China’s Largest Startup Deal Ever Lifts Global Venture Funding To $59B In October

Driven largely by a record-breaking transaction for China’s DeepSeek, worldwide venture capital funding reached $59 billion in October, representing a 45% increase compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Crunchbase figures. DeepSeek secured a $15.9 billion funding round, setting a new all-time high for a venture deal involving a Chinese enterprise. This milestone coincided with the same month two additional frontier labs closed blockbuster Series A rounds that reached or neared $1 billion each.

The vast majority of October’s venture investments flowed into the top two nations for startup activity, with U.S.-based businesses pulling in $28 billion and Chinese companies securing $20.6 billion. The last instance where China attracted upwards of $20 billion in a single month occurred in June 2018, when Ant Group completed a $14 billion Series C financing.

Funding concentration

More than 40% of October’s total venture investment was heavily concentrated across seven separate companies that each closed billion-dollar rounds. These massive capital allocations targeted frontier labs, manufacturing, energy, semiconductors, prediction markets, and spend-management software. Private equity firms drove much of this activity, alongside select multistage venture institutions such as Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Lux Capital.

DeepSeek achieved its $15.9 billion raise at a $90 billion valuation, establishing the largest private financing record ever for a Chinese technology enterprise. This transaction positions DeepSeek among the ten most heavily funded private entities globally. Furthermore, it stands as the second most valuable private Chinese company behind ByteDance, and ranks as the third most valuable private frontier lab globally, trailing only U.S.-based Anthropic and OpenAI.

DeepSeek was not alone among Chinese frontier labs commanding massive capital in October. Rival open-source lab Moonshot AI reportedly achieved a $50 billion valuation during the month, placing it 11th on the Crunchbase Unicorn Board. Reports also indicate that the startup has confidentially filed for an initial public offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Massachusetts-based industrial manufacturing startup Re:Build captured the second-largest deal of the previous month with a $2.1 billion round. The company collaborates with industrial firms and innovators spanning product design through large-scale manufacturing, reporting a footprint of 2.4 million square feet of production capacity.

Additional major fundraisings last month included Axiom, which brought in $2 billion to expand power and grid infrastructure for data centers; spend-management platform Ramp, which secured $1.85 billion while noting its annualized recurring revenue (ARR) has hit $2 billion; open-source semiconductor enterprise Tenstorrent, which reported a $1.5 billion Series E raise after relocating its headquarters from Canada to Silicon Valley; prediction market Kalshi, which closed a $1 billion Series E; and frontier lab Flapping Airplanes, which picked up a $1 billion Series A.

AI-driven

An additional eight enterprises secured rounds exceeding $500 million last month across sectors including frontier labs, robotics, legal tech, semiconductors, agentic AI, and healthcare. A standout among them was TypeSafe AI, which reported an $870 million Series A financing following rapid developer adoption of its decision model, Jev.

Overall, artificial intelligence enterprises accounted for 66% of worldwide venture funding in October, with semiconductor firms simultaneously expanding their market share throughout the month.

Exits

The U.S. public offering landscape remained subdued as markets braced for Anthropic’s November IPO. That anticipated market debut has the potential to eclipse even the record-setting June listing by SpaceX that generated $85.7 billion.

Within mergers and acquisitions, a minimum of nine venture-backed companies were acquired for upwards of $1 billion during the month, highlighted by Uber’s purchase of the 19-year-old catering platform ezCater for $2.3 billion.

Looking ahead

With two months left on the calendar, 2026 has already broken records concerning acquisitions, public offerings, and financing rounds throughout primary venture ecosystems. While October extended this upward momentum, it also underscored the intense concentration of the current cycle: just seven businesses captured over 40% of global funding, while AI-centric operations absorbed two-thirds.

As the industry approaches year-end, the primary question is how broadly this financial momentum will extend, particularly as Anthropic readies what could become the largest public listing in history.

?Frequently Asked Questions

01What drove the surge in global venture funding in October?

Global venture funding reached $59 billion in October—a 45% year-over-year jump—largely driven by a record-setting $15.9 billion deal for China’s DeepSeek and several other billion-dollar rounds in frontier labs and tech sectors.

02Which countries received the most startup investment in October?

Companies based in the United States and China captured the bulk of the funding, raising $28 billion and $20.6 billion respectively last month.

03What percentage of October’s funding went to AI-driven companies?

A total of 66% of global venture funding in October was directed toward AI-driven companies.

Related Crunchbase queries:

• Global Venture Funding In 2026
• Global Venture Funding To AI Startups In 2026
• Global IPOs For Venture-Backed Companies In 2026
• Global M&A In 2026 For Venture-Backed Companies

Methodology

The data contained in this report comes directly from Crunchbase, and is based on reported data. Data is as of Nov. 2, 2026.

Cohere is targeting a $5 billion funding that was announced in October, without reporting an initial or final close. This funding was not included in the October monthly totals.

Note that data lags are most pronounced at the earliest stages of venture activity, with seed funding amounts increasing significantly after the end of a quarter/year.

Please note that all funding values are given in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. Crunchbase converts foreign currencies to U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate from the date funding rounds, acquisitions, IPOs and other financial events are reported. Even if those events were added to Crunchbase long after the event was announced, foreign currency transactions are converted at the historic spot price.

Glossary of funding terms

Seed and angel consists of seed, pre-seed and angel rounds. Crunchbase also includes venture rounds of unknown series, equity crowdfunding and convertible notes at $3 million (USD or as-converted USD equivalent) or less.

Early-stage consists of Series A and Series B rounds, as well as other round types. Crunchbase includes venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $3 million, and those less than or equal to $15 million.

Late-stage consists of Series C, Series D, Series E and later-lettered venture rounds following the “Series [Letter]” naming convention. Also included are venture rounds of unknown series, corporate venture and other rounds above $15 million. Corporate rounds are only included if a company has raised an equity funding at seed through a venture series funding round.

Technology growth is a private-equity round raised by a company that has previously raised a “venture” round. (So basically, any round from the previously defined stages.)

Illustration: Dom Guzman