Global venture funding posted strong gains in January, with $55 billion invested in startups around the world, Crunchbase data shows. Funding last month more than doubled from $25.5 billion a year earlier and was up over 50% from December.
The U.S. again dominated global funding with $38.7 billion — or around 70% of capital — invested in American companies last month, and capital also continued to concentrate into AI-centric startups.
However, on the IPO front, China led with two foundation model companies, Z.ai and MiniMax, debuting on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Capital concentration
Capital concentration was pronounced in January as AI continued to lead. A total of $40.9 billion (74% of all funding) went to rounds of $100 million and more, and $31.7 billion (57% of funding) went to AI-related companies.
More than a third, or 36%, of global venture funding in January went to a single U.S.-based model company. That was Elon Musk-led xAI with its $20 billion Series E, which was funded by a mix of private equity, sovereign funds and strategic investors. (Early in February, Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX announced its merger with xAI.)
Overall, the largest funding deals in January were in sectors that showed increased investor appetite unleashed by AI.
Ranked in order of largest first, investments between $500 million to $2 billion last month went to:
- Singapore-based data center provider DayOne;
- Pittsburgh-based robotics intelligence company Skild AI;
- Toronto-based autonomous driving Waabi;
- Shanghai-based model company StepFun;
- San Francisco-based drone delivery Zipline; and
- Cupertino’s Bay Area-based AI chip startup Etched.ai.
After AI, the leading sectors in January were hardware, with an emphasis on deep tech, followed by healthcare and biotech.
China model exits
While the U.S. led funding totals, China led on the exit front. Two AI model companies went public: Z.ai (also known as Zhipu AI) and MiniMax. Each was valued above $6 billion and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. MiniMax doubled in value on its debut.
On the M&A front, the largest deal was banking giant Capital One’s acquisition of spend management company Brex for $5.15 billion, half its 2021 valuation of $12.3 billion.
Methodology
The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data reported is as of Jan. 4, 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.)
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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