Key Takeaways
- • Global venture funding totaled $59 billion in October 2026, up 45% year over year, according to Crunchbase data, driven largely by DeepSeek's record $15.9 billion round at a $90 billion valuation.
- • DeepSeek's raise is the largest venture deal ever for a Chinese company and the largest private funding by a Chinese tech company on record, placing it second only to ByteDance among Chinese companies by valuation.
- • U.S. companies raised $28 billion and China-based companies raised $20.6 billion in October, with seven billion-dollar rounds accounting for just over 40% of total global funding.
- • AI-driven companies captured 66% of global venture funding in October, while semiconductor companies gained market share.
- • Anthropic's anticipated November IPO could surpass SpaceX's June listing, which raised $85.7 billion, and could be the largest IPO of all time.
Summary
Global venture funding reached $59 billion in October, a 45% increase from a year earlier, according to Crunchbase data. The total was driven in large part by a $15.9 billion funding round for China's DeepSeek at a valuation of $90 billion. The deal is the largest venture round ever recorded for a Chinese company and the largest private funding by a Chinese tech company on record. It places DeepSeek among the Top 10 most highly funded private companies, makes it the second most valuable Chinese company after ByteDance, and ranks it third among private frontier labs behind the U.S. companies Anthropic and OpenAI.
The bulk of October's activity was concentrated in the two largest startup markets. Companies based in the U.S. raised $28 billion, while companies in China raised $20.6 billion. Per Crunchbase, the last time more than $20 billion was invested in China in a single month was June 2018, when Ant Group raised $14 billion in its Series C round. Seven companies that raised billion-dollar rounds accounted for just over 40% of October's venture funding. Private equity led much of this capital, alongside multistage venture firms including Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and Lux Capital.
Other large rounds included Moonshot AI, a rival Chinese open-source lab reportedly valued at $50 billion, which has reportedly confidentially filed to go public in Hong Kong. Massachusetts-based manufacturing startup Re:Build raised $2.1 billion, the second-largest deal of the month. Axiom raised $2 billion for data center power and grid capacity, spend-management platform Ramp raised $1.85 billion and said its ARR has reached $2 billion, Tenstorrent raised a $1.5 billion Series E, prediction market Kalshi raised a $1 billion Series E, and Flapping Airplanes raised a $1 billion Series A. Eight additional companies raised rounds above $500 million, including TypeSafe AI's $870 million Series A.
AI-driven companies accounted for 66% of global funding in October. On the exit side, the U.S. IPO market was slow ahead of Anthropic's expected November offering. At least nine venture-backed companies were acquired for more than $1 billion in October, including Uber's $2.3 billion acquisition of 19-year-old ezCater. With two months remaining, 2026 has already set records for venture acquisitions, IPOs and funding rounds, though Crunchbase notes that October's data highlighted growing concentration in the cycle. Cohere's targeted $5 billion round, announced in October without a reported close, was excluded from the monthly totals.
The bulk of October's activity was concentrated in the two largest startup markets. Companies based in the U.S. raised $28 billion, while companies in China raised $20.6 billion. Per Crunchbase, the last time more than $20 billion was invested in China in a single month was June 2018, when Ant Group raised $14 billion in its Series C round. Seven companies that raised billion-dollar rounds accounted for just over 40% of October's venture funding. Private equity led much of this capital, alongside multistage venture firms including Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and Lux Capital.
Other large rounds included Moonshot AI, a rival Chinese open-source lab reportedly valued at $50 billion, which has reportedly confidentially filed to go public in Hong Kong. Massachusetts-based manufacturing startup Re:Build raised $2.1 billion, the second-largest deal of the month. Axiom raised $2 billion for data center power and grid capacity, spend-management platform Ramp raised $1.85 billion and said its ARR has reached $2 billion, Tenstorrent raised a $1.5 billion Series E, prediction market Kalshi raised a $1 billion Series E, and Flapping Airplanes raised a $1 billion Series A. Eight additional companies raised rounds above $500 million, including TypeSafe AI's $870 million Series A.
AI-driven companies accounted for 66% of global funding in October. On the exit side, the U.S. IPO market was slow ahead of Anthropic's expected November offering. At least nine venture-backed companies were acquired for more than $1 billion in October, including Uber's $2.3 billion acquisition of 19-year-old ezCater. With two months remaining, 2026 has already set records for venture acquisitions, IPOs and funding rounds, though Crunchbase notes that October's data highlighted growing concentration in the cycle. Cohere's targeted $5 billion round, announced in October without a reported close, was excluded from the monthly totals.
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