To illustrate, we used Crunchbase data to put together a list of the 10 next-largest California funding rounds this year.<\/p>\n
Some of these are familiar names and involve fairly mature companies. For instance Waymo<\/a>, which launched inside Google<\/a> in 2009 and spun out as an independent company 10 years ago, picked up $16 billion in February.<\/p>\n Another old-timer is Databricks<\/a>, which picked up $5 billion in August. It\u2019s now 13 years old and has raised over $30 billion in debt and equity funding to date.<\/p>\n Still, we\u2019re also seeing younger companies secure megarounds. Prometheus<\/a>, the physical AI startup co-founded and led by Jeff Bezos<\/a> and launched last year, pulled in $12 billion in new funding this spring. And AI model startup Safe Superintelligence<\/a> landed $5 billion in a Nvidia<\/a>-led round this summer.<\/p>\n Early-stage funding<\/p>\n That brings us to our next point. California\u2019s startup funding windfall isn\u2019t only about late-stage and pre-IPO companies bagging enormous rounds. Early- and seed-stage companies are also attracting big checks from investors.<\/p>\n Per Crunchbase data, California companies have secured nearly $62 billion in seed- and early-stage financings so far in 2026. That\u2019s roughly 57% of all U.S. funding at these stages.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also far above prior year tallies, as charted below, and appears to be a record funding level.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t bet against California<\/p>\n If there\u2019s a lesson to be learned in these numbers, it\u2019s one that savvy startup investors ought to have learned a long time ago: Don\u2019t bet against California.<\/p>\n Whatever the year, whatever the technology cycle, California, and Silicon Valley in particular, have a knack for being home to the leading companies of the era.<\/p>\n Related Crunchbase queries:<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/concentrated-capital.jpg\")
<\/p>\n