California Startups Have Raised More So Far In 2026 Than The Entire US Ever Has In A Single Year

openai — california companies have scooped up more than three-fourths of all U.S. startup funding this year.

That, per Crunchbase data, is an apparent record share. But that’s not all. As investment hit unprecedented levels in 2026, Golden State companies alone raised more than all U.S. startups in any prior year on record. Most of that stems from a handful of megarounds for San Francisco-based AI pioneers. And keep in mind: This year still has a couple months left. Yet California companies have already pulled in an unparalleled $385 billion in seed- through growth-stage rounds. That’s more than double last year’s tally. California’s share of U.S. startup funding also has been trending higher for the past three years. Much of this is due to San Francisco AI unicorns, but we’re also seeing strength in the broader Silicon Valley region as well as Southern California. Where the money went Flabbergasting financings for San Francisco-based OpenAI and Anthropic account for more than half of this year’s California statewide tally. But even without those, California companies 1 still secured a disproportionate share of the largest U.S. equity funding rounds. To illustrate, we used Crunchbase data to put together a list of the 10 next-largest California funding rounds this year.