Venture investors poured $42 billion into just over 1,500 startups worldwide in August, Crunchbase data shows, down 25% from July’s $56 billion but still up a significant 122% compared to last August, which is typically a slower month for startup investment.
Seven companies raised billion-dollar fundings in August, tied with a few months for the year’s second-highest count after July, when 13 companies did the same.
The largest startup funding deal in August went to 13-year-old Databricks, which raised $5 billion at a $190 billion valuation.
Other companies across a broad range of industries raised billion-dollar-plus rounds, a testament to the strength of the technology sector impacting a range of more traditional industries, including physical manufacturing, defense, aerospace and energy. They included defense tech startup Hadrian; River AI, which performs custom AI fine-tuning for businesses; low-orbit satellite network Yuanxin Satellite; nuclear energy company Valar Atomics; automated coding provider Poolside; and home battery service Base Power.
Notable exits
On the IPO front, Hangzhou, China-based humanoid robotics company Unitree Robotics went public on Aug. 19 at a valuation of around $9 billion and soared 460% on its first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The largest M&A news in August was Nvidia’s announcement that it aims to acquire open-source AI platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. Other notable acquisition news was Milan-based tech aggregator Bending Spoons’ plan to acquire 13-year-old database company Airtable for around $1.3 billion.
Big rounds are coming faster
Venture capital continues to concentrate rapidly among a small group of fast-growing companies. Two of August’s billion-dollar recipients illustrate the trend: Databricks added $56 billion to its valuation in just six months, while River AI raised both its seed and Series A rounds this year, amassing a staggering $1.1 billion in early-stage funding.
That accelerated cadence extended across August’s megadeals: Five of the seven billion-dollar funding recipients had last raised capital less than 12 months earlier, including three that closed their previous rounds earlier this year. The numbers underscore how quickly investors are doubling down on companies they believe can become the next generation of technology giants.
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Methodology
The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Sept. 2, 2026.
Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.
Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.
Glossary of funding terms
Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.
Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. Crunchbase includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.
Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the “Series [Letter]” naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.
Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a “venture” round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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