This tracker includes layoffs conducted by U.S.-based companies or those with a strong U.S. presence and is updated at least bi-weekly. We鈥檝e included both startups and publicly traded, tech-heavy companies. We鈥檝e also included companies based elsewhere that have a sizable team in the United States, such as , even when it鈥檚 unclear how much of the U.S. workforce has been affected by layoffs.

Layoff and workforce figures are best estimates based on reporting. We source the layoffs from media reports, our own reporting, social media posts and , a crowdsourced database of tech layoffs.

We recently updated our layoffs tracker to reflect the most recent round of layoffs each company has conducted. This allows us to quickly and more accurately track layoff trends, which is why you might notice some changes in our most recent numbers.

If an employee headcount cannot be confirmed to our standards, we note it as 鈥渦nclear.鈥�

Global venture funding to financial technology startups totaled $12 billion across 751 deals in 2026 as of April 6, per 附近上门 . In terms of dollars invested, that鈥檚 up 5% year over year, but that money went into almost a third fewer deals.

As has been the case in previous quarters, startup accelerator Y Combinator was the most active investor in the space in Q1 by far, participating in 27 deals involving fintech startups. However, it鈥檚 interesting to note that YC鈥檚 deal volume in Q1 marked a multiquarter low, down 38.6% from the 44 fintech deals it took part in during the first quarter of 2025.

The next most active investor in the first quarter was , with 11 investments. , and all tied for third place, with nine deals each.

YC also topped the list of the most active fintech investors in rounds of $5 million or above, participating in 14 such transactions. That鈥檚 up 16.7% from the 12 deals involving fintech startups in which it participated in the first quarter of 2025.

Lightspeed and Coinbase Ventures came in next on the list of most active investors in rounds of $5 million or more 鈥� each writing checks into nine fintech startup investments during the 2026 first quarter.

When it came to leading rounds of $5 million or more, six venture firms tied with five investments each: , , and .

Top lead investors at $100M or more

For megarounds 鈥� those deals of $100 million or more 鈥� we saw more private equity enter the mix of lead or co-lead investors. , , and topped the list, according to 附近上门 data.

The largest rounds were raised by a diverse bunch of fintech startups.

• Predictions marketplace was the fintech sector鈥檚 largest recipient of capital in the first quarter. In March, the company doubled its valuation to $22 billion in just three months with a $1 billion raise led by Coatue. The New York-based startup had just raised $1 billion in Series E funding at an $11 billion valuation in December.
• In February, , a digital savings platform, raised $385 million in a Series E funding round co-led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth. The New York-based startup said its new valuation was $2 billion, double it achieved when raising its $125 million Series D round in December 2023.
• In late January, insurtech announced it had closed $366 million in equity funding led by The Space Between.
• And also in January, , which is building infrastructure for payments with stablecoins, raised $250 million in a Series C funding round led by . Its post-money valuation was $1.95 billion, up 17x from last March.

Top fintech investors at seed

When it comes to investing in seed rounds, unsurprisingly, Y Combinator again topped the list 鈥� by far, with 16 fintech deals. Next up was Coinbase Ventures with six investments at the seed stage, and then , with five.

The investor base shifted when we took a look at who led or co-led post-seed rounds in the first quarter. and topped that list, with five deals each. Peak XV Partners, Lightspeed and Accel came in next with four fintech investments each at the post-seed stage.

Related 附近上门 query:

Related reading:

• Fintech Startups Globally Raise More Money In Far Fewer Deals In Q1 2026
• Y Combinator Was By Far The Most-Active Fintech Investor in 2025, Data Shows

Illustration:

And as was the case in the Q4 as well, Q1 was well above the prior five quarters by funding amounts, signaling that European venture funding may be gaining momentum.

Table of contents

• AI above 50%
• UK and France grew YoY
• Europe by stage
• In summary
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Still, Europe saw more capital going into fewer companies in Q1, with deal volume plummeting 40% year over year. Much of the decline was at seed stage (down 44%) and early stage (down 30%), while late-stage deal volume was in-line with the previous four quarters.

AI above 50%

Funding to Europe-based AI startups increased significantly last quarter, reaching $9.2 billion, or more than half of total venture funding to the region. That marks the sector鈥檚 highest proportion in a quarter on record.

The largest four rounds to startups based in Europe in Q1 were for AI-related companies. Data center builder , autonomous driving developer , and frontier lab for physical AI raised more than a billion each, and AI legaltech 鈥檚 funding totaled more than $500 million.

UK and France grew YoY

Startups from the U.K. and France raised more funding in Q1, totaling $7.4 billion and聽 $2.9 billion, respectively. Germany-based startups raised $1.9 billion, flat year over year.

France has emerged as the European leader for AI frontier labs. Last quarter, it saw Paris-based , founded by former AI chief , raise $1 billion in the continent鈥檚 largest seed funding round on record. The deal also marked only the second billion-dollar-plus funding deal for a European frontier lab, following s $2 billion round last year.

Europe by stage

In Q1, late-stage funding to Europe-based startups nearly doubled from a year ago. The largest rounds were across a variety of sectors, including AI hardware, fintech, agentic AI, productivity software, sensors, defense, e-commerce and energy.

A total of $9.2 billion was invested at late-stage across 83 deals, up 91% by amounts year over year.

Early-stage funding to the region鈥檚 startups fell from a year earlier 鈥� by around 20% 鈥� 附近上门 data shows. Early-stage investment totaled $5.3 billion in Q1 across more than 240 funding rounds. Within early-stage funding, larger Series A rounds predominated in semiconductors, energy and healthcare.

Seed funding reached $3.1 billion in Q1 across more than 790 deals. The funding total was up 50% year over year, but largely due to the $1 billion round for Advanced Machine Intelligence.

In summary

Larger rounds into critical sectors in AI drove European startup funding up in Q1. A mix of Europe- and U.S.-based investors led the largest fundings last quarter into AI infrastructure, frontier labs, autonomous systems and applications.

Overall, Europe is in-line with global trends as capital concentrates into the largest deals in sectors that are surging due to AI.

Related 附近上门 query:

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of April 2, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

Overall, investors put $27.4 billion to work across seed- through growth-stage financings for Asian companies in Q1, per 附近上门 data. That鈥檚 up about 20% from the prior quarter and nearly double year-ago levels.

Total funding also hit its highest level in more than three years, as charted below.

Funding went to bigger rounds, not more of them. Per 附近上门 data, deal counts were flat with the prior quarter and up incrementally from prior year levels. In general, deal counts haven鈥檛 fluctuated widely from quarter to quarter over the past few years, as seen in the chart below.

Table of contents

• Most gains go to China
• Funding rose across stages, with most going to later stage
• Early stage was strong too
• Seed also showed an upswing
• A record quarter for AI
• Looking up
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Most gains go to China

An estimated $16.5 billion 鈥� or 60% of all Asian startup funding 鈥� went to China-based startups in Q1. It was also the third consecutive quarter for increased Chinese venture funding, which hit a multiyear low in the first half of 2025.

AI funding drove the gains in China. The quarter鈥檚 largest rounds all went to AI-focused companies, including foundational model startup , agentic AI company , and AI-enabled robot developer .

After China, the next-largest venture funding recipient in Asia was India, with $3.8 billion in reported Q1 investment, the highest number in the past four quarters. A big chunk of the funding went to the quarter鈥檚 largest equity round, a $600 million financing for AI systems developer .

Below, we chart out venture funding by country to seven leading investment hubs in Asia, showing how regional funding has trended since 2023.

Funding rose across stages, with most going to later stage

Later-stage, early-stage and seed funding all rose sequentially in the first quarter.

Of these, later-stage and technology-growth deals captured the highest share of funding, estimated at $11.7 billion in Q1. The quarter鈥檚 largest late-stage round by a long shot was a $2 billion Series C for Singapore-based data center company .

Overall, it was the largest later-stage tally in five quarters, as charted below.

Early stage was strong too

Early-stage investment also rose in Q1, hitting its highest point in two years.

Per 附近上门 data, an estimated $11.2 billion went to Asian companies around Series A and Series B stages. That鈥檚 nearly double year-ago levels and up about 17% from the prior quarter, as charted below.

Seed also showed an upswing

Investors also poured more money into seed-stage companies, with AI as a core driver.

Around $3.6 billion went to reported seed and angel rounds in Q1, up 85% year over year and 45% quarter over quarter. Reported deal counts dipped a bit, indicating concentration of capital among a smaller subset of hot startups. However, we expect this number to rise over time, as seed deals are often added to the dataset weeks after they close.

A record quarter for AI

It would be remiss to close out a quarterly report these days without some mention of how much investment went to artificial intelligence.

For Q1, Asian startups in AI-related categories pulled in about $11.2 billion, per 附近上门 data, the highest sum we鈥檝e tracked to date.

Looking up

Overall, the quarterly numbers show increasing momentum in China鈥檚 startup ecosystem, fueling much of the rising funding totals in Asia. Investment to startups in India, Singapore and South Korea also rose sequentially in Q1, while funding to Israel declined some.

In sum, it was a solid quarter, peppered with signs of optimism about the regional startup pipeline going forward.

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of March 31, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

While no billion-dollar rounds led this week鈥檚 list, we nonetheless saw a variety of startups in industries ranging from semiconductors to aerospace to biotech raise sizable rounds. The week鈥檚 biggest deal was $400 million for SiFive, a semiconductor startup challenging incumbent with chip designs built on an open rather than proprietary standard.

1. , $400M, semiconductors: San Mateo, California-based semiconductor startup SiFive raised a $400 million Series G round led by . SiFive makes the blueprints used by companies such as to develop their own internal chip designs, on an open standard called RISC-V. CEO Reuters he expects the raise to be SiFive鈥檚 last funding round before an IPO, though didn鈥檛 say when an offering would take place.

2. , $200M, aviation: Hermeus, an El Segundo, California-based startup developing autonomous military aircraft, raised $200 million in equity in a -led round. The company, which is developing what it says will be the fastest unmanned defense aircraft, also raised $150 million in debt as part of the round, which pushes its valuation to $1 billion. Other investors in the deal include , and

3. $137M, biotechnology: San Diego-based Sidewinder, a biotech startup developing cancer drugs to target difficult-to-treat tumors, raised a $137 million Series B led by and . The company is developing聽next-generation cancer drugs called antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, which are designed to act like 鈥済uided missiles鈥� by using engineered antibodies to deliver toxic payloads directly into tumor cells. The company said its new funding will be used to push its lead drug candidates into clinical trials.

4. , $125M, AI infrastructure: Palo Alto, California-based Aria Networks raised $125 million in a -led Series A funding round. The company develops an AI-driven networking platform that monitors, analyzes and optimizes data center performance.

5. , $111.7M, aerospace: Starfish Space, a Seattle-based startup developing and manufacturing autonomous space vehicles that perform in-orbit, satellite servicing missions, raised $111.7 million. The Series B round was led by , and . Starfish鈥檚 spacecraft dock to satellites already in orbit to service and reposition them. They can also remove defunct satellites and debris from space.

6. (tied) , $100M, biotechnology: Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Stipple Bio raised a $100 million Series A round to advance its precision cancer therapies. The round was led by , and . Stipple aims to develop highly targeted cancer treatments that selectively attack cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

6. (tied) , $100M, health insurance: led the $100 million Series E for Chapter, a New York-based startup offering a Medicare navigation platform that provides advisory services for seniors seeking health coverage. Other investors include 鈥嬧��, and 1.

8. , $85M, fintech: Modus, a Philadelphia-based startup, raised $85 million in a -led seed and Series A round. The startup describes itself as a tech鈥慹nabled audit platform that acquires CPA firms and equips them with AI鈥慸riven audit tools to deliver higher鈥憅uality audits. and also participated in the deal.

9. , $80M, medical devices: and led the $80 million Series C for Menlo Park, California-based Endovascular Engineering, also called E2, which has developed a device called H膿lo for the treatment of venous thromboembolism, or VTE. The company secured clearance for H膿lo in December.

10. , $80M, biotechnology: Boston-based Life Sciences, which aims to develop drugs to promote longevity and find treatments for age-related diseases, says it raised $80 million in Series D funding. The company says it will use the funding to advance human trials of its cellular rejuvenation therapy, called ER-100, which aims to make older, damaged cells act younger again. Investors in the round were not disclosed. The company has previously been backed by , , , and.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 附近上门 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of April 4-10. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

Illustration:

Global venture funding to financial technology startups totaled $12 billion across 751 deals in 2026 as of April 6, per 附近上门 . That鈥檚 a 5% increase in dollars raised compared to the $11.4 billion raised across 1,097 鈥� or 31.5% fewer 鈥斅燿eals during the same time period in 2025.

This trend signals larger deal sizes. Indeed, late-stage or growth funding in the first quarter of 2026 totaled $6.9 billion, up 8% compared to $6.4 billion raised at those stages in the 2025 first quarter.

However, sequentially, the $12 billion raised is down 33% compared to the fourth quarter of 2025, when fintech startups raised $17.8 billion globally. The $6.9 billion raised in late-stage or growth funding is also down markedly 鈥� by 43% 鈥� compared to the $12.1 billion raised by fintech startups in Q4 2025.

The trend in the first quarter also mirrors what we saw in 2025 as a whole, with global venture funding to fintech startups climbing to its highest level in several quarters, boosted by later-stage deals.

Total global funding to VC-backed financial technology startups totaled $53.8 billion in 2025, per 附近上门 . That鈥檚 an approximately 29.3% increase from 2024鈥檚 total of $41.6 billion raised.

US booms

U.S.-based startups have historically raised more fintech funding than any other country in the world, and the first quarter of 2026 was no different.

Of the $12 billion raised by startups globally, just over half 鈥� or $6.3 billion 鈥� flowed to fintech companies based in the U.S. That was an impressive 47% increase compared to the $4.3 billion raised by U.S. fintech startups in the 2025 first quarter. However, it was down 50% from the $12.6 billion that U.S. financial technology startups raised in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The United Kingdom was the second-largest recipient of venture capital, with startups in the region raising a total of $1.2 billion. India came in third, raising $900 million.

Big deals for unicorns

Several fintech startups raised nine-figure rounds in the first quarter, with some doubling their valuations since their last venture financings.

Predictions marketplace was the largest recipient of capital in the first quarter. In March, the company doubled its valuation to $22 billion in just three months with a $1 billion raise led by . The New York-based startup had just raised $1 billion in Series E funding at an $11 billion valuation in December.

In February, , a digital savings platform, raised $385 million in a Series E funding round co-led by and . The New York-based startup said its new valuation was $2 billion, double it achieved when raising its $125 million Series D round in December 2023.

And in January, , which is building infrastructure for payments with stablecoins, raised $250 million in a Series C funding round led by . Its post-money valuation was $1.95 billion, up 17x from last March.

Investors remain bullish

, partner and head of U.S. at , said his firm has been investing at a slightly slower pace so far in 2026 than in years past. But he cited it as 鈥渕ore a quirk of deal flow鈥� and where it gets conviction, rather than a decision to slow the firm鈥檚 investing pace.

鈥淚t’s certainly true that macroeconomics and geopolitics play a role,鈥� he told 附近上门 News, 鈥渂ut mostly we’re just focused on finding high-conviction companies to back.鈥�

QED is extremely bullish on the application layer for AI in fintech and stablecoin opportunities, and has backed several startups that Gerety said 鈥渉arness the power of LLMs with the security and reliability guarantees that finance needs.鈥� (, which raised a $45 million Series B in January and is building an AI assistant for financial advisers, is one of those companies.)

鈥淛ust in the last few months, agents are now actually able to be effective in many processing tasks, but the stakes in finance are too high for LLMs to conquer financial workflows alone,鈥� Gerety said. 鈥淔inance runs on trust, not probability.鈥�

Looking ahead, he said QED remains bullish on fintech overall for the year. Part of the excitement is around the fact that larger companies are 鈥渢ransforming鈥� their operations with agentic workflows, Gerety noted.

鈥淢ore and more transformation is moving from the 鈥榗o-pilot鈥� phase, and we鈥檙e moving into the ‘OpenClaw’ phase, when reasoning agents will start to actually do all the work that was too tedious and slow to be done manually,鈥� he added.

The geopolitical situation will likely hinder some companies from taking the IPO plunge, in Gerety鈥檚 view, although a few companies in QED鈥檚 portfolios are 鈥渂ubbling.鈥�

, partner at , said his firm is on track to make eight to 10 core investments in Seed or Series A companies this year 鈥� about the same number as in previous years.

鈥淲e鈥檙e investing in AI-enabled applications while maintaining patience and focus in our deployment of capital,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e look for durable, enduring businesses that we believe will withstand the current hype cycle and investment frenzy.鈥�

While TTV is investing in AI-enabled companies, Kapur said it also agrees with that 鈥渁n AI reset is coming.鈥�

鈥淢any investors have already made their money by getting in on the ground floor, and others are trying to replicate their success,鈥� he told 附近上门 News. 鈥淲e鈥檙e focused on investing in the application layer of AI, and we鈥檙e still in the early days with more widespread prosperity and a democratization of enterprise value creation yet to come.鈥�

In particular, TTV sees the biggest opportunity in early-stage AI-native companies that are solving problems in mission-critical workflows 鈥渨hile building durable moats.鈥�

鈥淭hese platforms will earn the right to be distribution endpoints for financial products 鈥� and are even more valuable in the age of AI,鈥� he said.

He believes we may see some fintech IPOs in 2026, but that they will largely depend on how the potential mega IPOs (from the likes of , and ) perform.

鈥淚f those IPOs underperform, others may opt to stay private longer,鈥� Kapur said.

Looking ahead, he predicts we鈥檒l continue to see accelerated adoption of AI in financial services, first through straightforward applications, then more operationally complex use cases.

鈥淢ore broadly, we鈥檙e watching how the foundational LLMs further move up into the application layer, which is imperative to the long-term sustainability of their business models,鈥� Kapur said. 鈥淲e think financial services and fintech are unique enough categories where de novo startups and standalone businesses will beat platforms building experimental applications.鈥�

Related 附近上门 query:

Related reading:

• Fintech Funding Jumped 27% In 2025 With Fewer Deals But Bigger Checks
• Kalshi Secures $1B To Expand Predictions Market Platform
• Digital Savings Startup Vestwell Lands $385M, Doubles Valuation
• Stablecoin Startup Rain Raises $250M Series C at $1.95B Valuation 鈥� Its Third Round In Less Than A Year
• Exclusive: Zocks Raises $45M Series B From Lightspeed, QED For AI Assistant To Financial Advisers

Illustration:

For perspective, we charted out total investment, color-coded by stage, for the past 12 quarters below.

Of that total, $761 million went into late-stage and growth deals, up 158% compared to the $295 million that flowed into such deals in the first quarter of 2025. It鈥檚 also up 203% compared with the $251 million in late-stage and growth rounds that were raised by LatAm startups in the 2025 fourth quarter.

Table of contents

• Mexico leads
• Fewer deals
• Some big rounds
• Investor POV
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

Mexico leads

Nearly one-third of the total amount raised in the first quarter went to one startup. Mexico City-based , an online used car marketplace, secured a $300 million Series F financing led by and in February.

Notably, mostly due to that outsized round, Mexican startups outperformed their Brazilian counterparts in the first quarter, raising a total of $404 million compared to Brazil鈥檚 $240 million.

Historically, Brazil has been the powerhouse in Latin America for venture capital funding. But it鈥檚 not the first time in recent quarters that Mexico has topped Latin America鈥檚 largest country. Mexico also raised more funding in the second quarter of 2025.

Overall, the first quarter marks only the second time since Q2 2012 that Mexican startups raised more venture capital than their Brazilian counterparts in Latin America, our data indicates.

Fewer deals

Round counts and total dollars raised decreased substantially sequentially and year over year across angel, seed and early stages. Of the $1.03 billion raised by Latin America鈥檚 startups in the first quarter, less than 9% 鈥� or $92 million 鈥� was raised across the angel and seed stages.

That compares to $161 million raised across those stages in the fourth quarter of 2025, and $152 million in the same first quarter last year.

Just over 17%, or $179 million, was raised at early stages, significantly lower than the $690 million raised in the fourth quarter and $472 million in the same period last year.

We expect the Q1 deal counts to rise somewhat over time, however, as seed rounds in particular are commonly reported weeks or months after they close.

Some big rounds

While Kavak鈥檚 round was the largest financing in Latin America in the first quarter, it was not the only nine-figure raise the region saw in Q1.

Argentinian fintech raised $195 million at a $3.2 billion valuation in March in a round led by .

Other large deals that took place in Q1 include:

• Mexico City-based , a financial app built around stablecoins, raised $70 million in a round co-led by and .
• Buenos Aires-based , a payments infrastructure startup, landed a $55 million Series C financing co-led by and.

Notably, the largest rounds included participation from high-profile global funds, including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Sequoia Capital and Insight Partners.

Investor POV

, managing partner of New York-based , said his firm has made more than 60 investments in Latin America since 2022 鈥� steadily increasing its investment pace every year from 11 deals in the region in 2023 to 20 in 2025.

In his view, many of the global investors who began putting more funding into Latin America鈥檚 startups in recent years are still writing checks there. However, he acknowledges that some 鈥渕omentum鈥� investors have slowed down.

Still, 鈥渁lmost all of the long-term smart capital investors have remained very active,鈥� he said.

Last year was 鈥渁ll about stablecoins and fintech infrastructure鈥� for the region. We should expect more of that this year, along with increased AI use across all sectors and strong enterprise growth in Brazil, he told 附近上门 News.

Brazil continues to be Endeavor Catalyst’s top market, but it is watching startups across the region, including in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and even smaller markets such as Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay.

Endeavor Catalyst has reason to be bullish on Latin America. Startups it has backed in the region are among the top performers of the firm鈥檚 portfolio. More than one-third (34%) of its 2026 Outlier class, which comprise roughly the top 10% best performers in its network, are from Latin America, according to Taylor.

, general partner at S茫o Paulo-based seed-stage firm , told 附近上门 News that his firm鈥檚 pace in Latin America has remained constant and 鈥渋ntentionally selective.鈥�

鈥淲e’ve always believed that seed in Latin America works best when you’re deeply involved with a small number of exceptional founders and not try to index the market,鈥� he noted.

But like many other investors, OneVC is also investing at an earlier stage.

鈥淥ne notable shift is that, as founding teams move faster than ever, often reaching product-market signal with leaner teams and AI-native tooling,鈥� Cartolano said, 鈥減re-seed is taking a larger share of our investments, and we expect that to continue being the case for this cycle.鈥�

Like Endeavor Catalyst, Brazil is OneVC鈥檚 primary market. It has a home court advantage, but as Cartolano notes, the country also has a lot going for it including being the largest economy in Latin America, one of the world’s most active early-adopter communities for new technology (, -native commerce, AI), and a regulatory environment 鈥� particularly in financial services 鈥� which in his view 鈥渢hat fosters innovation鈥�

As a secondary focus, interestingly, his firm is tracking an increasing number of strong Latino founders relocating to the United States to build companies.

鈥淲e like that,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey combine deep operational instincts from LatAm with access to the largest addressable market and most liquid exit environment.鈥�

He agrees with Taylor that global interest appears to be renewing in Latin America startups.

鈥淭here is no shortage of capital for the best companies in the region, regardless of the state, and we are seeing some large firms investing in LatAm for the first time or coming back after a long period,鈥� he said.

And while fintech has historically dominated when it comes to venture funding in Latin America, Cartolano said that fintech is now unsurprisingly giving way to AI-first companies that sell services, particularly to enterprises.

鈥淭he broader market is also shifting from consumer-facing models toward B2B, as enterprise companies are more incentivized than ever to adopt new technologies,鈥� he added. 鈥淥neVC is especially focused on GenAI companies that 鈥榮ell work,鈥� replacing headcount and outsourced services with AI-driven delivery at a fraction of the cost.

Related reading:

• In Q2, Mexico Surpasses Brazil In Venture Dollars For First Time In Over A Decade

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of March 31, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

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That, in broad strokes, was the state of startup funding in Q1 of this year, a period characterized by record-setting rounds and investment tallies. The most famous names in AI captured a lion鈥檚 share of funding, drawing in some deep-pocketed backers who are traditionally less active in venture.

This includes the quarter鈥檚 two lead investors in the priciest rounds 鈥� 聽 and . The two co-led mega-financings for both and collectively valued at over $150 billion.

By deal count, meanwhile, the most active post-seed investor was familiar front-runner , while the busiest lead investor was .

To see who else ranked high for deal counts and totals, below we charted out active investors across multiple metrics, including venture, seed and lead investment.

Most active and highest-spending lead investors

We鈥檒l start with lead investors, as these are typically the ones putting the most capital to work.

For Q1, the most active lead investors in post-seed rounds were Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, and . Overall, 19 investors led six or more rounds this past quarter, as charted below.

Of course, the most active lead investors aren鈥檛 always the ones writing the biggest checks. We don鈥檛 have an exact measure for the latter, but we can get a sense by looking at lead investors in rounds with the highest aggregate value.

By this metric, lead investors in the quarter鈥檚 two biggest rounds 鈥� OpenAI鈥檚 record-setting $122 billion financing and Anthropic鈥檚 enormous $30 billion Series G 鈥� rank highest on our list. This includes tech giants and , which took part as strategic investors in the OpenAI round.

Below, we rank the top 26 by total value of Q1 lead investments.

Busiest post-seed investors

As for sheer deal count at post-seed, familiar names once again topped the list. This included investors participating in rounds as both lead- and nonlead backers.

For this category, participated in the highest number of rounds 鈥� 47 in total for Q1. While the storied accelerator is best known as a seed backer, it also racks up deal count at later stages by partaking in follow-on rounds for startups it helped incubate.

The next-busiest post-seed investors for the quarter were Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, and . For a bigger-picture view, below we rank the 18 most active by this metric.

Prolific seed dealmakers

At seed, Y Combinator once again captured the top slot for most active. Next on the list were the regularly featured , and .

Below, we ranked the top 21 busiest seed investors.

Familiar names, unfamiliar sums

Overall, the standout takeaway from the Q1 most active investor rankings isn鈥檛 the names on the list. Most are familiar players in the space, balanced out by a few more sporadic investors lured by the promise of AI.

No, what stands out for Q1 is the size of the deals getting done and the overwhelming concentration of capital around AI. We鈥檒l stay tuned to see if either of these trends lets up or further intensifies in coming months.

Related reading:

• Q1 2026 Shatters Venture Funding Records As AI Boom Pushes Startup Investment To $300B聽

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U.S. and Canadian companies secured a staggering $252.6 billion in seed- through growth-stage funding rounds per 附近上门 data. That鈥檚 more than 3x the total raised in the prior quarter, and the largest quarterly total of all time.

Predictably, artificial intelligence was the driver. More than 87% of Q1 investment went to companies in 附近上门 AI-related categories.

To say these are record funding tallies is somewhat of an understatement. It鈥檚 more like Q1 smashed the prior quarterly record 鈥� $95.7 billion 鈥� set in Q3 2021.

Just a single financing for was bigger than the prior quarterly record for all startup funding rounds put together. And the four next-largest financings totaled almost as much as the prior quarter, which at the time we considered a very strong period for startup funding.

So, in summary, it was a lot of money. For a more detailed picture, we drill down more deeply into how that largesse was distributed across stages and sectors. We also take a look at exits for the quarter, including both IPOs and acquisitions.

Table of contents

• AI
• Later stage and technology growth
• Early stage
• Seed
• Exits
• Big picture: A paradigm shift
• Methodology
• Glossary of funding terms

AI

We鈥檒l start with AI, since that鈥檚 where the overwhelming majority of the money went.

A staggering $221 billion went to North American companies in 附近上门 AI-related categories in the first quarter. That鈥檚 about 6x the AI investment total from the prior quarter, which was itself no slacker on this front.

For perspective, we charted out AI-related funding over the past 13 quarters to compare.

A few megarounds for high-profile companies accounted for most of the quarter鈥檚 AI funding, led by OpenAI, , and .

Later stage and technology growth

These same names factor heavily in tallies for late-stage and technology-growth funding, which comprised the vast majority of total startup investment.

Per 附近上门 data, $222.4 billion 鈥� or 88% of all North America startup investment 鈥� went to rounds at these stages. That鈥檚 more than 5x the prior quarter鈥檚 tally, and more than triple year-ago levels.

The gains were driven by bigger deals, not more of them. Later- and growth-stage round counts were actually down a smidge sequentially in Q1. For perspective, below we chart round counts and investment totals at this stage for the past five quarters.

Enormous rounds for AI companies accounted for a majority of the late- and growth-stage totals. The biggest of these was OpenAI鈥檚 record-setting $110 billion February financing led by , and . The generative AI giant topped it off with a raise in March.

Anthropic secured the quarter鈥檚 next-biggest late-stage financing 鈥� a $30 billion February Series G 鈥� followed by xAI, which announced a $20 billion Series E in January. landed another of the quarter鈥檚 very big deals, with a $16 billion February Series D.

Early stage

Early-stage investment was also running high in Q1, albeit not setting records.

Overall, investors put $25.1 billion into deals around Series A and Series B stage in the first quarter. That鈥檚 up 17% from the prior quarter and 56% from year-ago levels. It鈥檚 also the highest quarterly total in over three years, though still below peaks scaled in 2021.

Early-stage round counts, meanwhile, were down a bit, indicating investors鈥� increasingly concentrating their bets among perceived star performers.

As usual, a few jumbo-sized deals significantly boosted the early-stage totals. For Q1, this included four rounds of $500 million or more.

Of these, Austin-based humanoid robotics startup was the biggest fundraiser, pulling in $520 million in a February Series A. Three other companies secured $500 million financings: AI infrastructure developer , semiconductor startup , and industrial robotics-focused .

Seed

Seed-stage investment, meanwhile, did not show an upswing but remained at historically robust levels.

Per 附近上门 data, an estimated $5.1 billion went to seed and pre-seed investments in Q1. That鈥檚 roughly flat with the prior quarter and up a bit from year-ago levels.

Seed round counts declined in Q1, both sequentially and year over year. However, we expect these tallies to rise some over time, along with investment totals, as seed deals commonly get added to the data set weeks after they close.

Exits

Exit activity was fairly staid in comparison to the high-rolling startup fundraising environment.

That said, the IPO market did boast a few sizable startup debuts. Of these, the largest was the January IPO of construction equipment rental marketplace , followed by space tech company , and crypto platform .

Below, we aggregated a list of 12 private, venture-backed companies that carried out IPOs on U.S. exchanges.

Acquirers also announced several large deals to purchase venture-backed private companies.

The priciest planned M&A deal was 鈥檚 agreement to purchase business credit card provider for $5.15 billion. Biotech also delivered some large outcomes, including 鈥檚 planned acquisition of RNA therapeutics startup , and 鈥� purchase of allergy treatment startup .

Below, we put together a list of five of the quarter鈥檚 biggest M&A deals.1

Big picture: A paradigm shift

Having written many of these funding reports over the years, it鈥檚 common for one quarter to quietly blur into another. Not so for Q1 of 2026.

The just-ended quarter cemented a notion that startup insiders have been circling for some time: Private markets now have the capital stores and appetite for ultra-high valuations to rival public markets. For evidence, look no further than OpenAI鈥檚 $122 billion raise at a valuation higher than all but a handful of the largest large-cap technology companies.

IPO enthusiasts may pine for a future period when these most sought-after foundational AI names finally do make it to public markets. But for now, they鈥檝e demonstrated there are plenty of investors willing to shell out billions in private offerings as well.

Related 附近上门 queries:

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from 附近上门, and is based on reported data. Data is as of March 31, 2026.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. 附近上门 converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to 附近上门 long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. 附近上门 also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. 附近上门 includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the 鈥淪eries [Letter]鈥� naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a 鈥渧enture鈥� round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration:

This is a weekly feature that runs down the week鈥檚 top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week鈥檚 biggest funding deal roundup here.

Startup investors kept up the busy dealmaking pace this week with a number of big rounds. Top among them was a $1.75 billion Series D for , developer of autonomous vessels. Other big funding recipients hailed from sectors including fitness wearables, energy tech, cybersecurity and AI infrastructure, among others.

1. , $1.75B, autonomous ships: Austin-based Saronic, a defense tech startup focused on autonomous sea vessels, raised $1.75 billion in Series D funding, bringing total funding to around $2.6 billion. led the round, which set a $9.25 billion valuation for the聽 company, more than double its Series C level in 2025.

2. , $575M, fitness wearables: Whoop, a provider of wearable fitness technology and a subscription platform that tracks physiological data, secured $575 million in Series G funding. led the financing,which set a $10.1 billion valuation for the Boston-based company.

3. , $450M, nuclear energy: El Segundo, California-based nuclear energy startup Valar Atomics, raised fresh capital at a valuation of $2 billion, according to a citing unnamed sources. The financing reportedly included $340 million in equity funding and $110 million in debt.

4. , $300M, battery technology: EnerVenue, a developer of grid-scale energy storage technology, says it closed on a $300 million extension of its Series B preferred round led by . The Fremont, California-based company also appointed a new chief executive officer, Henning Rath.

5. , $250M, cybersecurity: Sarasota, Florida-based AI-enabled cybersecurity startup Tenex picked up $250 million in Series B funding led by . The company said it plans to use the funds to hire more than 250 people and supplying them with AI technology that makes them 鈥渢en times more efficient.鈥�

6. , $200M, micromobility: Also, an electric mobility company spun out of , raised $200 million in a Series C round 鈥媌acked by , , and . The Palo Alto, California-based startup鈥檚 product lineup includes bikes, small autonomous EVs for deliveries, and associated gear.

7. , $170M, space tech: Starcloud, a space infrastructure startup focused on building orbital data centers, secured $170 million in Series A funding led by and . The financing sets a $1.1 billion valuation for the Redmond, Washington-based company, making it the fastest alum to achieve unicorn status after demo day, which was 17 months ago.

8. , $130M, cloud infrastructure: New York-based cloud and AI infrastructure startup ScaleOps landed $130 million in Series C funding. led the financing, which set聽 a valuation of over $800 million for the 4-year-old company.

9. , $100M, biotech: Boulder, Colorado-based Ambrosia Biosciences, a developer of next-generation oral therapeutics for obesity and related cardiometabolic diseases, picked up $100 million in Series B funding led by , and .

10. , $94M, money transfer: OpenFX, provider of a platform to move money across borders, secured $94 million in Series A funding from backers including , , , and .

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the 附近上门 database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of March 28-April 3. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.

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