PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor

The PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, produced by NVCA and PitchBook, is the authoritative quarterly report on venture capital activity in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

What’s new: U.S. venture investment reached record levels through September, but record investment tells only part of the story. Activity was driven largely by AI and a handful of outsized rounds. The Q3 2026 data reveal how concentrated that activity has become, with AI accounting for 82.7% of deal value.

Beyond investment, fundraising and exits show a more constrained market. Capital commitments flowed primarily to large, established managers, while emerging and midsize firms faced a difficult fundraising environment. Limited exit opportunities continued to restrict the return of capital to investors. Showing that the headline totals mask a more uneven market for companies seeking capital and investors raising their next funds.

  • Record venture investment: U.S. VC deal value reached $515.8 billion through Q3, roughly 44% above the previous full-year record set in 2021. Third-quarter investment totaled $98.4 billion across an estimated 5,012 deals.
  • AI’s continued prominence: AI companies accounted for 82.7% of venture deal value through September, the highest annual share in the report’s dataset.
  • Concentrated fundraising: U.S. venture funds raised $108.5 billion through Q3. Funds of $500 million or more captured 78.1% of that capital while representing just 6.0% of funds closed.
  • Pressure on emerging managers: Firms raising their fourth fund or later captured 88.2% of U.S. VC fundraising dollars through Q3, while first-time funds captured approximately 4.5%. Just 81 first-time funds closed, putting their annual count on pace for its lowest level in a decade.
  • Persistent liquidity constraints: Just 18 companies went public in Q3, while 992 active unicorns held a combined valuation of $5.7 trillion. Record investment has yet to translate into a broad recovery across fundraising and exits.

Learn more about fundraising, investments, exits, and other relevant industry information:

Contact information:

Special thanks to NVCA’s official data provider, PitchBook.