What The Record Venture Funding Quarter Actually Means For Your Startup’s Fundraise

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Crunchbase News interviews Kevin Tsang, managing director of Amex Ventures, about the firm’s investment thesis, the kinds of startups it aims to back, and how it works with founders to build and scale projects with a vision toward becoming a "global agentic concierge."

Large U.S. venture deals this week were led by a massive defense tech raise for space security startup True Anomaly. We also saw sizable deals for startups applying AI to fintech, marketing, customer service, health care and developer tools.

In 2025, the Bay Area expanded its dominance of U.S. seed funding — capturing a growing share of both deals and dollars — even as most startups remained geographically dispersed, an analysis of Crunchbase data shows, resulting in a more bifurcated landscape.

Venture funding of AI companies in 2026 will easily smash funding records set in 2025, with some heavy deals already consummated in the first quarter, according to market researchers. Data from Crunchbase shows that $300 billion poured into 6,000 startups worldwide during the first quarter of 2026. That’s a quarterly record for venture funding in AI companies, a Crunchbase news report said. A study from S&P Global measured generative AI funding reaching over $140 billion in the first quarter of 2026, outpacing all of 2025, according to a story published on the company’s website. Amid economic concerns, inflation, and the war in Iran, there were fewer deals overall, but the funding rounds were large in scope compared to any made in 2025. X.AI, for example, kicked off 2026 with a series-E round of $20 billion. OpenAI received $122 billion in a massive funding round in March, with a valuation of $852 billion. Anthropic received $30 billion in one round of funding that valued the company a

We recently spoke with Tiffany Luck, a partner at New Enterprise Associates about the increasing relevance of vertical AI, how startups can carve out durable advantages in a world dominated by platform giants, and more.

Funding to EV-related startups reflects a mix of optimism and restraint. While investors are backing big rounds for a handful of upstart brands, funding remains far below prior peaks and exit activity appears muted.

Forbes recently released its 2026 AI 50 list that showcases the most influential and fast-growing AI startups right now. If you look at this year’s list, you would notice that […] The post Forbes AI 50 List Shows Data Emerging as the Core of AI Value appeared first on AIwire.