CB Insights’ The State of Venture Q3 2026 says that in 3Q26 startups attracted 698.3 billion US Dollars, above 484.1 billion in 2025 and 520,2 billion of 2022, the previous record breaking year.
However, the number of deals keeps falling. In 3Q26, investors carried on 6913 funding rounds, the lowest figure since 2022, as much as 80% of the capital raised in the quarter funded deals of at least 100 million US Dollars while OpenAI (132 billion) and Anthropic (95 billion) attracted third of VCs investments since January 2026.
Meanwhile, there is good news from Europe as Mistral’s 3.5 billion funding round led the total 31.5 billion raised, the best quarter since 2Q22.
In 3Q26 deals amounted to 187.2 billion, down from 2Q26 219.6 billion, but well above the 3Q25 122.4. The number of deals showed a downward trend: 6913 transactions in 3Q26, down from 2Q26 8046 rounds and 1Q26 8499. In 3Q25, investors closed 9005 rounds.
In 2026, the average deal reached a 49.8 million size, 23 million in 2025, whilst the median rose from 3 million to 3.4 million.
In 3Q26, 299 mega-rounds of at least 100 million raised 149.2 billion accounting for around 80% of the total. This marks the third consecutive quarter at or above this threshold, following 85% in 1Q26 and 81% in 2Q26.
The unicorn club also continues to grow as 68 new startups joined it in 3Q26 (56 in 2Q26) bringing the global total to 1471. The highest-valued new entry is the US defence firm Castelion with a valuation of 13 billion. Anthropic now tops the rankings by valuation at 1.2 trillion, ahead of OpenAI (852 billion), ByteDance (480 billion), Databricks (190 billion), Stripe (159 billion), and Revolut (115 billion).
There are 15 European unicorns (239 in total) that include 3.6 billion worth Lithuanian firm Oxylabs.
Exits are still the weak link.
In 3Q26, investors carried on 2353 M&A deals, down 9% from the previous quarter. This is the third consecutive decline and the lowest figure since 2022, when CB Insights’ historical data series started, representing a 22% drop compared with the 4Q25. There were 142 IPOs and 8 business combinations with SPACs. In terms of exits, Europe recorded 970 M&A transactions, 15 IPOs and 3 business combinations with SPACs, accounting for 39% of global exits. The two largest de-SPACs of the quarter globally were European: French firm Pasqal (2 billion) and the Finnish firm IQM (1.9 billion).
However, there was no shortage of global major deals. SpaceX acquired Anysphere at a valuation of 60 billion. Singtel and KKR acquired ST Telemedia Global Data Centres for 10.9 billion. Stripe bought OpenRouter, valued at 8 billion. Nasdaq-listed Italian firm Bending Spoons bought US Airtable, valued at 2.2 billion.
Notable IPOs include the Chinese firm CXMT (valued at 85.5 billion), National Stock Exchange of India (46.1 billion), Shein (27 billion), and Bending Spoons (18.6 billion) (see here a previous post by BeBeez)
In 3Q26, the list of most active in terms of the number of companies funded includes Andreessen Horowitz (39), Khosla Ventures (34) and General Catalyst (32) while Italy’s CDP Venture Capital ranks third in Europe with 12 deals, behind the UK’s Index Ventures (18) and French Bpifrance (13), and ahead of Balderton Capital (9) and EQT (8).
In 3Q26, AI sector attracted 103.3 billion (55% of the total), down from 153.1 billion in 2Q26 and 239.1 billion in 1Q26 (unbeaten record). In 2026, AI sector raised 495.6 billion, 71% of global venture capital deals value.
Concentration is more pronounced in AI than in the rest of the market. Just 154 mega-rounds in 3Q26 alone accounted for 87.9 billion, 85% of the total, following 91% in 1Q26 and 88% in the second. OpenAI, with 10 billion from the SoftBank Vision Fund, and two rounds of 5 billion each, Databricks, valued at 190 billion, and Safe Superintelligence, (32 billion) with NVIDIA as an investor are topping the list of deals. Crusoe (3.9 billion – 30.9 billion), French Mistral and Chinese Moonshot AI (3.5 billion each) follow. The top four deals total 23.9 billion, accounting for almost a quarter of all funding raised. It is therefore no surprise that the average 2026 AI funding round stood at 91.3 million (31.7 million in 2025) whilst the median rose from 3.5 to 4.7 million.
In 3Q26, 42 new AI unicorns were born – the highest figure in the last 18 months – bringing the total to 706. The main new entrants are XPeng Robotics (6.3 billion), River AI (5 billion), micro1 (4 billion) and Olix (3.3 billion). The United States produced 24 new AI unicorns, Asia 11 and Europe 7, bringing the total in Europe to 105.
In 3Q26, US-based firms raised 111.1 billion (2.882 deals), Asian players attracted 36.2 billion (2153 deals) and European startups received 31.5 billion (1439 deals).
Europe is bucking the global trend. The 3Q26 figure of 31.5 billion is 13% higher than in 2Q26 (27.8 billion) and the best quarterly result since 2Q222. However, the number of deals fell by 21% to 1.439 transactions. Europe still accounts for 21% of global deals. European mega-rounds raised 23.9 billion (48 transactions), and in 2026 the median value of European rounds rose to 3.4 million, up from 2.5 million in 2025.
The 3.5 billion Series D round of French Mistral (24.4 billion enterprise value) attracted the resources of EQT, PSG, Samsung, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, and others (see here a previous post by BeBeez). European AI firms secured 27 mega-rounds for a total of 15.9 billion. Further to Mistral, the list includes Nscale, Helsing, Fluidstack, Quantum Systems, Wonderful and Lovable.
For Europe, the 18.8 billion worth 458 AI deals represents the highest quarterly figure in CB Insights’ series since 2022, and makes around 60% of all European venture capital raised during 3Q26.
