Current News on Startups and Venture Investments as of July 25, 2026: Record First Half, Deals of the Week in AI Infrastructure and Cybersecurity, Mega Funds, IPO Window, and Key Risks for Venture Investors
The venture market approaches the end of July 2026 in a state that is difficult to describe in one word. Formally, it is the best year in the history of the industry: global venture investments reached a record $510 billion in the first half of the year, surpassing the entire volume of 2025 ($440 billion) and the previous half-year peak from the second half of 2021. In reality, however, the market has become noticeably narrower: capital is concentrated in a limited number of companies, stages, and sectors, while the number of deals is growing much slower than the size of the checks. For venture investors and funds, this means a shift in the very nature of the asset class—from diversified portfolio risk to a concentrated bet on AI infrastructure.
Main Points as of Saturday Morning, July 25, 2026
- Record First Half. $510 billion in global venture investments in H1 2026: $305 billion in Q1 and $205 billion in Q2 with over 5,000 funded startups.
- Extreme Concentration. OpenAI and Anthropic together attracted $217 billion—43% of total global venture capital in the half-year.
- AI Dominance. More than 70% of global venture capital in Q2 went to AI startups, compared to around 50% a year earlier.
- Return of Exits. In Q2, 32 companies went public with valuations over $1 billion, and 24 M&A deals closed worth $1 billion or more, totaling $113 billion—a record for all time.
- Mega Funds Capture LP Capital. The 16 largest funds accounted for nearly 70% of the $72.4 billion raised by the venture industry in the first half of the year.
- Deals of the Week. Etched ($300 million), Humanoid ($152 million), Glow ($180 million), Cathedral ($160 million), CuspAI ($450 million)—AI silicon, physical AI, cybersecurity, and defense technologies.
Record First Half: New Math of the Venture Market
Data from Crunchbase and PitchBook-NVCA describe the same phenomenon from different perspectives. In the U.S., venture investments in H1 2026 totaled $412.7 billion—almost 30% more than the entire 2025 year, with $355.9 billion, or 86% of every dollar, directed towards AI-related companies. Over 81% of American venture capital was invested in rounds of $100 million or more.
The key takeaway for managers: record amounts are driven not by funnel expansion but by larger checks. The number of deals has not increased significantly. The median pre-money valuation of AI companies in Series D+ stages at the beginning of the year reached $4.7 billion—around four times higher than comparable non-AI projects—while the median size of late-stage rounds approached $190 million. Late-stage financing in Q2 grew by 141% year-on-year: capital favors already proven leaders rather than new categories.
Capital Concentration: A Market of Two Companies
The key structural feature of 2026 is unprecedented concentration. Anthropic, after raising $65 billion in Q2, surpassed SpaceX to become the world's most valuable private company, nearing a valuation of $1 trillion. OpenAI closed a round in March at a valuation of around $852 billion. In Q1, the five largest deals in the U.S.—OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Waymo, and Databricks—accounted for approximately 73% of all venture investments in the country.
For LPs, this creates an obvious problem: diversification at the fund level no longer guarantees diversification at the exposure level. If 43% of semi-annual global capital is in two cap tables, the correlation of portfolios sharply increases. Hence, there is a rapidly growing demand for co-investment rights, secondary deals, and structured access instruments to "hot" names.
Deals of the Week: AI Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Physical AI
The last trading days of the week confirmed the industry's market priorities:
- Etched — $300 million, Series C. Developer of specialized chips for inference; among the investors are Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Jane Street, and SK hynix. A bet on the economics of model outputs rather than universal flexibility.
- CuspAI — $450 million, Series B. A British company in AI for discovering new materials, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, NEA, Bezos Expeditions, AMD Ventures, and U.K. state capital.
- Humanoid — $152 million, Series A at $1.35 billion valuation. London-based developer of humanoid robots, the first specialized "unicorn" in Europe in this segment; in the syndicate are Bosch and Schaeffler.
- Glow — $180 million, Series A. Cybersecurity, Palo Alto; Sequoia, Cyberstarts, Greenoaks, Index Ventures, Redpoint.
- Cathedral — $160 million at $1.4 billion valuation. Military AI cybersecurity applications; the round was led by a16z and Sequoia.
- Neo — $100 million. Exit from stealth mode by a team of former SentinelOne executives; protection of agent systems within the corporate perimeter.
- Wonder — $650 million, Series D. Food tech and robotics, New York; entry of public managers, including ARK Invest, as preparation for a stock market debut.
What Unites These Rounds
Capital is flowing into the "control layer" of AI—silicon, computing power, security for agent systems, and industrial automation—rather than presentation layers. Earlier in July, the same logic was confirmed by Together AI ($800 million at an $8.3 billion valuation), the first closing of Series F at SambaNova for $1 billion, Proxima Fusion (€411 million), and Quantum Systems ($1.2 billion with participation from Blackstone and Airbus).
Fundraising Climate: Mega Funds vs. Emerging Managers
The LP market remains tough. Of the $72.4 billion raised by the U.S. venture industry in the first half of the year, about 70% went to 16 mega funds. In Q1, five managers accounted for 73.1% of all capital. Liquidity among institutional investors has only partially recovered, so funds are flowing into brands with proven access to deals. For new managers, this implies a need for either narrow industry specialization or aggressive co-investment offers.
Exits: IPO Window Open, but Selectively
For the first time since 2021, the exit market has caught up with the funding market. SpaceX's public offering became the largest IPO in history, raising $75 billion, and shares closed on debut day with a growth of around 19%; Cerebras Systems and Quantinuum followed in volume. Nasdaq reported $129.3 billion raised by new listings in the first half of the year, with the average gain of technology stocks on the first trading day being 44.5%.
However, the statistics reflect selectivity: out of 192 U.S. IPOs in the first half, 118 were SPACs and only 74 were traditional offerings, which is fewer than a year earlier. The total valuation of the tech IPO pipeline reached $2.1 trillion as of July 22. On the waiting list are Anthropic (a confidential application was submitted in June, with a placement expected in the fall), Lambda, Plaid, and several fintech companies. Concurrently, strategic M&A is reviving: SpaceX acquired Cursor in a fully stock deal worth $60 billion.
Geography: The U.S. Remains the Core, Europe is Returning
- U.S. Approximately 88% of global AI capital is attributed to American companies; however, the share of the U.S. in the total volume of Q2 declined from 83% to 66-67%.
- Europe. The strongest venture quarter in four years, bolstered by the U.K, steady M&A activity; deep tech and defense technologies are the main points of attraction.
- Asia. Large rounds in China (notably, about $3 billion for Kling AI at an $18 billion valuation), Singapore's rise as a hub for robotics and data for physical AI.
- Middle East. Sovereign and corporate capital from the region increasingly acts as lead investors in global AI infrastructure deals.
Russia and CIS: Local Context
The Russian venture ecosystem is developing according to its own logic: the bulk of deals are formed by corporate funds, regional support programs, and syndicates of business angels, while access tools for private investors include venture ZPIFs, crowdfunding platforms, and digital financial assets. Industry platforms—from the Russian Venture Forum to regional investment intensives—remain key channels for deal flow. The global agenda is translated into the local context through one overarching question: where in the AI value chain do local teams have a defendable advantage?
Risks: What Should Concern Investors
- Concentration Risk. The fate of returns for entire vintages of funds depends on a few cap tables.
- Valuation vs. Revenue Gap. The premium of AI companies over comparable assets reaches four times the amount in late stages.
- Dependence on Hyper-scaler Capex. Projected capital expenditures of around $700 billion in 2026 are a foundation for demand but also a point of vulnerability.
- Funding Shortage for Mid-Stages. Rounds between Series A and mega checks remain the most challenging to attract.
- Quality of Exits. High gains on the first trading day do not guarantee sustainable returns after debut.
Conclusions for Venture Investors and Funds
As of late July 2026, the market rewards conviction and penalizes diffusion. Capital is available, but it is targeted: AI infrastructure, security for agent systems, defense technologies, physical AI, and energy for data centers are in focus. A strategically sound position would combine targeted bets in the "control layer" of the tech stack with disciplined valuation practices, active engagement in the secondary market for liquidity management, and sober scenario analysis in case of multiplier compression. The record first half is not a signal for relaxation but a reminder that in a concentrated market, the cost of error in deal selection is higher than in any previous cycle.
