SA国际传媒

Among startup investors, the prevailing mantra has long been that the greatest returns accrue to聽 those who are earliest in finding and funding the most promising founders.

Sounds simple enough. But there鈥檚 a twist: What if a lot of well-capitalized investors identify those same founders around the same time?

In that case, being early can still have advantages. However, it can also be very expensive.

That鈥檚 a dynamic we鈥檙e seeing more of at seed and Series A. The number of unusually large rounds at these stages has been creeping up in recent quarters 1, with this deal type particularly prominent in the first weeks of this year.

To illustrate, we used SA国际传媒 data to tally up rounds of $100 million or more at seed and Series A for the past few years.

As you can see, jumbo seed and Series A deals have been a thing for years. Frequency grew around the 2021 market peak then tailed off over the next couple years. It started picking up again in 2024.

This year, these rounds are making a particularly pronounced comeback. Per SA国际传媒 data, over 40% of seed and Series A investment in 2026 has gone to rounds of $100 million or more. That鈥檚 strikingly high, especially considering that mega-rounds at these stages weren鈥檛 much of a thing for most of startup investment history.

While we see giant rounds globally, they’re more prevalent for U.S. startups. Per SA国际传媒 data, over half of all seed and Series funding this year has gone to financings of $100 million and up.

Big early bets

In a finding that will surprise no one, data shows a preponderance of early-stage mega-rounds are going to AI startups.

That鈥檚 clearly the case for this year鈥檚 biggest example, last week鈥檚 $480 million seed financing for , an AI lab that says it will apply the technology in ways that are centered 鈥渁round people and their relationships with each other.鈥� The company was founded in September by top researchers from , , , and .

It鈥檚 also true for , a frontier AI lab that announced on Monday that it has raised $300 million in a Series A round at a $4 billion valuation. And for , a -founded startup working on brain-computer interfaces that integrate with advanced AI, which reportedly locked up a $252 million seed round, with OpenAI as a major backer.

Another big fundraiser was Abu Dhabi-based , an AI-powered Islamic digital banking platform. The startup $230 million in its first funding round this month, led by . Another, , an AI networking infrastructure startup, closed on $200 million in Series A financing last week.

Below, we put together a full list of rounds of $100 million or more this year.

From quirky to qualified

The classic seed round, commonly in the low single-digit millions, hasn鈥檛 gone away of course. For every supergiant seed deal, there are dozens of smaller ones in a typical month.

Even so, the stereotype of a round at this stage 鈥� a small, risky bet on an unproven founder 鈥� may need some updating. While these deals still happen, a greater share of funding appears to be going to very proven innovators and serial entrepreneurs.

Is that a positive or negative development? I suppose a case could be made either way. Good or bad however, it鈥檚 certainly gotten costlier for those writing the checks.

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