VC Fundraising Concentration in 2026: 12 Firms Took Three Quarters of H1 Money

The squeeze is not only on startups. In 2026 a dozen venture firms raised most of the new money, megafunds took 78% of US capital through September, and emerging managers all but vanished. Here is what that means for who a founder ends up pitching.

The concentration story in venture usually starts with startups: a few AI labs taking most of the money. PitchBook’s third-quarter Venture Monitor, published October 8, shows the same pattern one level up, among the firms that write the checks. US venture firms raised $108.5 billion across 699 funds through September, and megafunds of $500 million or more took 78% of it while making up just 6% of new funds.

Where it stands: Only 211 emerging firms have closed a fund so far in 2026, PitchBook says, down from 927 in 2022. First-time funds have collected $4.9 billion this year, spread over 81 vehicles, per SiliconANGLE’s summary of the report.

VC fundraising concentration matters to founders for a practical reason: the shape of the investor market decides how many doors there are to knock on, and who sets the price behind each one.

VC fundraising concentration, by the numbers

Two PitchBook reports cover the first half, and their totals differ slightly, so each is cited on its own terms.

PitchBook’s US VC Fundraising and Returns Report, published in August and summarized by Foley & Lardner partner Louis Lehot, put first-half fundraising at $74.8 billion. Lehot’s “fine print”: “funds of $1 billion or more took 68.3% of it, up from 36.1% last year, and just twelve firms accounted for three quarters of every dollar raised.”

The Q2 Venture Monitor, which SiliconANGLE covered in July, counted $72.4 billion raised across just 405 funds. Three firms took $34.8 billion of that, or 48%. Pilot’s summary of the same PitchBook data names them: “Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, and Founders Fund.”

The numbers kept climbing into the third quarter. By the end of September, Andreessen Horowitz alone had closed funds worth $23.8 billion, according to the Q3 monitor.

The barbell: lots of small funds, a sliver of the money

At the other end, the count of funds and the count of dollars point in opposite directions. Lehot’s reading of the August report: “Funds under $50 million are 67.7% of everything that closed, a decade-high, and they raised 4% of the money.” He adds that “First-time funds hit a decade-low.”

Pilot’s version of the trend: “The average VC fund size rose to $188M (vs. $98M in 2025), with established managers capturing 89% of all capital raised.”

This followed a lean year. PitchBook’s global data, reported in January, showed that “Global VC fundraising fell to $118.6 billion in 2025, nearly $100 billion less than in 2024 and the lowest level in a decade.” That figure is global, while the 2026 numbers above are US-only, so they describe different pools.

Why the money pooled at the top

The investors and analysts who study this offer an explanation that echoes the wider argument that AI is taking the oxygen out of everything else, and it should be read as their argument rather than settled fact.

Bobby Franklin, who runs the NVCA, warned that AI’s strength “can obscure growing challenges within the fundraising market.” PitchBook’s Kyle Stanford told Fortune in June: “When fundraising gets lopsided, so does pricing power.” His fuller explanation: “We can see the mega fund, multi-strategy firms are able to win deals by pricing out the rest of the market, and if they can continue to drive returns with their strategy, then they will be able to command the LP market.”

Lehot puts it more bluntly, as opinion: “Venture is not an asset class right now. It is a license held by a dozen firms, and everyone else is negotiating for proximity.”

Lehot also separates paper gains from cash. He notes that “Fund asset values grew 21.6% last year, driven by AI markups,” while “Cash actually distributed to investors ran at 11.7% to 12.8% of asset value, well below the 18.7% long-run average.” Those markups depend on AI valuations holding, and AI equity valuations were among the risks market contacts raised in the Federal Reserve’s May survey, which listed concerns “including equity valuations.” For the wider LP view, see our piece on investing strategies in the megafund era.

The counter-view: plenty of money, just not evenly spread

None of this means venture money dried up. The Q3 monitor says US firms’ $108.5 billion through September already tops 2025’s full-year total by almost 39%. PitchBook’s Nizar Tarhuni framed it: “This year’s numbers will look like a boom at the top line.” His next sentence was the caveat: “But for most of the market, the liquidity won’t show up, and that will have a large impact going into 2027.”

The AI pull on deal value is also easing on a quarterly basis. AI took 82.7% of US deal value year to date, but the same report says its quarterly share “has been shrinking since January and fell to 65.9% in the third.” Founders outside AI face their own version of this squeeze, covered in our look at non-AI startup funding in 2026.

Who says what Figure Scope
Megafunds ($500M+), share of US capital 78% PitchBook Q3 monitor, Jan.-Sept.
Funds over $1B, share of capital almost 72% PitchBook midyear outlook (Fortune), June
Funds of $1B+, share of H1 capital 68.3% PitchBook fundraising report (Foley), H1
Top three firms, share of H1 capital 48% PitchBook Q2 monitor, H1
Funds under $50M, share of money 4% PitchBook fundraising report (Foley), H1
Emerging firms closing a fund 211 (927 in 2022) PitchBook Q3 monitor

The thresholds differ ($500 million, $1 billion) and so do the periods, which is why the percentages don’t line up. Each is right for its own definition.

What it means for who a founder pitches

The reports don’t prescribe a fundraising plan, but they do change the map founders work from.

  • The big firms are coming down-market. Lehot writes that large platforms “are already writing seed checks next to their growth funds,” which “creates a conflicts problem the industry has barely started to price.” His shorthand for the issue: “one firm, one company, several funds, and different entry prices.” In his words, “Allocation policies used to be boilerplate. They are becoming the document that matters.”
  • Fewer new managers are hunting for founders. Franklin noted that emerging and midsize managers “are often among the first to spot new entrepreneurs and technologies,” and PitchBook’s count of emerging firms closing a fund has fallen from 927 to 211.
  • Small funds are plentiful but small. Sub-$50 million funds were most of the closings but raised 4% of the money, which caps how much any one of them can put into a round.
  • Corporate investors pulled back. The Q2 monitor found corporate venture arms “took part in 21% of deals, their smallest share in 10 years, as parent companies hoarded cash to cover their own climbing AI bills.” Founders weighing a corporate backer can read our guide to strategic investors who might compete with you.

Concentration also shapes the exit end of the market, where those same megafunds need liquidity; that is the subject of our look at the VC-backed IPO market. On the fundraising side, the Q3 monitor’s figure for megafunds stands: 78% of the capital from 6% of new funds.

Frequently Asked Questions

How concentrated is VC fundraising in 2026?

Very, on PitchBook’s data. Its Q3 Venture Monitor says US venture firms raised $108.5 billion across 699 funds through September, and megafunds of $500 million or more took 78% of it while making up 6% of new funds. Its separate first-half fundraising report found a dozen firms raised three quarters of the money.

Which VC firms raised the most money in 2026?

Pilot’s summary of PitchBook data names Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital and Founders Fund as the three firms that took 48% of first-half fundraising. PitchBook’s Q3 report says Andreessen Horowitz alone closed funds worth $23.8 billion this year.

Are emerging VC managers still raising funds?

Far fewer of them. PitchBook counts 211 emerging firms that closed a fund in 2026 through September, compared with 927 in 2022, and first-time funds raised $4.9 billion across 81 vehicles.

Why does VC fundraising concentration matter to founders?

It changes who writes checks and on what terms. PitchBook’s Kyle Stanford told Fortune that megafund, multi-strategy firms can outbid smaller rivals on price, and Foley’s Louis Lehot notes that large platforms now write seed checks next to their growth funds, which raises conflict questions.

Sources

This article is general information for founders and is not legal, accounting or investment advice. Funding and market figures are as reported by the sources cited on the dates shown and can change.