US startup funding totaled $19.44B across 492 companies in July 2026, a month marked by a convergence of mega-rounds in AI infrastructure, energy, and robotics that pushed late-stage financing to $12.26B — 63% of all capital raised. AI companies captured 67% of the month’s capital, with 196 companies raising $13.08B, while 401 Series A and early-stage deals collectively raised $4.45B.
The top four rounds alone accounted for more than $5.95B, led by Joulent ($1.75B), Atoms ($1.70B), Fireworks AI ($1.51B), and SambaNova ($1.00B). Beneath those headline rounds, the median deal held at $6.0M and the average reached $39.5M, a gap that reflects the extraordinary concentration of capital: 65 rounds at $50M+ accounted for $15.87B, or 81.6% of the total.
Monthly highlights
Joulent’s $1.75B late-stage raise was the largest round of July and a landmark deal for energy infrastructure. The Houston-based company develops multi-gigawatt power systems combining natural gas turbines, long-duration battery storage, and renewable generation to supply reliable, large-scale power to AI data centers and industrial loads. The round signaled investor conviction in energy infrastructure underpinning the AI economy.
Atoms, a Los Angeles robotics company building task-specific physical AI systems for mining, food infrastructure, and transportation, raised $1.70B with backing from Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures, and Craft Ventures. Walden Robotics’ $300M early-stage round from Cambridge, MA, was one of the largest early-stage hardware raises in recent memory and underscored industrial robotics as a capital-intensive category.
AI infrastructure defined the software narrative: Fireworks AI ($1.51B) and Together AI ($800.0M) closed major late-stage rounds for platforms serving inference, fine-tuning, and model serving demand, while SambaNova’s $1.00B extended its position as a hardware and software platform for enterprise AI. Etched ($300.0M) and Meshy AI ($400.0M) added to a cohort where AI chip and 3D content generation platforms attracted institutional-scale capital. The AI infrastructure cohort raised more than $4.3B in July.
Energy funding was also prominent. Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $1.00B to advance its SPARC demonstration device toward net energy gain, Antora Energy pulled in $550.0M for thermal energy storage systems, and Antares raised $370.0M for nuclear microreactor technology. Three distinct approaches to the energy transition — fusion, thermal storage, and fission — each commanded nine-figure rounds in the same month.
Notable sector raises beyond AI and energy included Oratomic’s $300.0M Series A for neutral-atom quantum hardware, HUboo’s $270.0M Series A for cross-border logistics infrastructure, and Chai Discovery’s $400.0M round for AI-driven drug discovery. The month’s breadth — AI, energy, robotics, quantum, logistics, and biotech — showed that 2026’s venture market was not a single-sector story despite AI’s outsized share.
US Startup Funding by Stage and Size
By stage, late-stage rounds dominated: 41 companies raised $12.26B (63% of the month), with a median late-stage deal of $100.0M. Series B rounds comprised 50 deals and $2.73B (14%), median $26.0M. Series A accounted for 120 companies and $2.89B (15%), median $12.1M. Early-stage (Pre-Seed, Seed, Angel, Accelerator) covered 281 companies and $1.56B (8%), median $2.1M. Together, Series A and early-stage totaled 401 companies and $4.45B.
Deal-size distribution emphasized capital concentration: 211 companies raised under $5M for $366.6M (1.9% of the total), 159 companies raised $5M–$20M for $1.59B (8.2%), 57 companies raised $20M–$50M for $1.62B (8.3%), and 65 companies raised $50M+ for $15.87B (81.6%). The overall median deal was $6.0M and the average deal size was $39.5M.
Geographic breakdown
California remained dominant with $10.49B across 161 deals, representing 54.0% of national capital. Texas surged to second with $2.37B across 34 companies, driven almost entirely by Joulent’s raise. New York state ranked third with $2.05B across 66 companies (10.6% of the national total). Massachusetts raised $1.55B across 18 companies.
A New York City subset shows $1.81B raised in July (9.3% of the US total) across 53 deals, a 10.8% share of deal count; NYC’s average deal size was $34.2M and median $8.8M.
Looking ahead
July’s data suggests a bifurcated market: a majority of funded companies are early and mid-stage operating at conventional venture scales, while a small cohort of platforms in AI infrastructure, energy, and defense are capturing sovereign-scale capital. The $50M+ cohort of 65 deals accounted for 81.6% of capital raised, and the AI infrastructure wave showed no sign of slowing with multiple large closes for inference, model serving, and AI silicon capacity. Energy companies building for AI data center buildout occupied an adjacent, equally capital-intensive position, indicating continued investor focus at the intersection of compute and power.
Methodology: Data sourced from Crunchbase. Funding amounts reflect disclosed round sizes in USD at time of publication. Stage classifications follow AlleyWatch’s taxonomy: Early-Stage includes Pre-Seed, Seed, Angel, and Accelerator rounds; Late-Stage includes Series C and beyond. Corporate rounds, private equity, and debt financing are excluded from stage totals. Companies are included based on Crunchbase-listed US headquarters; Delaware-registered entities without operational US headquarters are excluded from state totals.
