Saastr · 26 October 2026 · Industry Analysis

A Record 8,625 Startups Raised Their First Venture Round This Year. Smaller VCs Now Have to Find Founders Before They Found Anything.

Jason Lemkin, GP @ SaaStr

Record 8,625 US startups raised first venture rounds in 2026, but capital is consolidating into megafunds while smaller VCs struggle to compete, forcing them upstream to pre-founder investing and pushing pre-seed valuations to $12M (triple 2020 levels).

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Topics: Venture Capital & Startups

Published by Saastr · their site ↗

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