $49.5 billion.

It listed Andreessen Horowitz with seven funds worth $14.2 billion, Thrive Capital with $10 billion across two funds and Founders Fund with $10.6 billion across two funds.

PitchBook said those three firms together raised $34.8 billion, or 48% of fundraising dollars in the half.

PitchBook's analysts warned that a venture market this dependent on AI faces a broad correction if AI growth or returns disappoint.

The report did not include company-level revenue, profitability, customer-retention data or realised exit returns for the AI startups that raised the largest rounds.