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The most active investors in the 2026 cohort of newly minted unicorns include some of the most well-established names in venture capital. , and top the list for investments in the companies minted so far this year.

On the SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Unicorn Board, we track active investors over all time. Here, we look at the investors in the companies that gained horns in the most recent funding cycle to see which firms predominate.

New unicorn counts have picked up significantly year over year. So far this year, 250 companies have joined the board through Aug. 15, up from 2025’s 193 companies. Leading sectors included robotics, AI labs, healthcare and biotech, financial services, AI infrastructure, and AI deployment, among others. Of the companies, 139 (56%) are U.S.-headquartered, and 47 (19%) are from China.

An analysis of SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ data finds that most of the funding these companies raised came in 2026: a whopping 75% of all funding — $74 billion out of $98 billion. By contrast, 30% of deals took place in 2026, the highest count so far by year, with 329 deals. Nonetheless, most deals occurred in prior years, with seed investments starting in 2012, Series A in 2014, and Series B rounds in 2017, though the pace has picked up since 2024.

The Top 10 most active investors in this cohort by investment count were Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, , , , , , , and .

Y Combinator is the only accelerator on this list and BoxGroup the single seed investor to make the Top 10. (formerly Sequoia Capital China), headquartered in Hong Kong with offices across China, is the notable investor from Asia on this leading list of 29 investors. Private equity firms and are in this leading list, and on the corporate venture capital front and are featured.

Seed portfolio

Y Combinator and Sequoia Capital had the largest seed portfolio counts, with investments of $20 million or less. Seed investor BoxGroup, headquartered in New York, had the third-largest count of seed portfolio companies, a significant achievement since it invests in far fewer companies than Y Combinator and its funds are a fraction of what Sequoia Capital raises.

Also impressive were with five companies at seed, and , Lux Capital and Founders Fund, each with four portfolio investments at seed. Among this cohort, Lux Capital and Founders Fund had the largest crossover, sharing three portfolio companies out of four.

Series A leaders

The most active Series A lead investors were Andreessen Horowitz, with Khosla Ventures and tied with Sequoia Capital at six investments each. Series A investment sizes show a wide range, from $6 million to $500 million. Larger Series A rounds were not dominant but noticeable for many of these firms, except for , Founders Fund and Bessemer Venture Partners.

As funding activity, unicorn creation and valuations accelerated in 2026, the investors with the largest portfolios were those with early-stage access and the resources to continue backing companies as they scale. Established multistage firms dominate the rankings, while only a handful of accelerators, seed specialists, corporate investors, private equity and Asia-based firms break into the leading group.

The next test will be whether this year’s newly minted unicorns can turn rapid capital formation and lofty valuations into durable, category-defining businesses.

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