--- title: Megadeals took 87.5% of US venture dollars, and the rest... description: PitchBook's Q2 2026 US VC Valuations report shows rounds of $100m+ took 87.5% of US venture dollars deployed in H1 2026, with AI driving the concentration. AI... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/megadeals-took-87-5-of-us-venture-dollars-and-the-rest-of-the-market-is-priced-by-vintage-fbenffm2m twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Megadeals took 87.5% of US venture dollars, and the rest of the market is priced by vintage | daily.dev og:description: PitchBook's Q2 2026 US VC Valuations report shows rounds of $100m+ took 87.5% of US venture dollars deployed in H1 2026, with AI driving the concentration. AI... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/megadeals-took-87-5-of-us-venture-dollars-and-the-rest-of-the-market-is-priced-by-vintage-fbenffm2m og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/FBeNfFM2m.png og:image:alt: Megadeals took 87.5% of US venture dollars, and the rest of the market is priced by vintage og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Megadeals took 87.5% of US venture dollars, and the rest of the market is priced by vintage **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary PitchBook's Q2 2026 US VC Valuations report shows rounds of $100m+ took 87.5% of US venture dollars deployed in H1 2026, with AI driving the concentration. AI startups command a 2.2x median valuation step-up versus 1.6x for non-AI, and late-stage velocity of value creation jumped from $108.9m in 2025 to $1,028m this year. On secondary platform Forge, companies that last raised in 2021 trade at a 59.1% discount versus no discount for 2026 vintages, a pattern mirrored by Capital One's $5.2bn acquisition of Brex, down from its $12.3bn pandemic-era peak. SpaceX dominated the exit market after going public, acquiring xAI for $250bn and announcing a $60bn all-stock deal for Cursor, though its shares now trade below IPO price. The active unicorn count hit a record 945, worth $5.3 trillion in aggregate, mostly unrealized, while nontraditional investors participated in 91.9% of US VC deal value. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much of US venture capital funding went to megadeals in the first half of 2026? Rounds of $100 million or more accounted for 87.5% of US venture dollars deployed in the first half of 2026, according to PitchBook's Q2 2026 US VC Valuations report. AI is described as the primary driver of that concentration, though the megadeal figure itself measures deal size rather than sector. AI companies also posted a median valuation step-up of 2.2x compared to 1.6x for non-AI companies. _daily.dev surfaces reporting like this for founders and investors tracking where venture dollars concentrate._ ### Why do startups that last raised funding in 2021 trade at such a steep discount on secondary markets? On the secondary platform Forge, companies whose last primary round was in 2021 trade at a median discount of 59.1%, versus no discount for 2026-vintage rounds and 4.7% for 2025 vintages. Stale primary rounds lack a fresh price reference point, and buyers have limited information rights on most secondary trades, so there is nothing recent to argue against. _anyone valuing older startup stakes can track how vintage-based discounting evolves via daily.dev._ ### How does Capital One's acquisition of Brex compare to secondary market pricing for 2021-vintage startups? Capital One bought Brex for $5.2 billion against its pandemic-era peak valuation of $12.3 billion, a discount of roughly 58%. That figure lands directly inside PitchBook's reported secondary discount band of 54% to 59% for 2021 and 2022 vintage companies, meaning what secondary markets were pricing in theory, an acquirer paid in practice. _following fintech acquisition prices against vintage discounts is easier for readers who track this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [AI crushes startup valuations for pre-ChatGPT companies](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-crushes-startup-valuations-for-pre-chatgpt-companies-bmqmhrnqu) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI startups are eating the venture industry and the returns, so far, are good](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-startups-are-eating-the-venture-industry-and-the-returns-so-far-are-good-43r38powc) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Just three companies dominated the $189 billion in VC investments last month](https://daily.dev/posts/just-three-companies-dominated-the-189-billion-in-vc-investments-last-month-bnfcs6msd) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [As Cybersecurity Firms Chase AI, VC Market Skyrockets](https://daily.dev/posts/as-cybersecurity-firms-chase-ai-vc-market-skyrockets-btwsbkcmq) · Dark Reading · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#venture-capital](https://daily.dev/tags/venture-capital), [#fintech](https://daily.dev/tags/fintech), [#market-analysis](https://daily.dev/tags/market-analysis) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/megadeals-took-87-5-of-us-venture-dollars-and-the-rest-of-the-market-is-priced-by-vintage-fbenffm2m) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Megadeals took 87.5% of US venture dollars, and the rest of the market is priced by vintage","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/megadeals-took-87-5-of-us-venture-dollars-and-the-rest-of-the-market-is-priced-by-vintage-fbenffm2m","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/megadeals-took-87-5-of-us-venture-dollars-and-the-rest-of-the-market-is-priced-by-vintage-fbenffm2m"},"datePublished":"2026-08-12T14:33:15.016Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T06:29:26.765Z","description":"PitchBook's Q2 2026 US VC Valuations report shows rounds of $100m+ took 87.5% of US venture dollars deployed in H1 2026, with AI driving the concentration. 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AI is described as the primary driver of that concentration, though the megadeal figure itself measures deal size rather than sector. AI companies also posted a median valuation step-up of 2.2x compared to 1.6x for non-AI companies. daily.dev surfaces reporting like this for founders and investors tracking where venture dollars concentrate."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why do startups that last raised funding in 2021 trade at such a steep discount on secondary markets?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"On the secondary platform Forge, companies whose last primary round was in 2021 trade at a median discount of 59.1%, versus no discount for 2026-vintage rounds and 4.7% for 2025 vintages. Stale primary rounds lack a fresh price reference point, and buyers have limited information rights on most secondary trades, so there is nothing recent to argue against. anyone valuing older startup stakes can track how vintage-based discounting evolves via daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How does Capital One's acquisition of Brex compare to secondary market pricing for 2021-vintage startups?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Capital One bought Brex for $5.2 billion against its pandemic-era peak valuation of $12.3 billion, a discount of roughly 58%. That figure lands directly inside PitchBook's reported secondary discount band of 54% to 59% for 2021 and 2022 vintage companies, meaning what secondary markets were pricing in theory, an acquirer paid in practice. following fintech acquisition prices against vintage discounts is easier for readers who track this on daily.dev."}}]} ```