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Massive AI Deals Drive $189B Startup Funding Record In February While Public Software Stocks Reel
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. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: 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
Over $50B Went To Boom-Era Software Companies That Haven’t Raised In 4+ Years
Startups raise cash when funding is flush and try to conserve it to power through leaner times. But typically the runway only lasts so long. If a venture-backed company has gone more than four years between funding rounds, the forecast generally looks dim. It becomes increasingly unlikely that it will secure another good-sized financing or a sizable exit. Four-year funding gaps are especially top of mind these days, as it’s been that long since U.S. venture investment hit its all-time peak. During the boom that lasted from 2020 to early 2022, software companies in particular routinely raised megarounds at rich valuations. That, as we know, resulted in some strong exits, a lot of mediocre outcomes, and quite a lot that haven’t flourished. Stranded software unicorns For many, flush times came to an abrupt end. Per Crunchbase data, more than 150 boom-era U.S. software and software-related companies with $100 million or more in equity funding have not raised capital in over four years, remain private and have not been acquired.1 Collectively, they were a well-funded bunch. Companies in the cohort that raised their last round during the peak 2 pulled in over $51 billion in aggregate funding, per Crunchbase data. The list also contains a number of companies that were fairly high-profile startups several years ago. Examples include: Carta: The equity and fund management software platform raised close to $1.2 billion in total funding but hasn’t reported a new round since 2021. OpenSea: The NFT marketplace operator raised over $427 million in equity funding but closed its last round just over four years ago. Calendly: The developer of the popular scheduling app secured $350 million in 2021 and hasn’t raised a round since. Since Calendly was mostly self-funded for its first seven years of existence, however, we’d guess it’s not a company that’s likely to be in financial distress. Using Crunchbase data, we put together a longer sample featuring 10 companies. Where are they now? The ranks of companies that haven’t raised for years include a mix of those that are still active, have shuttered or are quietly winding down. For software startups in particular, many can continue eking along with a skeleton staff and a sparsely supported offering without formally shutting down. Or, they might be doing fine, given the capital they raised at the peak. Given these are private companies, we can’t peek under the hood regarding details of their financial condition. All we can say is they haven’t disclosed a new round for some time. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: OpenAI Takes The Spotlight With Record-Setting $110B Round
Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2025 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Board. This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding deal roundup here. It was going to be a fairly business as usual top 10 list this week until OpenAI decided to disrupt our Friday with news that it raised $110 billion in new funding. Yes, $110 billion. That is so much money, and so record-setting as a private company funding round, that it makes all those other $100 million and $200 million rounds we usually write about look very paltry by comparison. That said, we did nonetheless see a number of these kinds of rounds, in sectors including semiconductors, AI, healthcare and biotech. 1. OpenAI, $110B, artificial intelligence: Generative AI giant OpenAI announced that it has raised $110 billion in new investment at a valuation of $730 billion pre-money, or $840 billion post-money. The deal includes $50 billion from Amazon, $30 billion from SoftBank, and $30 billion from Nvidia. San Francisco-based OpenAI says more investors are expected to join as the round progresses. 2. (tied) MatX, $500M, semiconductors: MatX, a startup that designs custom chips and hardware architectures to support large language models, secured $500 million in Series B funding as it prepares to scale manufacturing. Jane Street Capital and Situational Awareness led the financing for the Mountain View, California-based company. 2. (tied) Vero Networks, $500M, broadband: Boulder, Colorado-based Vero Networks, a fiber infrastructure and broadband internet provider, picked up $500 million in a growth funding round backed by Braemont Capital, Hamilton Lane and Delta-v Capital. 4. Shine Technologies, $240M, fusion: Janesville, Wisconsin-based Shine Technologies, a developer of fusion technologies with applications in the medicine and energy sectors, raised $240 million in equity funding led by NantWorks. 5. Revel, $150M, hardware testing tools: Revel, developer of a software platform for hardware test and control, closed on $150 million in Series B funding. Index Ventures led the financing for the Los Angeles-based company, which plans to expand its offerings across aerospace, defense, robotics and industrial sectors. 6. Honest Health, $140M, healthcare: Nashville, Tennessee-based Honest Health, a provider of tech-enabled tools for primary care providers, secured $140 million in a new financing led by NewSpring. 7. Slate Medicines, $130M, biotech: Slate Medicines, a startup working on therapeutics for headache disorders, announced its launch alongside $130 million in Series A financing. RA Capital Management, Forbion Capital Partners and Foresite Capital led the investment for the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company. 8. Ubicquia, $106M, smart infrastructure: Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Ubicquia, provider of an analytics platform for smart lighting, grid monitoring and public safety applications, raised $106 million in Series D funding. 67 Capital and Marunouchi Innovation Partners led the financing for the 12-year-old company. 9. (tied) Basis, $100M, AI-enabled accounting: Basis, an AI agent platform for accountants, closed on $100 million in Series B funding at a $1.15 billion valuation. Accel led the round for the New York-based startup, along with Google Ventures, Lloyd Blankfein and Khosla Ventures. 9. (tied) Aalyria, $100M, satellite and network communication: Google spinout Aalyria, a developer of software that configures communications satellites to meet demand, secured $100 million in Series B funding. Battery Ventures and J2 Ventures led the financing for the Livermore, California-based company. 9. (tied) Viture, $100M, smart glasses: Viture, a San Francisco-based maker of extended reality (XR) smart glasses and accessories, says it raised $100 million in a financing led by Legend Capital. Methodology We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Feb. 21-27. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week. Illustration: Dom Guzman
OpenAI’s New $110B Raise At A $840B Valuation Marks The Largest Venture Deal Ever
The AI rounds just keep getting bigger and bigger. OpenAI announced Friday that it has closed on a staggering $110 billion fundraise at an $840 billion post-money valuation. The financing marks the largest raise ever, according to Crunchbase data. The money comes from three sources, with SoftBank and Nvidia each ponying up $30 billion. Amazon is contributing the biggest share, with a $50 billion investment. However, OpenAI says additional investors are expected to join as the round progresses. The next-largest raise ever, per Crunchbase, was also raised by OpenAI in a $40 billion funding round in 2025. The third-largest was raised by rival Anthropic — a $30 billion Series G haul at a $380 billion post-money valuation that was announced on Feb. 12. The new valuation for OpenAI increases the value of the OpenAI Foundation’s stake in OpenAI group to over $180 billion, according to the company. Subscriber growth The company says it’s also inked a strategic partnership with Amazon and “secured next generation inference compute” with Nvidia as part of an expansion of its partnership with the chip giant. OpenAI claims that it now has more than 900 million weekly active users and over 50 million consumer subscribers. Subscriber momentum has picked up significantly so far in 2026, according to CEO and co-founder Sam Altman, with January and February on track to be the company’s largest months for new subscribers in its history. “We are entering a new phase where frontier AI moves from research into daily use at global scale,” he wrote in a blog post. “Leadership will be defined by who can scale infrastructure fast enough to meet demand, and turn that capacity into products people rely on. This funding and these partnerships let us do both.” Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
Sector Snapshot: Space Tech Startup Funding Still Flying High
Among the kindergarten set, Space Unicorn refers to a popular song about a celestial equine with marshmallow lasers. In the less imaginative realm of venture funding, the term denotes a far less magical but much more visible creature: A space tech company with major funding and a valuation north of $1 billion. These days, this more staid version of space unicorn is moving up the funding tallies at a faster-than-usual clip. More than two dozen companies in the sector have raised rounds of $100 million or more in the past year, per Crunchbase data. Meanwhile, the biggest unicorn of all — 24-year-old SpaceX — is reportedly seeking a valuation of around $1.5 trillion for an anticipated IPO later this year, featuring rocketry and satellite technology that should make even marshmallow lasers look primitive. The broad trend: Unlike most startup sectors, which have seen uneven rebounds after hitting a funding peak over four years ago, space tech is hitting fresh highs. Contributing factors include public market enthusiasm for the sector, increased appetite for defense-related investments, and of course advances driving cheaper, more scalable and more technologically sophisticated orbital operations. The numbers: Venture funding to companies in Crunchbase space tech and satellite categories hit a high last year of over $12 billion. So far, 2026 is off to a brisk start as well, with more than $2 billion in reported investment. While investment is way up, round counts have remained flatter, as charted below. Noteworthy rounds Megarounds have been stacking up over the past six months. By far the biggest of these was Kent, Washington-based Stoke Space, a developer of reusable rockets. The company announced a Series D extension in October that brought the total round size to $860 million. Houston-based Axiom Space, which is developing a successor to the International Space Station, was a more recent mega-fundraiser, closing on $350 million in new financing in February. And in the satellite communications space, one of the larger financings came this week, as Google spinout Aalyria, a developer of software that configures communications satellites to meet demand, secured $100 million in Series B funding. For a bigger-picture view, below we put together a list of eight significant space- and satellite technology-related financings of the past six months. Exits and more The IPO market has also been receptive to space tech of late, although companies haven’t always held on to early gains. One exemplar of this pattern is Firefly Aerospace, a provider of launch, land and in-space services for national security and commercial customers, that went public in August. Shares of the Cedar Park, Texas-based company soared higher in initial trading but have subsequently shed about half their value. Voyager Technologies, a Denver-based defense and space tech startup that went public in June, is also down from its initial trading price. On the flip side, Karman Space & Defense, which went public early last year, is on a tear and was recently valued over $11 billion. Meanwhile, it’s still early innings for space tech company York Space Systems, which went public just four weeks ago. Heating up Overall, in recent quarters space and satellite tech are looking like a sector in vogue. With large financings, regular IPO activity and a giant SpaceX offering on the horizon, we’re not seeing clear signs of a slowdown ahead for the space unicorn crowd. Related Crunchbase queries: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
Fintech Plaid Completes Tender Offer At $8B Valuation
Fintech infrastructure company Plaid revealed on Thursday that it has completed a new fundraise to provide liquidity to employees at a valuation of $8 billion. That valuation is up 31% from the $6.1 billion the San Francisco-based company was valued at in April 2025 when it completed a separate tender offer. At its peak in 2021, Plaid was valued at $13.4 billion. Founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey, Plaid got its start as a company that connects consumer bank accounts to financial applications. It has since gradually expanded its offerings to include lending, identity verification, credit reporting, anti-fraud and payments. The company has raised about $1.3 billion in funding over its lifetime and, at one point, was set to be acquired by Visa before that deal fell apart due to regulatory concerns. Plaid’s backers include Citi Ventures, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Andreessen Horowitz, New Enterprise Associates, Silver Lake, Ribbit Capital, Spark Capital, AmEx Ventures, BlackRock and Fidelity, among others. Its customers include Citibank, Amex, Robinhood, Coinbase, The RealReal, Block and Affirm. New AI focus The increase in valuation, the company says, “reflects momentum from the past year, as well as Plaid’s increasing relevance in the age of AI.” Last week, Plaid said it was entering a new phase of development centered on artificial intelligence. It unveiled a new foundational model as part of its goal to power the next phase of “intelligent finance.” It added: “As AI penetrates financial services, Plaid’s relevance compounds. Last year, AI firms made up 20% of the companies onboarded as new customers.” Tender offers have become more common as an increasing number of startups choose to stay private longer. Earlier this week, payments giant Stripe announced its own tender offer at a $159 billion valuation. Generative AI company Anthropic is also believed to be working on a tender offer at a valuation of at least $350 billion. Total global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totaled $51.8 billion in 2025, per Crunchbase data. That’s a fairly significant — 27% — increase from 2024’s total of $40.8 billion raised. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
How This GV Investor Looks For The Next Stripe And Other ‘Compounding’ Startups In Fintech And AI
Elena Sakach is on a roll. A partner at GV (Google Ventures), Sakach has helped lead the firm’s investments in high-profile startups such as Humans&, Ramp, Stripe, Tennr and Basis. Unsurprisingly, considering her involvement in so many significant fintech deals, Sakach followed a fairly traditional path into finance. She started in the technology, media and telecom investment banking group at Goldman Sachs before moving into investing roles. Sakach began her investing career at TPG, focusing mainly on software and fintech businesses across buyouts and minority investments. Over time, she transitioned more toward growth and venture investing, joining Coatue in 2021. In May 2024, Sakach landed at GV, where she now focuses on growth-stage companies, and in her view, her fintech background gives her an introspective lens to examine different verticals. “Across my investments, the common thread is solving large structural problems with technology and data advantages,” she said. Crunchbase News recently spoke with Sakach to find out more about her investment thesis, her thoughts on what defines winning fintech and AI companies, how AI is affecting traditional software businesses, and how she determines what truly is a large opportunity. This interview was edited for brevity and clarity. Crunchbase News: Do you consider yourself a fintech investor or more of a generalist? Elena Sakach, partner at GV. (Courtesy photo) Sakach: I consider myself an investor first. Some venture investors define themselves by sector, but I’ve always wanted to be the best investor possible, regardless of category. I’ve worked across stages and strategies — from banking to buyouts to growth equity to venture. Those experiences are interconnected. For example, banking exposes you to companies at every lifecycle stage, buyouts focus on mature businesses, and venture focuses on emerging leaders. At GV, we invest in hyper-scaling businesses early in their lifecycle that we believe could become public companies. What does it take to build a successful fintech company today? I think a lot about compounding businesses — companies that naturally grow in value as customers use them over time. The best fintech companies share several characteristics: trust-based customer relationships because once customers trust a financial platform switching becomes difficult; expansion economics because over time, companies can upsell and cross-sell additional products; and a core infrastructure role, which allows them to become embedded in essential financial workflows. For example, Monzo compounds through customer engagement and product expansion. Stripe continues to grow as a core infrastructure provider for global payments. Even today, modern payment service providers still handle a minority of global payment volume, which highlights how much growth opportunity remains. How do you evaluate fintech opportunities now compared to a few years ago? Today, companies tend to fall into two categories: very early, highly novel ideas, often AI-driven, or late-stage compounding businesses with strong retention and expansion dynamics. Execution quality is critical. Many fintech successes come from doing the fundamentals exceptionally well. There’s also a large opportunity in automation within financial institutions — AI-driven efficiency improvements inside banks and financial operations. How is AI affecting traditional software businesses? AI has reduced technology as a durable moat. Many software products can now be rebuilt quickly. As a result, defensibility is shifting toward proprietary data, distribution channels, customer relationships and talent and research capabilities. Companies that succeed will preserve or expand their distribution advantage, rebuild their product stack for an AI-native world, and learn from proprietary usage data faster than competitors. The dividing line is roughly pre- and post-ChatGPT. Companies built before must replatform. Companies built after must start with the right architecture. What excites you most about AI’s long-term impact? I think about two categories of impact: cost reduction and expansion of possibilities. The most exciting outcomes come from expanding what’s possible, not just reducing costs. AI can increase access, scale services, and grow total output. For example, healthcare automation doesn’t just reduce expenses — it enables providers to serve more patients. I focus on opportunities that expand outcomes dramatically rather than simply making existing processes cheaper. Are current AI valuations sustainable? The key difference between today and 2021 is the presence of a true platform shift. In 2021, capital surged and there was no comparable technological shift. Today, AI represents a foundational technology transition. So, capital is flowing toward transformative opportunities. Another major change is structural. Venture capital has grown dramatically as an asset class. Large funds must deploy capital, which increases competition and deal sizes. The critical question is not valuation alone. It’s whether investors are backing category-defining opportunities. How do you determine what qualifies as a truly large opportunity? You cannot make a small idea large simply by investing more capital. Investors evaluate things like market scale, structural tailwinds, timing (asking “why now?”), team capability and potential for industrywide change. We’re looking for ideas that can reshape entire systems if they succeed. Those opportunities are relatively rare, which is why selectivity matters so much. Related Crunchbase query: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman
IPOs Are Holding Up In 2026, But SaaS Debuts Aren’t Happening
Predictions of a grand IPO rebound in 2026 have yet to come true in the form of new filings and major debuts. Nonetheless, the first couple months of the year have brought a steady stream of market entries from companies in sectors such as construction tech, space tech and biotech. Noticeably absent, however, are new offerings from SaaS companies, long an IPO market staple. Per Crunchbase data, 11 venture- or seed-backed U.S. companies went public on major exchanges so far this year, raising just over $3 billion. Comparatively, that’s a fairly robust showing for the first couple months of the year, which tends to be a reasonably active period for IPOs. Looking at recent years charted below, the first couple months of 2026 are well above the bottom ranks, but still far below the 2021 market peak for volume of offerings and total raised. Leading offerings weren’t your typical VC-backed deals The lineup of companies going public so far this year, however, includes many that don’t look like your typical VC-backed offering. This includes the year’s largest VC-funded IPO: EquipmentShare, a service that provides construction equipment rentals and support for building projects. The 11-year-old, Columbia, Missouri-based company raised more than $700 million in its January offering and had a recent market cap of over $7 billion. The second-largest debut was also somewhat of an outlier: space tech company York Space Systems, which is majority-owned by private equity firm AE Industrial Partners. It’s down from its initial trading price but recently valued around $3.4 billion. Per Crunchbase data, there have been six IPOs of venture-backed companies this year that raised $200 million or more, which we list below. SaaS squashed It’s also noteworthy who isn’t on the list. For years, enterprise software companies have been among the more reliable IPO market entrants. This year, however, they’ve been notably absent as the sector contends with an extended selloff fueled partly by concerns of AI-abetted disruption. We’re also not seeing SaaS companies in the immediate IPO pipeline. A perusal of new IPO filings so far this year showed no venture-backed SaaS unicorns that submitted a new IPO filing in 2026. It’s a sharp contrast to just a few months ago. One of last year’s splashiest IPOs — design software platform Figma — is now down more than two-thirds from its peak. Another of the more recent big SaaS offerings — business travel and expense platform Navan — has shed more than half its value. Meanwhile, Blackstone-backed Liftoff, which provides tools for marketers and app developers, withdrew its planned IPO this month, amid the software route. It’s likely a delay, as Reuters reported that Liftoff filed a new confidential plan shortly afterward. IPO market in an odd place Overall, the IPO market is in an odd place at the moment. It’s an unfriendly scene for companies with business models viewed as vulnerable to AI-driven displacement. At the same time, there’s still continued buzz around the potential for record-setting offerings from SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI. Of those, the one rumored to be closest on the horizon is SpaceX, newly combined with xAI at a reported $1.25 trillion valuation. The company is said to be eyeing a market debut as early as this summer. If that happens, and the current SaaS squeeze continues, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a pattern of record-setting IPO returns coinciding with a very small number of actual debuts. Related Crunchbase queries: Related reading: Illustration: Dom Guzman