Dealroom Deep Dive

Enterprise Software & SaaS

The latest data and global trends in enterprise software and SaaS startups, venture capital, exits and innovation.

Raised in Q2 2026
$116.0B
VC funding · closed quarter
Raised in 2025
$166.8B
VC funding · full year 2025
Combined enterprise value
$13.3T
VC-backed SaaS startups · founded 1990+
Unicorns
917
$1B+ valuation or exit

Annual venture capital

Funding into SaaS startups has grown nearly tenfold over the past five years, reaching $166.8B in 2025. With $317.1B raised in the first 6 months of 2026, the full year is on track to land at $634.2B, a +280% change versus 2025. The chart below shows annual funding totals; the latest year is annualised from observed-to-date data and represents the renderer's projection, not a closed quarter.

Quarterly venture capital

Yearly totals mask the quarter-by-quarter rhythm. The chart below shows SaaS startups funding raised in each of the last 21 complete quarters through Q2 2026. All bars are actual closed-quarter sums, no projections, no in-progress quarters.

How enterprise software splits

Enterprise software and SaaS is the connective tissue of the startup economy: most modern companies, including a large share of AI, ship as software-as-a-service. That breadth means the category overlaps heavily with others, and reads best as a set of functional layers rather than one market.

Horizontal platforms

The software every company runs: productivity and collaboration, CRM and sales, marketing, and the data and analytics stack underneath them. The largest layer by funding, dominated by platform companies with broad, cross-industry reach and the deepest enterprise budgets.

Infrastructure, security and developer tools

Cybersecurity, identity, developer and DevOps tooling, APIs, and the no-code and low-code platforms reshaping who can build software at all. This layer has tightened as AI has raised both the value and the risk of the underlying stack, and it carries some of the highest-multiple companies in software.

Vertical and workflow software

Industry-specific software and the workflow-automation tools that wrap around it, from finance to health to logistics. Smaller individual markets, but higher deal volume and where AI is most visibly turning generic software into agents that do the work, not just record it.

Enterprise Software share of global VC

How much of each region's venture capital flows into SaaS startups, and who runs ahead of the global average? So far in 2026, SaaS took 73.2% of US venture capital, ahead of the 60.9% global benchmark, while Europe trailed at 23.4% and China at 34.2%. The dashed line is the global figure; lines above it are regions more concentrated in SaaS startups than the world as a whole.

Enterprise Software venture capital raised by stage

How capital deployed into SaaS startups is split across round sizes. In the trailing four quarters, 91% of capital landed in scaleup ($100M+) rounds, 6% in breakout ($15–100M), and 2% across startups (under $15M). Each panel below stacks the canonical sub-bands across Q2 2022 → Q2 2026.

SaaS venture capital raised by stage, quarterly

Startup

Breakout

Scaleup

Top investors

The most active investors in SaaS startups ranked by the number of disclosed rounds they've participated in. Y Combinator leads with 2,753 rounds, followed by Sequoia at 885. The table shows the top ten with their firm type, in-scope round count, total portfolio size, and headquarters.

Most active SaaS investors

#InvestorTypeInvestmentsPortfolioHQ
1 Accelerator 2,753 6,972 Mountain View, United States
2 Venture capital 885 1,912 Menlo Park, United States
3 Venture capital 754 1,153 Palo Alto, United States
4 Venture capital 634 1,181 Menlo Park, United States
5 Accelerator 558 2,278 New York City, United States
6 Venture capital 526 1,182 Menlo Park, United States
7 Venture capital 512 807 New York City, United States
8 Venture capital 504 950 Menlo Park, United States
9 Venture capital 488 2,293 Palo Alto, United States
10 Corporate venture fund 456 982 Santa Clara, United States

See all investors in Dealroom

Source: Dealroom.co

Top companies

Two views of leadership in SaaS startups: the most-funded companies all-time on the left, and the hottest companies right now by Dealroom Signal on the right. Total-funding figures include all capital sources tracked by Dealroom (VC plus grants, project finance, and other instruments). Signal is Dealroom's live growth ranking, these are the firms with the strongest recent momentum across team, timing, growth, and completeness.

Top funded

All-time total funding (includes non-VC sources)

  1. 1OpenAISan Francisco, United States$191.9B
  2. 2AnthropicSan Francisco, United States$124.3B
  3. 3xAIPalo Alto, United States$37.1B
  4. 4DatabricksSan Francisco, United States$20.0B
  5. 5PrometheusSan Francisco, United States$18.2B
  6. 6Vantage Data CentersDenver, United States$13.2B
  7. 7DeepSeekChina$7.4B
  8. 8KuaishouHaidian, China$5.4B
  9. 9JD DigitsDongcheng District, China$5.0B
  10. 10AlibabaHangzhou, China$4.8B
See all in Dealroom

Hottest (Dealroom Signal)

Ranked by Dealroom's growth indicator

  1. 1OdooOttignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium98
  2. 2NotionSan Francisco, United States98
  3. 3ExlServiceNew York City, United States97
  4. 4FigmaSan Francisco, United States97
  5. 5ReplitSan Francisco, United States97
  6. 6OpenAISan Francisco, United States97
  7. 7TailscaleToronto, Canada97
  8. 8NablaParis, France97
  9. 9Palo Alto NetworksSanta Clara, United States97
  10. 10Automation AnywhereSan Jose, United States97
See all in Dealroom

Source: Dealroom.co

How Enterprise Software funding is distributed geographically

Enterprise Software venture capital is concentrated in a handful of ecosystems. The map below has a long tail, but a few hubs explain most of the global total.

The United States

The largest single source of enterprise software venture capital, anchored by the Bay Area and New York alongside Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles and a long tail of smaller hubs. Deep late-stage capital and the biggest acquirers keep the US share of the global total well ahead of any other region.

Europe

London, Paris, Berlin, the Nordics and a dense network of smaller ecosystems. Europe's enterprise software funding has grown faster than the US in percentage terms but from a smaller base, and supportive policy in several sub-sectors has helped specific hubs punch above their weight.

Asia and the rest of the world

China, India, Singapore and Israel contribute meaningfully, though disclosed venture rounds often understate the capital deployed through state-backed and strategic investors. Coverage here is partial, and headline totals should be read as a floor rather than a full picture.

Top hubs

United States leads global SaaS startups funding at $352.5B, followed by China ($19.0B). The chart ranks the top countries; alongside it, the leading Bay Area metro region leads the city ranking with $324.2B. Use the metric pills, and the dropdown, to switch view. The VC dropdown also covers the fastest-growing hubs (China up +590%) and where SaaS startups venture capital and unicorns concentrate against the rest of the world.

Top metro regions

SaaS startups venture capital by metro · Last 12 months to end of Q2 2026

  1. 1Bay AreaUnited States$324.2B
  2. 2New York CityUnited States$13.1B
  3. 3LondonUnited Kingdom$10.5B
  4. 4BeijingChina$4.1B
  5. 5ParisFrance$3.9B
  6. 6ShanghaiChina$3.9B
  7. 7SeattleUnited States$2.3B
  8. 8Tel AvivIsrael$2.2B
  9. 9Toronto-WaterlooCanada$2.1B
  10. 10DenverUnited States$2.0B
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Top metro regions

SaaS startups venture capital by metro · Full year 2025

  1. 1Bay AreaUnited States$116.7B
  2. 2New York CityUnited States$6.9B
  3. 3LondonUnited Kingdom$6.5B
  4. 4ParisFrance$2.6B
  5. 5SeattleUnited States$2.1B
  6. 6Tel AvivIsrael$1.9B
  7. 7DenverUnited States$1.8B
  8. 8Toronto-WaterlooCanada$1.4B
  9. 9AustinUnited States$1.2B
  10. 10Los AngelesUnited States$1.2B
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Top metro regions

SaaS startups venture capital by metro · Q2 2026

  1. 1Bay AreaUnited States$85.9B
  2. 2New York CityUnited States$4.2B
  3. 3LondonUnited Kingdom$2.9B
  4. 4ShanghaiChina$2.8B
  5. 5BeijingChina$2.5B
  6. 6Toronto-WaterlooCanada$977M
  7. 7Tel AvivIsrael$805M
  8. 8BostonUnited States$697M
  9. 9Las VegasUnited States$376M
  10. 10SeattleUnited States$329M
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Top metro regions

SaaS startups enterprise value by metro

  1. 1Bay AreaUnited States$9.0T
  2. 2New York CityUnited States$592.2B
  3. 3MiamiUnited States$327.5B
  4. 4AustinUnited States$254.9B
  5. 5HangzhouChina$234.8B
  6. 6BeijingChina$227.3B
  7. 7BostonUnited States$188.4B
  8. 8Ottawa–GatineauCanada$155.3B
  9. 9LondonUnited Kingdom$143.1B
  10. 10SeattleUnited States$138.9B
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Top metro regions

SaaS startups unicorns by metro

  1. 1Bay AreaUnited States322
  2. 2New York CityUnited States78
  3. 3BostonUnited States48
  4. 4Tel AvivIsrael45
  5. 5LondonUnited Kingdom32
  6. 6BeijingChina29
  7. 7Los AngelesUnited States22
  8. 8SeattleUnited States21
  9. 9ParisFrance19
  10. 10ChicagoUnited States17
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Top metro regions

SaaS VC growth by metro · Last 12 months to end of Q2 2026 vs 2025

  1. 1ShanghaiChina+550%
  2. 2BeijingChina+285%
  3. 3Bay AreaUnited States+178%
  4. 4Las VegasUnited States+169%
  5. 5BarcelonaSpain+155%
  6. 6HangzhouChina+130%
  7. 7New York CityUnited States+89%
  8. 8BostonUnited States+67%
  9. 9SydneyAustralia+65%
  10. 10LondonUnited Kingdom+64%

Top metro regions

SaaS VC concentration by metro · Last 12 months to end of Q2 2026

  1. 1Bay AreaUnited States3.17×
  2. 2San Luis ObispoUnited States1.61×
  3. 3Provo-OremUnited States0.91×
  4. 4Las VegasUnited States0.87×
  5. 5StuttgartGermany0.83×
  6. 6ParisFrance0.78×
  7. 7Toronto-WaterlooCanada0.76×
  8. 8Salt Lake CityUnited States0.74×
  9. 9Tel AvivIsrael0.70×
  10. 10ShanghaiChina0.70×

Top metro regions

SaaS unicorn concentration by metro · by HQ

  1. 1StuttgartGermany2.29×
  2. 2GhentBelgium2.29×
  3. 3Provo-OremUnited States2.22×
  4. 4Salt Lake CityUnited States1.80×
  5. 5Bay AreaUnited States1.74×
  6. 6TokyoJapan1.53×
  7. 7San AntonioUnited States1.52×
  8. 8CalgaryCanada1.52×
  9. 9Abu DhabiUnited Arab Emirates1.52×
  10. 10Santa BarbaraUnited States1.43×

Enterprise Software on the map

Where SaaS startups VC-backed startups are based. Each marker is sized by the number of VC-backed startups HQ'd in that metro. Bay Area leads at 4,930, followed by New York City at 1,874. Scroll or drag to explore, pinch with two fingers on mobile.

Notable rounds

Over the last 12 months (through Jul 2026), the largest VC rounds in SaaS startups reveal where capital is consolidating. The table below lists the 15 biggest disclosed rounds by amount, with date, company, round type, and lead investors. Funding events without a public amount are excluded; acquisitions sit in the Unicorns & Exits section.

Biggest SaaS rounds · Last 12 months to end of Q2 2026 (Top 15 rounds)

DateCompanyAmountRoundLead investors
Mar 2026OpenAI$122.0BLATE VCSoftBank, Andreessen Horowitz
May 2026Anthropic$65.0BSERIES HDragoneer Investment Group, GIC
Feb 2026Anthropic$30.0BSERIES GGIC, Coatue Management
Jan 2026xAI$20.0BSERIES EBaron Capital, StepStone Group
Sep 2025Anthropic$13.0BSERIES FLightspeed Venture Partners, Fidelity Investments
Jun 2026Prometheus$12.0BGROWTH EQUITY VCBlackRock, JPMorgan Chase & Co
Sep 2025OpenAI$10.0BLATE VCNvidia
Jun 2026DeepSeek$7.4BEARLY VCTencent
Nov 2025Prometheus$6.2BGROWTH EQUITY VCBezos Expeditions
Dec 2025Databricks$5.0BLATE VCFidelity Investments, Insight Partners
Jul 2025xAI$5.0BGROWTH EQUITY VCMorgan Stanley
May 2026StepFun$2.5BGROWTH EQUITY VCHong Kong Investment Corporation, ZTE
Nov 2025Anysphere | Cursor$2.3BLATE VCAccel, Coatue Management
May 2026Moonshot AI | Kimi$2.0BSERIES DLong-Z Investments
Mar 2026Nscale$2.0BSERIES CAker ASA, 8090 Industries
See every round in Dealroom

Biggest SaaS rounds · Full year 2025 (Top 15 rounds)

DateCompanyAmountRoundLead investors
Mar 2025OpenAI$40.0BLATE VCSoftBank
Sep 2025Anthropic$13.0BSERIES FFidelity Investments, ICONIQ Capital
Sep 2025OpenAI$10.0BLATE VCNvidia
Nov 2025Prometheus$6.2BGROWTH EQUITY VCBezos Expeditions
Dec 2025Databricks$5.0BLATE VCJ.P. Morgan Asset Management, Fidelity Investments
Jul 2025xAI$5.0BGROWTH EQUITY VCMorgan Stanley
Mar 2025Anthropic$3.5BSERIES ELightspeed Venture Partners
Nov 2025Anysphere | Cursor$2.3BLATE VCCoatue Management, Accel
Sep 2025Reflection AI$2.0BSERIES BSequoia, NVentures
Jun 2025Thinking Machines Lab$2.0BSEEDAndreessen Horowitz
Apr 2025Safe Superintelligence$2.0BSERIES AGreenoaks Capital Partners
Sep 2025Mistral AI$1.9BSERIES CASML
Sep 2025Vantage Data Centers$1.6BGROWTH EQUITY VCGIC, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
Nov 2025Lambda$1.5BSERIES ETWG Global
Jul 2025Genesys Telecommunication Labs$1.5BGROWTH EQUITY VCServiceNow, Salesforce Ventures
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Biggest SaaS rounds · Q2 2026 (Top 15 rounds)

DateCompanyAmountRoundLead investors
May 2026Anthropic$65.0BSERIES HICONIQ Capital, D1 Capital Partners
Jun 2026Prometheus$12.0BGROWTH EQUITY VCBlackRock, JPMorgan Chase & Co
Jun 2026DeepSeek$7.4BEARLY VCTencent
May 2026StepFun$2.5BGROWTH EQUITY VCHong Kong Investment Corporation, Shanghai Longcheer Technology
May 2026Moonshot AI | Kimi$2.0BSERIES DLong-Z Investments
Jun 2026BaseTen$1.5BSERIES FAltimeter Capital, Conviction
Apr 2026Ineffable Intelligence$1.1BSEEDLightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia
May 2026Cognition | Devin AI$1.0BLATE VC8VC, General Catalyst
May 2026Sierra$950MSERIES ETiger Global, GV
May 2026Hark$700MSERIES AParkway Venture Capital
May 2026Recursive Superintelligence$650MSEEDGV
Apr 2026Cohere$600MSERIES ESchwarz Group
Jun 2026Flourish$500MEARLY VCLux Capital, Catalio Capital Management
Jun 2026Supabase$500MSERIES FGIC
May 2026Zyphra Technologies$500MSERIES BAMD
See every round in Dealroom

Source: Dealroom.co · Updated 8 Jul 2026

What's heating up inside enterprise software

Which corners of SaaS are heating up fastest? Each sub-sector is scored on a transparent blend of two-year VC growth, unicorn formation, and recent funding scale. No-Code & Low-Code tops the ranking, with venture capital up 833% over three years to $4.7B in 2025 and 22 unicorns. Sub-sector tags overlap (a company can sit in several), so this shows where momentum concentrates rather than splitting the total.
1No-Code & Low-Code
+833%2-yr VC growth
$4.7BVC raised
22unicorns
$260.2BEV
2Workflow
+837%2-yr VC growth
$1.6BVC raised
20unicorns
$187.8BEV
3Productivity Tools
+354%2-yr VC growth
$57.9BVC raised
58unicorns
$1.3TEV
4Marketing
+8%2-yr VC growth
$11.5BVC raised
247unicorns
$1.6TEV
5Cybersecurity
+53%2-yr VC growth
$11.1BVC raised
193unicorns
$6.3TEV
6Project Management
+455%2-yr VC growth
$713MVC raised
14unicorns
$160.7BEV
7Collaboration
+326%2-yr VC growth
$656MVC raised
17unicorns
$97.0BEV
8API
+237%2-yr VC growth
$3.6BVC raised
47unicorns
$4.9TEV
9Data Analytics
+31%2-yr VC growth
$5.1BVC raised
126unicorns
$6.4TEV
10Business Intelligence
+138%2-yr VC growth
$807MVC raised
47unicorns
$296.4BEV
11DevOps
+182%2-yr VC growth
$570MVC raised
3unicorns
$100.1BEV
12Identity Management
+63%2-yr VC growth
$1.3BVC raised
32unicorns
$172.9BEV

Source: Dealroom.co · Updated 8 Jul 2026

Unicorns & exits

SaaS startups have minted 917 unicorns to date. Dealroom defines a unicorn as a company that has reached a $1B+ valuation or exit (verified and manually reviewed; other lists use different criteria, this is ours). Of those, 96 are decacorns, companies at a $10B+ valuation. The ecosystem also counts 668 thoroughbreds: companies generating $100M+ in revenue (a separate lens from unicorns, with some overlap). The chart below shows the cumulative count climbing each year, with the line tracking new unicorns minted in that year, peaking at 193 in 2021. On exits, the sector has produced 5,026 tracked acquisitions since 2010 representing $1.1T in disclosed value. Notable acquisitions in the data include VMware ($61.0B, 2022), followed by Anysphere | Cursor ($60.0B, 2026), Aligned Data Centers ($40.0B, 2025).

The academic flywheel

Universities are the talent pipeline behind Enterprise Software, the institutions whose alumni found the most unicorns and venture-backed companies, and the research that spins out into them.

Universities by alumni-founded unicorns

UniversityAlumni unicornsAlumni EV
Stanford University000$0.0T
Harvard University000$0.0T
MIT000$0.0T
Tsinghua University000$0.0T

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Enterprise Software startup IP & patents

The patent portfolio behind Enterprise Software startups, granted patent families, where the IP concentrates, and the technologies driving it.

Patent families by startup hub

HubPatent families
Bay Area00,000
New York00,000
Boston00,000
London00,000

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Explore the enterprise software landscape

Live, interactive market maps of the enterprise software ecosystem, Dealroom-curated landscapes mapping thousands of companies across security, data, developer tools and vertical software. Open any map to explore the full landscape.
Lorenzo Chiavarini
Curated byLorenzo ChiavariniHead of Research, Dealroom

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