The half-time report: H1 2026 venture capital unpacked

Run down of venture capital activity in H1 2026. As presented in live web briefing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21mGZUOcl5s

Key findings

• Startups raised over $500B in venture capital in H1 2026.
• Excluding OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI, global venture funding is still growing, on a $269B full-year projection.
• Rounds of $2B and above have become a regular feature of the market rather than an exception.
• Germany rose to 5th globally by VC funding in 2026 so far, and Sweden entered the top 10.
• The largest rounds of 2026 went to foundational AI models, physical AI and space.