1、February 2026STATE OF THE MARKETS H1 20263Letter From the Authors5Perspectives on the Innovation Economy6Macro 11Fundraising and Investment20Regional Tech Hubs24AI Adoption and Investment 27VC-Backed Company Benchmarks33Exits2These multi-billion-dollar deals may be venture in name,but they have fund
2、amentally different risk and return profiles than traditional early-stage venture.”STATE OF THE MARKETS H1 2026The results are in.Overall,it was a great year in venture,even as some participants were left clapping on the sidelines.Last year,we saw nearly$340B of venture capital(VC)investment,cash ru
3、nway increased across all sectors,Series A tech deal activity began to improve,and IPO and M&A activity hit the highest point since 2021.Barring a larger,macroeconomic recession or a deflation of the AI bubble,we expect growth to continue and metrics to improve through 2026.After 40 years on the job
4、,some guys buy themselves a Corvette.Masayoshi Son bought a$30B stake in OpenAI.The SoftBank founder wasnt the only VC breaking the mold in 2025.The definition of venture has expanded to include a new class of mega funds and companies.The power law distribution in venture has a heavier head than eve
5、r,with the top 1%of all venture deals accounting for one-third of all investment.These multi-billion-dollar deals may be venture in name,but they have fundamentally different risk and return profiles than traditional early-stage venture.The funds invested in these companies look more like private as
6、set managers paid with fees,not with carried interest.At the other end of the spectrum,the funding environment is very different.The bottom half of US VC-backed companies by valuation accounted for just 7%of all investment.While capital invested in sub-$100M deals picked up,deal activity trended dow