Q1 2026 Global Venture Capital: AI Pushes Investments to Record High (German Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVK))

Summary

• Exit volume reached $414bn in Q1, heavily impacted by xAI's internal acquisition by SpaceX for $250bn.p.2
• AI companies attracted $226bn in funding in Q1 2026, representing 79% of total investments.p.2
• European investments rose 8% to $22.0bn and Germany rose 50% to $3.0bn, but Europe's global VC share is only 7.8%.p.2
• The number of active investors fell to 10,000 globally, a 10% decrease from the previous quarter and the lowest level since 2020.p.4
• Median global Series D+ valuations rose from $713.3m to $1.8bn quarter over quarter, and Series A valuations from $41.2m to $56.6m.p.6
• The authors are confident that global venture capital investment will reach above $500bn in 2026, with around $700bn feasible.p.10

Key insights

1. Total funding reached approximately $285.5bn, the highest quarterly volume on record.p.3
2. Beyond OpenAI's $122bn, AI funding was driven by Anthropic ($30bn) and xAI ($7.5bn).p.3
3. Venture capital funds remain the dominant capital source globally, with a share of total investments of around 32%.p.4
4. OpenAI raised $122bn at an $840bn valuation, Waymo $16bn at a $126bn valuation and Anthropic $30bn at a $380bn valuation.p.6
5. PayPay debuted at a valuation exceeding $12bn and Alphabet closed its $32bn acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz.p.6
6. In Europe, the United Kingdom led with $8.6bn in funding and France reached $3.2bn.p.7
7. Late-stage financing continues to be the primary bottleneck for scaling European companies.p.7
8. The German Special Fund for Infrastructure and Climate Neutrality provides EUR 500 billion over 12 years.p.9
9. The authors forecast the European VC market growing to $100bn in annual investments within 2-3 years, reaching a 16-18% global share.p.10