Q2 2026 marked another milestone for corporate venture capital, with record funding levels masking a market increasingly shaped by AI mega-rounds and fewer, larger deals.
Just like the first quarter of 2026, the second quarter of the year has also seen corporate venture capital flow into narrow set of AI-based technologies, taking the amount of dollars raised in corporate-backed funding rounds to the second-highest level recorded by GCV in a single quarter. At the half-year mark, 2026 is already the best year on record for corporate-backed funding in startups.
The quarter saw $146bn in total funding raised across 1,364 rounds – up from $44bn recorded in Q2 2025, marking a year-on-year leap of over 231%.
Oishani Mitra
Oishani Mitra is the content manager for Global Corporate Venturing.
