Series A Funding Hits $42B in 2026, but Deal Counts Stay Flat

A market splitting in two

Siddharth Ramakrishnan, a partner at Scale Venture Partners, says AI is driving demand for capital and letting some startups grow at unprecedented speed, while others struggle, especially on the application side. Investors are reacting in opposite ways. Some write far larger checks at seed, with $10 million to $20 million rounds not uncommon, backing teams at around $500,000 in revenue rather than waiting for $4 million. Others hold off until Series B or C, when growth signals are clearer.

The size of rounds reflects this. In 2026, 10% of U.S. Series A rounds are $75 million or more, up from $50 million at that threshold in 2025. Some companies now go from zero to $20 million or $30 million in revenue, Ramakrishnan said, where $7 million once looked impressive.

The go-to-market trap

For founders, the bigger checks often depend on turning a handful of early customers into a repeatable sales process. Anke Huiskes of NP-Hard Ventures calls the go-to-market phase the "messy" one, where companies are unsure of their ideal customer profile. Many stall there with a few customers and slow growth. Those that break through can quickly attract interest: she described going from one intro request to having 10 term sheets.

Scale Venture Partners, which mainly leads Series A and B rounds, recently closed its largest fund, an $900 million Fund 8, up from $600 million. Ramakrishnan still sees Series A as an attractive stage, with enough information for an informed bet and fewer growth investors competing on price. A similar pattern of fewer but larger deals is also showing up at Series B.