Report · October 2026
State of AI Report 2026 The funding data
AI companies raised $519B of venture funding in 2026 to mid-September, more than in any full year before, and 76% of it went to companies in the United States. Dealroom supplied the funding, company and deal data for the State of AI Report 2026 by Nathan Benaich and Air Street Capital. These eight charts follow the money: who raised it, what it bought, who is building and who is buying.
Where the money went
AI companies raised more venture money in 2026 than in any earlier year, and most of it went to a handful of US labs.
1.1 Largest rounds
That is 84%, about $5 in every $6. OpenAI’s $122B round is the largest, followed by two Anthropic rounds of $65B and $30B. 10 of the 15 rounds went to US companies, 4 to Chinese ones.
State of AI Report 2026 · Largest rounds
Generative AI companies raised $261B of the $312B in the 15 largest AI rounds of 2026
The 15 largest AI venture rounds of 2026. Round size. Generative AIOther AI Headquarters shown where not the United States.
A company appears twice when it raised two rounds. Generative AI = Dealroom’s generative AI sector tag.
1.2 AI funding
Companies headquartered in the United States raised $393B, 76% of the total. China is second with $59B and Europe third with $40B.
State of AI Report 2026 · AI funding
AI companies raised $519B of venture funding in 2026 to mid-September, 2.3 times the 2025 total
Venture funding into AI companies, by headquarters region. Per year, 2016 to 16 September 2026.
2026 is a partial year. Excludes grants and private placements.
What it bought
Those rounds priced the two largest labs at close to $1T each. Their revenue grew faster than their valuations.
2.1 Lab valuations
Since January 2023 Anthropic’s valuation has doubled about every 5 months and OpenAI’s about every 8. xAI’s last private price was $250B, when it merged into SpaceX in February 2026; Mistral AI, the one European lab here, is valued at $23B.
State of AI Report 2026 · Lab valuations
Anthropic’s valuation passed OpenAI’s in 2026: $965B against $852B
Valuations of the leading AI labs. Every recorded valuation since 2021, on a log scale: each gridline is ten times the one below.
Includes priced rounds, secondary sales and a few Dealroom estimates for early years. The State of AI Report draws the same comparison in its own chart.
2.2 Lab revenue
At their latest valuations that is 15 times revenue for Anthropic and 21 times for OpenAI, down from 20 and 23 times a year earlier. Revenue grew faster than either company’s valuation.
State of AI Report 2026 · Lab revenue
Anthropic’s annualised revenue rose from $1B to $65B in 19 months, passing OpenAI’s $40B
Annualised revenue, OpenAI and Anthropic. Revenue run rate at each point. OpenAIAnthropic
Run rates are the latest month’s revenue times twelve, as the companies or the press reported them; they run ahead of revenue booked in the year.
Who is building
More AI model makers were founded in 2025 than in any earlier year. Most of the value in the US AI stack still sits in companies founded before 2010.
3.1 New AI labs
30 of them have funding on record so far, against 54 of the 71 founded in 2023. Younger companies have had less time to raise and many are still in stealth, so part of that gap is age.
State of AI Report 2026 · New AI labs
119 AI model makers were founded in 2025, more than in any earlier year
AI model makers by founding year. Companies Dealroom tags as AI or generative AI model makers. The number inside each bar has funding on record.
AI applications are excluded. Funding includes grants and support programmes. 2026 runs to 16 September.
See the 163 labs founded since 2023 with funding, grouped by what they build, on the market map →
3.2 The American AI stack
299 of them build applications, but infrastructure holds the most value: $20.7T, 55% of the total, against $7.9T for applications. 87% of the value sits in companies founded before 2010, such as Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon.
State of AI Report 2026 · The American AI stack
The American AI stack has 571 companies worth $1B or more, together valued at $37T
US companies worth $1B or more across the AI stack, by layer. Each company counted once, in one layer. The layers follow the US government’s American AI technology stack.
Companies
Combined enterprise value
Companies count at their full enterprise value, not only their AI business.
Who is buying
Nvidia and the largest technology companies are backing and buying AI companies faster than ever.
4.1 Nvidia
That is up from 51 in 2025 and 6 in 2021. It has also bought 17 AI companies since 2021; the largest were Groq for $20B in 2025 and Hugging Face for $13B in 2026.
State of AI Report 2026 · Nvidia
Nvidia joined 76 AI funding rounds in 2026 to mid-September, more than in any full year
Nvidia as an investor and a buyer of AI companies. Left: the venture rounds Nvidia took part in, 2021 to 16 September 2026. Right: the companies it bought, by disclosed price.
AI funding rounds joined, per year
Largest acquisitions price paid
Plus 10 acquisitions with no disclosed price.
Nvidia rarely discloses the size of its own cheque, so the rounds are counted, not summed.
4.2 Acquisitions
467 were acquired or bought out between January and 16 September 2026. At that pace the year ends near 659, against 549 in 2025 and 235 in 2019. The disclosed value of 2026 deals, $137B, is already above the $115B for all of 2025.
State of AI Report 2026 · Acquisitions
Acquisitions of venture-backed AI companies are on course for a record year
Acquisitions and buyouts of venture-backed AI companies. Every acquirer. *2026 runs to 16 September; the pale bar is the full-year projection at the same pace.
Deals per year
Disclosed value
Only 18% of deals disclose a price, so the value totals are a floor. Big tech made 67 of the 2,795 deals since 2019 but 22% of the disclosed value.
About the report
5.1 Conclusion
What this means
AI companies raised more venture money in 2026 than in any earlier year, more model makers were founded in 2025 than ever before, and acquisitions are on course for a record. The money is concentrated: a few US labs raised most of it, and Nvidia is an investor in the largest of them.
These charts are Dealroom’s contribution to the State of AI Report 2026. The full report, by Nathan Benaich and Air Street Capital, covers research, industry, politics and safety at stateof.ai.
5.2 The partners
Air Street Capital and Dealroom.co
A venture capital firm investing in AI-first companies
Air Street Capital is run by Nathan Benaich, who has published the State of AI Report every year since 2018. The report reviews the year in AI research, industry, politics and safety, and makes predictions for the next twelve months.
The global startup and venture capital intelligence platform
Dealroom.co is used to discover and track the most promising companies, technologies and ecosystems. It supplied the funding, company and deal data in the State of AI Report 2026.
More data
Explore Dealroom data →Read the full State of AI Report
Research, industry, politics and safety, by Nathan Benaich and Air Street Capital.