AI startups announced 951 funding rounds of $50M or more from January to September 2026, worth $523.0B in total. That is 93.1% of all the disclosed money raised by AI startups in those nine months. In the same months of 2025 there were 664 rounds of that size, worth $173.1B, and in 2024 there were 501, worth $103.6B.
Thirty-six of this year’s rounds were $1B or more. They are listed below, from OpenAI’s $122B round in March down to six rounds of about $1B, and together they come to about $311B. The rest of this page looks at the 951 rounds as a group: how big they were, what the companies build and where they are based.
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The AI startups that raised $1B or more in 2026
Equity rounds of $1B or more announced by AI startups from January to September 2026, ranked by size. Rounds of the same size are listed by announcement date. “Reported” means the company has not confirmed the amount. Rounds given as “more than” or “up to” a figure are ranked on that figure, and Mistral AI’s euro round shows a dollar equivalent. The last column names the lead investors, or the main ones where a round had many co-leads. Moonshot AI, Anthropic and Cognition each appear twice because each closed two separate rounds.
| # | Company | What it builds | Country | Announced | Round size | Led by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenAI | ChatGPT and GPT models | US | Mar 2026 | $122B | Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank |
| 2 | Anthropic (Series H) | Claude models | US | May 2026 | $65B | Altimeter, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, Sequoia Capital |
| 3 | Anthropic (Series G) | Claude models | US | Feb 2026 | $30B | GIC, Coatue |
| 4 | xAI | Grok models | US | Jan 2026 | $20B | Not disclosed |
| 5 | Project Prometheus | AI for engineering and manufacturing | US | Jun 2026 | $12B (reported) | Not disclosed |
| 6 | Anduril | Autonomous defense systems | US | May 2026 | $5B | Thrive Capital, Andreessen Horowitz |
| 7 | Safe Superintelligence | Frontier AI research lab | US | Jul 2026 | $5B (reported) | Nvidia |
| 8 | Databricks | Data and AI platform | US | Aug 2026 | $5B (reported) | Coatue (reported) |
| 9 | Crusoe | AI data centers and cloud | US | Sep 2026 | $3.9B | Atreides, Mubadala Capital, Valor Equity Partners |
| 10 | Moonshot AI | Kimi models | China | Jul 2026 | $3.5B (reported) | National AI Industry Investment Fund (reported) |
| 11 | Mistral AI | Open and commercial AI models | France | Sep 2026 | €3B (about $3.5B) | Samsung Electronics, with Scaleup Europe Fund and PSG Equity |
| 12 | Isomorphic Labs | AI drug design | UK | May 2026 | $2.1B | Thrive Capital |
| 13 | Nscale | AI cloud and data centers | UK | Mar 2026 | $2B | Aker, 8090 Industries |
| 14 | Moonshot AI | Kimi models | China | May 2026 | $2B (reported) | Long-Z Investments (reported) |
| 15 | Firmus | AI data centers and GPU cloud | Australia | Aug 2026 | $2B | Not disclosed |
| 16 | Cognition | Devin AI software engineer | US | Sep 2026 | More than $2B | Andreessen Horowitz, Accel |
| 17 | Helsing | Defense AI and drones | Germany | Jul 2026 | $1.8B | Not disclosed |
| 18 | Saronic | Autonomous naval vessels | US | Mar 2026 | $1.75B | Kleiner Perkins |
| 19 | Atoms | Robots for food, mining and transport | US | Jul 2026 | $1.7B (reported) | Andreessen Horowitz |
| 20 | Fireworks AI | Runs open AI models for companies | US | Jul 2026 | $1.505B | Atreides, Index Ventures, TCV |
| 21 | Shield AI | Autonomy software and drones | US | Mar 2026 | $1.5B | Advent International, JPMorganChase |
| 22 | Baseten | Runs AI models for other companies | US | Jun 2026 | $1.5B | Altimeter, Conviction, Spark Capital, Sands Capital, Wellington Management |
| 23 | Fluidstack | AI computing capacity | US | Sep 2026 | $1.5B (reported) | Jane Street (reported) |
| 24 | Skild AI | Robot foundation models | US | Jan 2026 | $1.4B | SoftBank |
| 25 | NEURA Robotics | Humanoid and cognitive robots | Germany | Jun 2026 | Up to $1.4B | Tether |
| 26 | Wayve | AI for self-driving cars | UK | Feb 2026 | $1.2B | Eclipse, Balderton, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 |
| 27 | Quantum Systems | Autonomous drones | Germany | Jul 2026 | $1.2B | Blackstone, Noteus, Airbus, Advent |
| 28 | Ineffable Intelligence | Reinforcement learning research lab | UK | Apr 2026 | $1.1B | Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed |
| 29 | River AI | Custom open models for companies | US | Aug 2026 | $1.1B (reported) | General Catalyst, AMP PBC |
| 30 | AMI Labs | World models | France | Mar 2026 | $1.03B | Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital, HV Capital, Bezos Expeditions |
| 31 | Cerebras Systems | Very large chips for AI | US | Feb 2026 | $1B | Tiger Global |
| 32 | World Labs | 3D world models | US | Feb 2026 | $1B | Not disclosed |
| 33 | Cognition | Devin AI software engineer | US | May 2026 | More than $1B | Lux Capital, General Catalyst, 8VC |
| 34 | SambaNova | AI inference chips | US | Jul 2026 | $1B | General Atlantic |
| 35 | Poolside | Coding models | US | Aug 2026 | $1B (reported) | Nvidia |
| 36 | Instinct | Personal AI agent | US | Sep 2026 | $1B | Not disclosed |
Two of the rows are single-investor deals from Nvidia that came with wider partnerships. Nvidia’s reported $5B in Safe Superintelligence was announced alongside a long-term partnership whose terms were not disclosed, and its reported $1B in Poolside came with a separate licensing deal for Poolside’s coding models.
A few large deals are left out on purpose. Waymo’s $16B round in February is not counted because Waymo is majority-owned by Alphabet, which reportedly put in most of the money. Databricks’ $5B Series L close in February finished a round first announced in December 2025. DeepSeek’s reported first outside round, of about CNY 50B, is left out because most investors reportedly put their money into a partnership controlled by founder Liang Wenfeng and the company has not confirmed the figures. Reflection AI and StepFun were each reported to be raising about $2.5B, but neither has confirmed a close. Debt is left out too, such as Nscale’s $1.4B loan backed by its GPUs and its $3.36B of convertible notes, which turn into shares when it goes public. So is VAST Data’s roughly $1B Series F, about half of which reportedly went to existing shareholders selling shares (Quantum Systems’ round, which is included, had only a small share sale), and money raised by units of listed companies, such as Kuaishou’s video generator Kling AI.
Model makers took most of the money
Thirteen of the 36 rounds went to companies that build AI models, and they raised about $256B, roughly four-fifths of the total. OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI alone account for $237B across four rounds. The others are Safe Superintelligence, Moonshot AI (twice), Mistral AI, Poolside, and four research labs that are only months or a couple of years old: Ineffable Intelligence, founded by David Silver; AMI Labs, founded by Yann LeCun; World Labs, founded by Fei-Fei Li; and River AI, founded by former xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin.
Eight rounds paid for the computing that AI runs on. Crusoe, Nscale, Firmus and Fluidstack build data centers or rent out GPU capacity. Fireworks AI and Baseten run models for other companies, and Cerebras and SambaNova design chips for running models. Five rounds went to defense companies that build autonomous systems: Anduril, Helsing, Saronic, Shield AI and Quantum Systems. Four went to robots and self-driving: Skild AI, NEURA Robotics, Wayve and Atoms, the robotics company Travis Kalanick built from the owner of CloudKitchens. Cognition raised twice, a $1B-plus Series D in May and a $2B-plus Series E in September. Databricks and Instinct, which makes a personal assistant you reach by text or phone, complete the software group. Isomorphic Labs, which designs drugs with AI, and Project Prometheus, which builds AI for engineering and manufacturing, are the last two.
Twenty-four of the 36 rounds went to companies based in the United States, four to the United Kingdom, three to Germany, two each to China and France, and one to Australia. Sixteen of the rounds were announced from July to September, against eleven in the first quarter and nine in the second.
The middle of the market grew too
The biggest rounds grew fastest. From January to September 2026 there were 114 AI rounds of $500M or more, against 42 in the same months of 2025, and 140 rounds of $250M to $499M, against 60. Rounds of $100M to $249M rose from 231 to 332. The smallest band, $50M to $99M, grew least, from 331 to 365.
Below the $500M line there were 837 rounds worth $117.8B, up from 622 rounds and $72.7B a year earlier. The median round in that range was $100M. Across all 951 rounds of $50M or more, the median was about $112M, against $100M in each of the two previous years. Series B was the most common label (224 rounds), followed by Series C (164) and Series A (134). For the biggest deals in detail, see AI mega-rounds of 2026, and for the earlier stages, the largest AI Series B rounds and the 30 largest AI Series A rounds of the year.
Which sectors raised $50M or more
AI infrastructure and developer tools had the most rounds of $50M or more, 241, followed by manufacturing and industrial companies, a group that includes most robotics makers, with 188. Finance (126) and health and biotech (125) came next. Energy, cybersecurity, defense and transport each had between 58 and 73. Some companies work in two sectors and appear under both, so the sector numbers add up to more than 951.
By country, 593 of the 951 rounds (62.4%) went to companies based in the United States. The United Kingdom had 70, China 63, India 28, Israel 24 and Germany 20. For robotics companies at every stage, see the top AI robotics startups; for the companies valued at $1B or more, see the AI unicorn list for 2026.
Frequently asked questions
How many AI startups raised $50M or more in 2026?
AI startups announced 951 rounds of $50M or more from January to September 2026, worth $523.0B. A few companies raised more than once, so the number of companies is slightly lower than the number of rounds.
Which AI startup raised the most money in 2026?
OpenAI. It first announced a $110B round in February and closed it at $122B on 31 March, at an $852B valuation, with Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank the largest investors. Anthropic is second, with a $65B Series H in May at a $965B valuation, after a $30B Series G in February.
How many AI rounds of $1B or more were there in 2026?
Thirty-six equity rounds of $1B or more by AI startups were announced from January to September 2026, worth about $311B. Twenty-eight of them were under $5B and together raised about $47B.
How does 2026 compare with 2025?
From January to September 2026 there were 951 AI rounds of $50M or more, worth $523.0B, against 664 rounds worth $173.1B in the same months of 2025. Rounds of $500M or more went from 42 to 114. For the full 2025 picture, see AI startup funding statistics for 2025.
Who invests in these rounds?
Andreessen Horowitz led or co-led three of the 36 rounds of $1B or more: Anduril, Atoms and Cognition’s Series E. SoftBank and Nvidia appear three times each among the leads or largest investors: SoftBank in OpenAI, Skild AI and Wayve (through its Vision Fund 2), and Nvidia in OpenAI, Safe Superintelligence and Poolside. Thrive Capital led two, Isomorphic Labs and, with Andreessen Horowitz, Anduril. For the firms behind the most AI rounds at every stage, see the most active AI investors.
About the author
Editorial Staff
The Editorial Staff at Bot Memo is a team of writers, analysts, and AI agents dedicated to mapping the global AI startup ecosystem. Led by Chintan Zalani, the team tracks thousands of funding rounds, classifies companies across verticals, and distills it all into actionable intelligence for investors and founders.
