OpenAI, Anthropic, and Waymo led a record-smashing surge in global startup funding in February, as venture investments reached $189 billion, Crunchbase reported.

The company behind ChatGPT raised $110 billion, while rival Anthropic secured $30 billion, and Alphabet's self-driving vehicle division pulled in $16 billion, totaling $156 billion or 83% of the global venture capital raised last month, according to the report.

VC Funding Surges 780% Year-On-Year

Venture investments were up nearly 780% year-over-year from 21.5 billion in February 2025, the report added. 

Interestingly, the record month for startup funding came amid a sell-off in software-as-a-service (SaaS) and data-provider stocks. Some of the top private equity CEOs have addressed what many call the “SaaS apocalypse” as investors relayed their concerns regarding the stock slump.

Other companies that raised $1 billion or more each include Tokyo-based semiconductor manufacturer Rapidus, London-based self-driving platform Wayve, San Francisco-based AI-for-robotics company World Labs, and Cerebras Systems, a California-based AI semiconductor company, according to Crunchbase.

These funding rounds were led by corporate, private equity, and alternatives investors, as well as a government agency and a few multi-stage venture investors, the report added.

AI Names Continue To Dominate

AI-related startups raised $171 billion last month, or 90% of global venture funding. Other sectors included hardware-related start-ups dominated by autonomous-vehicle technology, semiconductors, robotics, and networking products.

Public and private markets sectors have begun the year on very different trajectories. Public-market volatility and uncertainty have stalled the IPO momentum seen in 2025. Liftoff, a mobile marketing firm, and Clear Street, a fintech brokerage, both withdrew their IPO filings last month.

Private markets, on the other hand, are seeing a hot streak, with global venture funding already hitting 50% of the total invested in 2025.

The dominance of AI names in venture funding continues the trend that was in place during the fourth quarter of 2025. In the three months through December, AI continued to lead VC investment trends in the US, with the top eight deals together accounting for over $32 billion in investment, according to KPMG.

Anthropic raised the largest funding round of the fourth quarter at $15 billion, while Project Prometheus raised $6.2 billion. Anysphere and Reflection AI raised $2.3 billion and $2 billion, respectively.

Last year, many venture capital investors in the U.S. adopted a cautious approach. Rather than aggressively pursuing new deals, they focused on late-stage investments or held back capital to shore up existing portfolio companies. This strategy was largely driven by continued uncertainty in the market and the persistent risk of delayed exits, prompting VCs to prioritize stability and risk mitigation over rapid expansion.

In 2026, venture capital investments in the U.S. are expected to remain strong, according to KPMG.

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