Editor’s note: Part of our 2026 forecast series including IPO market and startup M&A outlooks. In 2025, venture funding surged to the third highest on record, driven largely by AI, with $205 billion raised by midyear and the largest rounds ever, including $40 billion for OpenAI and $14.3 billion for Scale AI. Looking ahead to 2026, top venture capitalists expect a 10-25% increase in total venture dollars deployed, concentrated mainly on growth-stage AI companies with larger rounds while early stages hold steady or see some cooling. AI-related sectors—specifically foundation models, agentic infrastructure, and vertical AI—are projected to dominate investment share, while legacy SaaS and some climate tech sectors may decline. Capital will increasingly flow to ventures deeply embedded in AI technology rather than superficial AI wrappers. Liquidity events, including IPOs and M&A, are predicted to rise modestly as investors prioritize revenue growth and operational efficiency in funding decisions. Venture fundraising is expected to remain strong, with a preference for funds specializing in AI and domain expertise. Overall, 2026 is expected to reward startups with genuine AI innovation and robust fundamentals.

Each year, some startups achieve ultra-high valuations and secure significant funding rounds with remarkable speed. In 2025, 46 companies founded within the last three years reached or maintained unicorn status and raised fresh capital, collectively attracting nearly $39 billion in investments according to Crunchbase data. The majority—36 out of 46—are focused on AI, highlighting the sector's dominant role in this boom. Notable examples include xAI, founded by Elon Musk less than three years ago and now valued at over $12 billion raised in venture funding; Mistral AI, a Paris-based generative AI firm with a $14 billion valuation; and Safe Superintelligence, launched by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, which has raised $3 billion in just 18 months.

This trend underscores a rising pattern: young startups are attracting record-breaking megarounds, surpassing $115 billion in funding rounds of $100 million or more in 2025 alone, beating previous peaks. Although generative AI companies lead the funding rush, sectors like robotics, energy technology, and cloud backup are also drawing substantial investments. This reflects venture capitalists’ strategy of betting early and generously on the most promising founders and innovations. While not all investments will succeed, some startups are poised to become major players in their industries.

This year has been a rollercoaster for cleantech investment. While the broader economic landscape shows strong support—with global clean technology spending set to reach $2.2 trillion and venture capital at an all-time high—actual funding for cleantech startups took a hit, falling to the lowest point in five years with just over $24 billion invested. The year started slowly, partly due to political uncertainties affecting U.S. policies, but investment picked up in the later quarters.

Despite a sluggish start, several sectors drew significant funding, notably nuclear power (both fusion and fission), geothermal energy, energy storage, and electric aviation. Some major funding rounds include Base Power’s $1.2 billion for residential battery backup and Commonwealth Fusion’s $863 million toward commercializing fusion energy. While battery investments slowed somewhat, companies focused on innovative battery storage and recycling still secured substantial backing.

The year’s end shows promise, with investment momentum climbing, highlighting optimism for the cleantech sector’s future amid growing environmental urgency and advancing technology demands.

Seed funding in 2025 showed its usual volatility but stood out for very large rounds, booming AI investments, and the US capturing a major share. Nearly 700 seed-stage rounds of $10 million+ were backed, marking a new record, including several rounds exceeding $100 million. Notably, Thinking Machines Lab raised a $2 billion seed round, setting an all-time high. AI startups attracted over 42% of global seed funding, up from 30% in 2024, totaling more than $15 billion. Meanwhile, US startups secured nearly $18 billion, about half of all global seed investments — the largest share in years. This trend reflects an evolving seed landscape where huge capital bets replace small initial wagers, focusing on startups with strong potential for big returns.

Coverbase, a San Francisco-based AI procurement platform established in 2024, has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Canapi Ventures. The startup revolutionizes vendor onboarding by integrating AI to enhance security and compliance for large enterprises across highly regulated sectors such as finance, healthcare, and technology. With notable customers including Coinbase, Okta, Nationwide, and the Navy Federal Credit Union, Coverbase automates risk and compliance decisions throughout procurement, accelerating vendor onboarding processes while mitigating security risks. The company’s co-founders, Clarence Chio and Kao Zi Chong, bring strong industry experience, having previously worked with fintech and fraud prevention technologies. Coverbase plans to allocate funds towards expanding contract management capabilities and boosting its sales team amidst rapid customer growth.

Pukar C. Hamal discusses a transformative shift in venture capital investment where the focus has moved from funding companies solely based on product and growth to acquiring top executives who have experience building AI systems at leading tech firms like Google, OpenAI, and Meta. Companies are paying exorbitant amounts for these executives, reflecting their critical role in navigating the complexities of AI development and deployment. This trend signals a new era where executive judgment becomes the scarce and most valuable resource, outweighing traditional metrics such as team size or revenue. Hamal highlights that while not all founders can compete with multimillion-dollar offers for star AI talent, an effective strategy is to target experienced operators who have implemented AI at scale in large enterprises instead of front-line builders. The piece emphasizes a dual path for startups: either compete for high-priced frontier AI executives or build asymmetrically by leveraging enterprise AI operators and advisory networks. Ultimately, venture capital is evolving from purely growth funding into a talent acquisition powerhouse, permanently reshaping how startups and AI innovation prosper.

Jeff Bezos is set to co-lead a new AI startup, Project Prometheus, which focuses on applying artificial intelligence to physical engineering and manufacturing tasks across various industries such as aerospace, computers, and automobiles. The startup has secured $6.2 billion in funding, partly contributed by Bezos, and is headed alongside co-CEO Vik Bajaj, known for his leadership roles in biotech and at Google's moonshot lab, X. Project Prometheus has already assembled a diverse team of nearly 100 employees, including researchers from top AI labs like OpenAI and Meta. The startup’s innovations could support space exploration efforts by Blue Origin, Bezos’s spaceflight company. Bezos has a rich history of venture investments and recent entrepreneurial activities since stepping down from Amazon CEO in 2021.

By Jonathan Kron
Healthcare AI investment is booming, with $10.7 billion invested this year alone, 24% more than last year. However, startup adoption lags due to healthcare's regulatory cycles, contrasting the rapid growth expectations of investors. According to Bessemer Venture Partners, only 30% of health AI projects reach production, highlighting a gap between venture speed and system absorption. Founders pressured by short-term gains prioritize momentum over clinical integration, often building features to attract funding rather than real adoption, resulting in high costs with little systemic change. The crux lies in mismatched timelines; healthcare values trust, validation, and interoperability, which take years to develop and deliver compounded value unlike consumer tech's speed advantage. Success in healthcare AI depends on truly integrating with clinicians, understanding compliance, data standards, and workflows, and focusing on clinical problems rather than hype. The "AI wellness" sector enjoys quick growth but lacks validation, whereas "AI clinical" solutions progress slower but provide lasting impact and defensible value. For lasting success, founders must align with knowledgeable investors who value patient capital, build solutions for adoption over hype, and prioritize regulatory compliance and clinical outcomes. Patient investors backing integration-oriented companies with long-term vision will ultimately shape the foundational platforms for global health systems. Jonathan Kron, CEO of BloodGPT, advocates for this patient approach to healthcare AI investing, emphasizing that transformative impact and sustained returns require time and trust.

Coding automation platform Cursor announced a $2.3 billion Series D funding round, reaching a $29.3 billion valuation—over triple its valuation six months ago. Founded in 2022 and based in San Francisco, Cursor now has a 300+ team and over $1 billion in annualized revenue, aiming to expand further. This surge reflects growing investor enthusiasm for AI-enabled coding startups. Other notable fundraisers include Cognition's $400 million round at a $10.2 billion valuation and Replit's $250 million Series C. The sector also sees active M&A, with acquisitions by Cursor's parent Anysphere and Cognition. With these young startups scaling rapidly, IPOs may soon follow.

By Dominik Angerer
While previous years spotlighted flashy tech trends like blockchain and metaverses, 2025 marked a quieter but crucial pivot in technology: the rise of practical, dependable innovations powering real business efficiencies. AI stood at the forefront, not as distant hype but deeply embedded in everyday operations—automating workflows, enhancing customer journeys, and driving smarter decisions. This shift from excitement to habit underscores AI’s evolution toward stability and trust.

A major breakthrough was the emergence of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), addressing AI's integration challenges. MCP enables seamless sharing of context across diverse enterprise systems—transforming isolated AI applications into interconnected intelligent networks. Enterprises adopting MCP benefit from stronger security, better developer tools, and broader ecosystem support, pushing this protocol toward becoming a universal AI integration standard within a couple of years.

Simultaneously, 2025 saw a decisive move away from aging, cumbersome legacy CMSs toward agile, modular, API-first platforms that empower businesses to innovate rapidly and meet evolving customer demands. Solutions like Storyblok’s Strata and FlowMotion demonstrate the power of combining AI with composable architectures to deliver personalized content and automated workflows efficiently.

Beyond technology itself, success now hinges on how tech makes users feel. In a world saturated with complex tools, the winners are those simplifying experiences—delivering clarity, reliability, and empathy. Studies reveal users prefer tech that is easy to use and brings joy, emphasizing that impactful experiences matter more than flashy features.

Dominik Angerer is CEO and co-founder of Storyblok, a pioneering CMS platform trusted by thousands of developers and top global brands, committed to empowering businesses in the AI-driven future.