US venture deal value hits record $515.8B in 2026

U.S. venture capital deal value reached $515.8 billion in the first nine months of 2026, 44% above the previous annual record, driven largely by massive AI rounds from OpenAI and Anthropic, which together raised over $200 billion. AI accounted for a record 82.7% of year-to-date deal value. However, exits have not kept pace. One transaction, SpaceX's $60 billion acquisition of Anysphere, accounted for 53% of third-quarter exit value alone. The unicorn count hit a record 992, and companies selling are often doing so at steep discounts to their last private valuations.