AI Dominates VC: 87.5% of US Venture Dollars to AI Megadeals

For the first half of this year, 87.5% of all U.S. venture dollars went to AI megadeals. What's interesting is that non-AI companies at the median saw valuation step-ups of 1.6 times, while for AI, that figure was 2.2 times. At Series D and later stages, the gulf becomes even wider, with AI seeing a 6.6 times increase. Emily Zheng, a PitchBook senior research analyst, noted that the median velocity of value creation at that stage jumped from $108.9 million in 2025 to over $1 billion in 2026 for AI companies. This is nearly a 10-fold increase. Top AI companies like Anthropic are driving this growth, with its valuation growing 5.3 times in just eight months. Acquisitions show some promise, with 2026 acquisition value reaching $375.4 billion, a decade high. However, results vary significantly. For instance, Capital One's $5.2 billion Brex deal was a serious haircut from Brex's peak $12.3 billion valuation. The bottom line is that the winners in the venture market are bigger than ever, largely due to AI. This means if a company isn't in AI, securing strong funding terms is becoming increasingly difficult.