AI Giants Soar in Funding! Anthropic Secures $65 Billion, Propelling Q2 Global VC to Second-Highest Record

KPMG An Hou Jian Ye has released its 'Venture Pulse: Global Venture Capital Analysis Q2 2026' report, revealing that the global venture capital market maintained strong momentum in the second quarter. A total of 8,440 deals were completed, amounting to $227.4 billion in funding. Although this represents a decline from the record high in Q1, it still marks the second-highest level on record. Capital remains heavily concentrated in AI-related transactions, data, and growth metrics.

Notably, U.S.-based AI company Anthropic raised a staggering $65 billion in a single quarter, making it the largest funding round globally for the period. Additionally, SpaceX completed the largest IPO in history on the Nasdaq, raising $75 billion—expanding to $85.7 billion with the exercise of over-allotment—propelling its valuation to $1.9 trillion. These landmark deals have further intensified the global technology investment wave.

Kao Yu-Lun, Co-Lead Partner of KPMG An Hou Jian Ye’s Innovation and Start-up Services, stated that the Americas dominated global investment with $150 billion, of which the U.S. alone accounted for $144.9 billion. Asia ranked second with $50.8 billion, marking the best rebound performance since Q4 2021 after hitting a post-2021 low. Europe steadily secured $25.6 billion. Furthermore, corporate venture capital (CVC) participation totaled $149.1 billion, highlighting large enterprises’ active strategic investments in frontier technologies.

Despite ongoing global economic and geopolitical uncertainties, mega-scale AI deals are driving capital concentration. Key transactions include Anthropic’s $65 billion raise, Project Prometheus securing $12 billion, China’s DeepSeek raising $7.4 billion, and StepFun and ByteDance completing $2.5 billion and $3 billion funding rounds, respectively.

Exit mechanisms in the capital markets remain robust. SpaceX’s historic Nasdaq IPO raised $75 billion, reaching $85.7 billion with over-allotment, pushing its valuation to $1.9 trillion. Looking ahead to Q3, AI investment is expected to expand beyond foundational model development into robotics, embodied intelligence, and industry-specific solutions, continuing to drive global venture capital growth momentum.