But with Tuesday’s election results, the investment divide between blue, purple and red states has grown even more pronounced.

So far this year, less than 2% of all startup investment has gone to companies in post-election red states, defined as those that will have both a Republican governor and two Republican U.S. senators.

The red states’ share is much smaller than in years’ past due to five states shifting to purple. Of those, the largest venture hub is Texas, which shifted to purple with the election of Democratic Senator James Talarico and Governor Gina Hinojosa, followed by Ohio.

This year, as of Election Day, startups in the remaining 17 red states 1, which are home to nearly a quarter of Americans, had collectively in venture funding, with Florida, Tennessee and Utah among the largest contributors. To put that in perspective: It’s less than the typical nationwide total in a single week.

Purple states rising

The 10 purple U.S. states2, meanwhile, are home to just over a quarter of Americans and pulled in about $28.6 billion this year as of Election Day. That’s much higher than the red state tally, but still less than 6% of all U.S. startup funding.

Beyond the aforementioned newcomers Texas and Ohio, several other purple states regularly pull in sizable venture funding, including Pennsylvania, North Carolina and to some extent Wisconsin.

Also worth noting: The divide between red, purple and blue states is somewhat less stark when it comes to round counts. About 12% of startup financings of $1 million or more went to purple state companies this year, and about 9% went to red states.

Broadly, it looks like backers are still finding plenty of investment-worthy talent outside of blue states when it comes to smaller deals. However, they are concentrating most of their capital into big AI rounds for California and New York companies.

Blue states get over 90% of startup funding

This brings us to our next point: Blue states receive the overwhelming majority of startup funding, of which most goes to California.3

Per a Crunchbase analysis last week, California companies had pulled in more than three-fourths of all U.S. startup funding in 2026. Most of that stems from mega-financings for San Francisco-based and.

While no other state comes close to California for attracting investment, the nearest runners up are also predominantly blue states, including New York and Massachusetts. In total, blue states have pulled in a staggering $481 billion in startup investment this year as of Election Day, per Crunchbase data, a new record.

Politics and what makes for a venture hub

So is it politics, or coincidence?

Broadly speaking, the qualities that geographic startup hubs share — such as a deep tech talent pool, urban environs, leading tech companies and top research universities — aren’t specifically the domain of blue states. That said, predominantly rural states, which tend to lean red, are less likely to have those ingredients.

Even so, there’s no rule against red state startup prowess. Austin, for example, managed to cement its status as a major tech hub even while Texas remained solidly under Republican control. And Utah also boasts a sophisticated startup scene.

But following a Democratic electoral sweep, it’s hardly a surprise that more startup hubs now find themselves located in blue or purple states.

Related Crunchbase queries:

Related reading:

• California Startups Have Raised More So Far In 2026 Than The Entire US Ever Has In A Single Year
• Austin’s Star Is Still Shining Bright: Venture ������Ƶ City’s Startups Hits All-Time High
• Only 2 States Saw Their Share Of US Venture Funding Rise Last Year

Illustration:

This is not a difficult stat to unearth. So far this year, just seven companies raised more than half of all seed- through growth-stage investment. They’re mostly familiar names: , , (now part of ), , , and

These companies raised more than $260 billion in equity funding in the first 10 months of the year. That’s just over 50% of the U.S. seed and venture investment over the same period, per Crunchbase data.

Founders and CEOs of these seven companies are also well-known — and exceptionally  well-off to boot.

The world’s wealthiest men

Two founders are particularly famous. They are the world’s wealthiest men: and .

Musk founded xAI and The Boring Co., and also co-founded OpenAI, (though he has no known equity stake in the latter). And while outside investors funded these companies, Musk could have also afforded to do so himself.

Ditto for Bezos, who in 2025 launched the physical AI startup Prometheus, which raised $12 billion earlier this year. Bezos’ own net worth, meanwhile, is calculated at more than $350 billion.

AI’s leading names

The two highest valuation startups — OpenAI and the soon-to-be-public Anthropic — also have prominent billionaire founders and CEOs. However, they have mixed backstories to their wealth.

OpenAI co-founder and CEO primarily made his vast wealth through investments in startups, including and . Altman has said he in OpenAI beyond a sliver from an old YC round. Co-founder , by contrast, has a larger stake in OpenAI that was reportedly valued around $30 billion earlier this year.

At Anthropic, meanwhile, all seven company co-founders have similar-sized equity stakes, and each is worth billions. This includes the AI giant’s most famous co-founder, CEO .

Databricks, Anduril and others

Databricks and Anduril, meanwhile, both have founders serving as CEOs who have amassed billion-dollar-plus net worths during their tenures.

Databricks co-founder and CEO has a reported , with the company he leads valued at around $190 billion following an August financing.

Anduril co-founder and CEO , meanwhile, has an estimated $1.5 billion net worth as a result of his stake in the $61 billion valuation defense industry disruptor. Co-founder , who sold his virtual reality startup to for $2 billion in 2014 before starting Anduril, has an estimated $5.9 billion net worth.

Several other founders and CEOs of startups that raised some of this year’s largest rounds are billionaires too. This includes founder , founder , and founder and CEO , among others.

Billionaire categories

We can split the billionaires who founded this year’s most heavily funded startups into two broad subcategories. There are those who became billionaires through the startup that just raised capital. And there are those who were already billionaires through prior companies or investments.

Ghodsi, Amodei and Brockman fit in the first group. In the second group, of course, we can put Musk and Bezos, as well as Altman and Luckey, who became a following the Oculus sale.

Historically, neither billionaire type was a particularly common recipient of venture funding rounds. The term “unicorn” as a moniker for private companies valued at $1 billion or more only entered the lexicon in 2013, when this asset class became noticeably large. In prior decades, founders and CEOs mostly only hit billionaire status after their startups went public or sold in high-priced acquisitions.

Updating the venture archetype

But times change. And in tandem, our image of what a startup funding recipient looks like should evolve as well.

True, quite a bit of capital still flows to the stereotypical venture recipients: first-time founders or serial entrepreneurs whose prior companies didn’t make them fabulously wealthy. But a majority of venture funding now does not go to these classic startup types.

Instead, it goes to companies with valuations already high enough to warrant billionaire status for their stakeholders as well as ventures founded by men who are already billionaires.

Related reading:

• More Money, Fewer Checks: These 3 Charts Show The Divide Behind VC’s Record Funding Year
• The Crunchbase ������Ƶ

Illustration:

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.

This week featured a robust lineup of large rounds, led by manufacturing startup , which closed on $2.1 billion, and predictions marketplace , which picked up another $1 billion. Other sectors in which startups drew significant rounds included construction automation, biotech, batteries and enterprise AI.

1. , $2.1B, manufacturing: Re:Build, a manufacturing startup that partners with industrial companies and innovators from the product design phase to large-scale production, secured $2.1 billion in new funding. and led the financing for the 6-year-old, Framingham, Massachusetts-based company.

2. , $1B, predictions marketplace: Predictions marketplace Kalshi announced a $1 billion Series G financing led by and . The round set a $40 billion post-money valuation for New York-based Kalshi, which says its business’ annualized trading volume now exceeds $1 trillion.

3. , $600M, construction tech: San Francisco-based Bedrock Robotics,  a developer of autonomous systems for heavy equipment used in construction, raised $600 million in Series C funding led by and . The round brings Bedrock’s total funding to nearly $1 billion and sets a post-money valuation of $4.1 billion.

4. , $350M, biotech: Dren Bio, a developer of antibody therapeutics for cancer and autoimmune diseases, closed on $350 million in a new round led by and . The funding will support advanced trials for the San Carlos, California-based company’s blood cancer therapies.

5. , $169M, battery tech: Woodinville, Washington-based Group 14 Technologies, a manufacturer and supplier of advanced silicon battery materials, picked up $169 million in Series D extension funding. The company also announced plans to expand into Europe with a production facility in Sagunto, Spain.

6. (tied) , $150M, defense tech: Firehawk Aerospace, a developer of propulsion technology, said it secured over $150 million in Series D funding at a valuation of more than $1.4 billion. and led the financing for the 7-year-old, Dallas-based company.

6. (tied) , $150M, enterprise AI: Serval, a startup focused on coding agents for enterprise automation, raised $150 million in Series C funding at a $3 billion valuation. led the round for the 2-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

8. (tied) , $100M, AI infrastructure: AI cloud provider General Compute picked up $100 million in Series A funding led by and . The company is building out its infrastructure using inference chips from rivals , and .

8. (tied) , $100M, autonomous factories: Emeryville, California-based Foundry Robotics, a startup focused on building and operating autonomous factories, closed on $100 million in a Series A funding round led by .

8(tied) , $100M, data analytics: Hex Technologies, a startup focused on building an AI-native platform for data analytics, secured $100 million in new financing. and led the round, which set a $1.2 billion valuation for the San Francisco-based company.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Oct. 24-30, 2026. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

Crunchbase data shows that so far this year, investors have poured around $48 billion into financings around the Series B stage 1, the highest tally in years. Yet round counts are below year-ago levels and are on track for a multiyear low.

Smaller Series B rounds grow scarcer

One trend driving capital concentration is a sharp decline in small and mid-sized Series B rounds.

So far this year, less than a third of deals in our sample set 2 were for under $30 million. By contrast, between 2021 and 2025, rounds in this range accounted for about half of deals, per Crunchbase data.

The smallest Series B deals have gotten particularly scarce. This year there were just 26 rounds under $10 million in our sample set.

Big rounds still a big thing

On the flip side, really large Series B rounds are quite popular.

At least 110 companies have raised rounds of $100 million or more around this stage so far this year. That’s roughly a quarter of all deals.

Of these, the largest by far was a $12 billion round 3���ڴǰ� , ’ physical AI startup that launched last year.

Model developer , led by AI pioneer , was tied for next-biggest fundraiser, closing on $1 billion in February. Nuclear energy startup also secured $1 billion in Series B funding across tranches this year, with as lead investor.

For  a wider snapshot, below we put together a sample list of more of this year’s biggest U.S. Series B recipients.

Mostly an AI story

Meanwhile, one of the least surprising findings from our analysis of Series B recipients is that it was a heavily AI-focused group.

So far this year, about two-thirds of Series B funding has gone to AI-focused startups, per Crunchbase data. In 2025, by comparison, about half of investment went to companies in AI categories.

AI companies were also heavily represented by round count. So far in 2026, more than half of all reported U.S. Series B deals have been for AI companies.

Bullish climate for Series B

Overall, the numbers point to a bullish climate for Series B investment, particularly for AI startups with demonstrated traction. The environment looks particularly favorable for companies that have already raised considerable sums at Series A and seed.

Even so, these don’t look like the best of times for startups seeking smaller Series B rounds. Seems like in the current AI-driven cycle, investors are increasingly focused on big checks for high-valuation companies.

Related Crunchbase query:

Illustration:

Clocking in at 335 pages, the document wasn’t exactly light reading. However, after a preliminary once-over, we highlight a few of the more intriguing disclosures below:

Revenue growth is unusually rapid

For the first half of this year, Anthropic reported revenue of $16.3 billion. That’s up 14x from the same period in 2025.

Things aren’t slowing either. While the S-1 doesn’t forecast the second half of this year, has that Anthropic could reach a $110 billion annualized revenue run rate by year-end, citing analysts who met with company executives.

But losses persist

Anthropic also posted a $693 million operating income loss for the first half of 2026, down about two-thirds from last year. Its net loss for this year’s first half was $80 billion, of which about 90% stemmed from what it called a “change in fair value of convertible notes, derivative liabilities, and ��.”

Founders hold similar stakes

Each of Anthropic’s seven founders holds between 230,000 and 246,000 shares of Class A stock, per the S-1. This kind of egalitarianism seems unusual given that startup prospectuses usually show a founding CEO with a much larger relative stake compared to co-founders.

The company’s co-founders include , , , , , and .

Anthropic’s risk factors take up 93 pages of its IPO filing

So, is investing in Anthropic a risky bet?

Anthropic certainly seems to think so. The company’s IPO prospectus contains a staggering 93 pages of risk factors. They start at page 27 and end on page 120.

Some are pretty mundane. For instance, the company is concerned that slower revenue growth could potentially constrain its ability to fund frontier AI development and attract and retain top talent. Having incurred significant debt to date, it’s worried about the ability to keep servicing those obligations while still covering operating costs.

But more unusual risks, like rogue AI agents, are in there too. In one section, Antrophic notes that “future models are expected to demonstrate capabilities that could provide meaningful assistance to malicious actors seeking to develop chemical, biological, or other dangerous weapon��.”

Related Crunchbase query:

Related reading:

• Oura Hits Pause On IPO While Anthropic’s Prospectus Reveals The Cost Of Its AI Ambitions
• The AI IPO Wave Is The Dot-Com Bubble’s Evil Twin. Anthropic’s Delay Just Proved It.
• Anthropic Files Confidentially For IPO
• A Hard Year For Software IPOs

Illustration:

But that’s not all. As investment hit unprecedented levels in 2026, Golden State companies alone raised more than all U.S. startups in any prior year on record. Most of that stems from a handful of megarounds for San Francisco-based AI pioneers.

And keep in mind: This year still has a couple months left. Yet California companies have already pulled in an unparalleled $385 billion in seed- through growth-stage rounds. That’s more than double last year’s tally.

California’s share of U.S. startup funding also has been trending higher for the past three years. Much of this is due to San Francisco AI unicorns, but we’re also seeing strength in the broader Silicon Valley region as well as Southern California.

Where the money went

Flabbergasting financings for San Francisco-based and account for more than half of this year’s California statewide tally. But even without those, California companies 1 still secured a disproportionate share of the largest U.S. equity funding rounds.

To illustrate, we used Crunchbase data to put together a list of the 10 next-largest California funding rounds this year.

Some of these are familiar names and involve fairly mature companies. For instance , which launched inside in 2009 and spun out as an independent company 10 years ago, picked up $16 billion in February.

Another old-timer is , which picked up $5 billion in August. It’s now 13 years old and has raised over $30 billion in debt and equity funding to date.

Still, we’re also seeing younger companies secure megarounds. , the physical AI startup co-founded and led by and launched last year, pulled in $12 billion in new funding this spring. And AI model startup landed $5 billion in a -led round this summer.

Early-stage funding

That brings us to our next point. California’s startup funding windfall isn’t only about late-stage and pre-IPO companies bagging enormous rounds. Early- and seed-stage companies are also attracting big checks from investors.

Per Crunchbase data, California companies have secured nearly $62 billion in seed- and early-stage financings so far in 2026. That’s roughly 57% of all U.S. funding at these stages.

It’s also far above prior year tallies, as charted below, and appears to be a record funding level.

Don’t bet against California

If there’s a lesson to be learned in these numbers, it’s one that savvy startup investors ought to have learned a long time ago: Don’t bet against California.

Whatever the year, whatever the technology cycle, California, and Silicon Valley in particular, have a knack for being home to the leading companies of the era.

Related Crunchbase queries:

Illustration:

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 another interesting week for AI-related startup funding, with a number of large rounds and quirky companies. The largest financings went to , a developer of AI processors and systems, and AI lab . The quirkiest round, meanwhile, was undoubtedly a $200 million financing for , which wants to breed elite military dogs.

A number of big rounds in areas including biotech, space tech and physical AI rounded out the list.

1. , $1.5B, AI infrastructure: Santa Clara, California-based Tenstorrent, a developer of AI processors and systems, secured $1.5 billion in Series E funding. and led the round, which set a $6.2 billion valuation for the 10-year-old company.

2. , $1B, foundational AI: Flapping Airplanes, an AI lab with a focus on developing models that cost less to train and run, closed on $1 billion in Series A funding led by and . The round comes less than 10 months after the year-old San Francisco startup raised a $180 million seed financing.

3. , $325M, AI for critical infrastructure: ASI, a developer of AI technology for securing and operating critical infrastructure in areas such as aviation, transportation and defense, picked up $325 million in Series C financing. led the round, which set a $3 billion valuation for the Boston-based company.

4. , $250M, space tech: Xona, a startup developing a next-generation version of GPS, raised $250 million in Series D funding led by . The round sets a $2.4 billion valuation for the Burlingame, California-based company.

5. , $237M, biotech: Pathos AI, a startup applying AI to drug development, completed a $237 million Series E financing at a post-money valuation around $3 billion. led the financing for the New York-headquartered company.

6. , $215M, AI, robotics and life sciences: Warp Sciences, a startup applying AI and robotics to help develop new medicines faster, raised a $215M Series A round led by .

7. (tied) , $200M, online business marketplace: Whop, a platform that helps entrepreneurs build and run online businesses, secured $200 million in Series D funding led by and . The round set a $5.1 billion valuation for the New York-based company.

7. (tied) , $200M, biotech: South San Francisco, California-based drug developer  Star Therapeutics says it raised $200 million in new financing led by and . The investment follows ’s July acquisition of , a subsidiary of Star, in a deal valued at up to $2 billion.

7. (tied) , $200M, military dogs: Warhound, a startup that wants to breed working dogs for U.S. military forces and emergency responders, launched from stealth with $200 million in seed funding from a long list of backers including and 1.  The startup, co-founded by founder , plans to equip the dogs with Anduril technology.

10. , $160M, AI manufacturing software: Arda Industries, a developer of AI-powered software for manufacturing engineering, closed on $160 million in Series A funding at a $1.5 billion valuation, co-led by , and . The San Francisco-based startup also announced a previously undisclosed $72 million seed financing.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Oct. 17-23, 2026. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

But that’s often not the case, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows. This year, a number of larger acquisitions of private companies involved startups that haven’t disclosed a new investment for more than four years.

Several of these acquisitions are quite recent — and in some cases, quite large. The standout is ’s purchase earlier this month of , a platform for catering and workplace meals, for $2.3 billion in cash. The deal comes nearly five years after Boston-based ezCater raised its last reported venture funding round.

That’s not the only one. A number of companies whose names might feature on a playlist of 2021 boom-era unicorns have sold to acquirers in recent months, including one-time highfliers like , and . In many cases, companies are selling at valuations which, while not puny, are still far below their former peaks.

Who’s getting acquired

To illustrate the extent to which these aging startups are finding acquirers, we used Crunchbase data to put together a list of 15 deals involving well-funded companies that haven’t raised equity funding for four or more years.

Post-peak runway

One big issue for older and middle-aged startups is that valuations hit a cyclical peak in 2021 and early 2022. Many companies that raised during that time had difficulty attracting fresh capital or were reluctant to close new rounds at reduced valuations. Even with the more recent AI boom, little went to this cohort.

Moreover, since the 2021 boom-era rounds were quite large, funded startups commonly had the option to cut operating costs and extend their runways with existing capital. As a result, quite a few companies that haven’t raised rounds in years are still chugging along, managing to survive and even grow without more venture funding.

EzCater is a case in point. In the year prior to its acquisition, the business generated more than $2.5 billion in gross bookings. It had an annual growth rate in the high teens, with average order sizes over $400.

That said, even that revenue and growth rate didn’t secure ezCater much of an acquisition premium from its last funding round. At $2.3 billion, Uber’s purchase price is 53% above the $1.5 billion pre-money valuation the catering startup secured in its last funding round in late 2021.

Acquisitions below peak venture valuation

In many cases, even good-sized acquisitions of well-funded startups are occurring at valuations far below former peaks.

Take Miro, a provider of online collaboration tools that agreed to sell to last month in a deal valued around $1.36 billion. That’s a huge step down from early 2022, when San Francisco-based Miro closed its last round at a $17.5 billion post-money valuation.

Or consider Bending Spoons’ prior purchase of data and workflow platform , for $1.28 billion in August. That’s barely over one-tenth the $11 billion valuation Airtable secured in its December 2021 Series F.

Fashion startup is another that lost its shimmer after securing a 2020 valuation in the hundreds of millions. It sold to fast-fashion leader this spring for $100 million.

In the health and wellness sector, meanwhile, Headspace also saw its valuation plunge. The meditation and mental health app sold to in a deal reportedly valued around $300 million. That’s well below its peak post-money valuation of around $2.6 billion.

A good thing?

While startup investors aren’t celebrating acquisitions made far under peak private valuations, they’re not the worst outcome. And for startups themselves, they’re also far from a catastrophic scenario.

Of course, every unicorn investor hopes for high-multiple returns. But for startups that go years without funding, the market seems to be telling us that’s not likely in the cards.

Related Crunchbase list:

Related reading:

• Global Venture Funding And Unicorn Creation In 2021 Shattered All Records

Illustration:

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.

Startup investors aren’t exactly hitting pause, but they did scale back on giant rounds this past week, with just two startup financings in the multiple hundreds of millions. The biggest round went to AI infrastructure provider , which picked up $750 million, followed by construction automation unicorn , which secured $200 million. Other sectors that attracted larger rounds this past week included biotech, insurance and AI.

1. , $750M, AI infrastructure: Modal Labs, a provider of cloud infrastructure for AI inference and other applications, secured $750 million in a Series D funding round led by at a $15.75 billion valuation. The New York-headquartered company said it recently exceeded an annual revenue run rate of $1 billion.

2. , $200M, construction tech: Austin-based Icon, a developer of robotic construction systems known for its 3D-printed homes, closed on $200 million in Series D funding led by  and . The company says it is on pace for 4x revenue growth in 2026.

3. , $135M, RNA therapies: Boston-based Soufflé Therapeutics, a developer of RNA therapies, raised $135 million in Series B funding led by as part of a large syndicate of investors.

4. , $103M, gene therapies: Menlo Park, California-based Estuary Biotherapeutics, a developer of genetic medicines for patients with serious kidney diseases, launched with $103 million in financing. The funding includes $93 million in a Series A round led by as well as $10 million in previously undisclosed seed capital.

5. , $100M, AI tools: Labelbox, a developer of technology to train and evaluate AI models and to help deploy agents that improve with experience, picked up $100 million in Series E funding. led the financing for the 8-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

6. , $90M, health AI: Redwood City, California-based Suki, a provider of AI tools that turn clinical conversations into intelligence for documentation, coding and other healthcare workflows, announced a $90 million Series E financing from backers including and .

7. , $82M, caregiver platform: Abby Care, a platform for family members to become certified, paid caregivers and deliver care at home, closed on $82 million in Series C funding, per a . led the financing for the 5-year-old, San Francisco-based startup.

8. , $70M, insurance: Stand, a provider of insurance for homes in areas at higher risk of natural disasters, secured $70 million in Series C funding at a $1 billion valuation. led the financing for the 3-year-old, San Francisco-based company.

9. , $65M, semiconductor systems: Mueon Corp., a semiconductor systems company building a modular platform for AI and hyperscale computing, completed a $65 million Series A funding round. led the financing for the Portland, Oregon-based company.

10. , $60M, AI spend management: New York-based North.cloud, provider of an infrastructure spend intelligence and automation platform, raised $60 million in a Series B round led by .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Oct. 10-16, 2026. Although most announced rounds are in the database, there may be a small time lag, as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

Overall, investors put $38.5 billion into reported seed- through growth-stage financings for countries in the region in Q3, per Crunchbase data. Of that, a majority went to AI-focused companies, echoing the trends we’ve seen globally.

Deal counts, meanwhile, were relatively flat. That indicates concentration of capital into favored startups remains pronounced but is not intensifying.

Table of contents

• An AI-driven quarter
• China leads by far in country-by-country breakdown
• Late stage
• Early stage
• Seed
• A big quarter for China
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

An AI-driven quarter

Around 55% of investment — an estimated $21 billion — went to AI-focused companies. Total funding is down substantially from the prior quarter, which was boosted by a $7.4 billion financing for China’s , but still the second-highest tally on record.

For Q3, a couple of extra-large rounds bolstered the AI investment tally. The largest went to Beijing-based foundational model company , which secured $3.5 billion in July at a reported $35 billion valuation.

, the AI spinout of China-based short video platform , was the second-biggest fundraiser. The generative video startup raised around $3 billion in a July financing that included and .

China leads by far in country-by-country breakdown

China was the leading Asian destination for venture investment by a very wide margin.

Per Crunchbase data, roughly $27 billion — or 70% of all Asian startup funding in Q3 — went to China-based companies. India was a distant second, with $2.9 billion, followed by Singapore, with $2.5 billion.

For perspective, below we charted third-quarter startup funding tallies for the six countries with the largest totals.

Late stage

Most capital went to late- and growth-stage funding rounds.

Per Crunchbase data, investment at this stage totaled around $20 billion in Q3. That’s down a bit from the prior quarter but nearly double year-ago levels and the second-strongest showing in four years.

Multiple jumbo rounds kept the total high. The largest was Moonshot AI’s aforementioned $3.5 billion Series F.

Several others raised financings in the multiple hundreds of millions. Shenzhen-based , a provider of robotics hardware and software, for instance, picked up $400 million in a September Series C. And Hong Kong-based , an e-commerce fintech platform, secured $300 million in Series C funding as it eyes an IPO.

Early stage

Early-stage investment drifted lower in Q3 but remained at historically high levels.

Per Crunchbase data, financing for startups at the Series A and Series B stages totaled $13.6 billion for the just-ended quarter. That’s a decline of 28% from the prior quarter but up 65% from year-ago levels.

Seed

Reported seed funding hit its highest level in years, boosted by investor enthusiasm around AI.

In total, investors poured $4.9 billion into reported seed and angel deals across Asia, per Crunchbase data. That’s up around 22% from the prior quarter and more than double year-ago levels.

A big quarter for China

Overall, Q3 was a robust period for venture funding to China-based companies, with far smaller sums going to other Asian startup hubs. Funding to startups based in India and Singapore was down significantly quarter over quarter, while Israel’s investment totals declined slightly.

We’ll keep an eye out in the coming months to see if this divergence of fortunes persists.

Related Crunchbase query:

Related reading:

• Crunchbase Data: Q3 2026 Posted A Record Count Of Billion-Dollar Rounds As The Global AI Race Heats Up

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Oct. 5, 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: