Q1 2026 AI VC funding shatters records, led by Waymo's $16B Series D
About This Episode
Q1 2026 AI funding has already exceeded all of 2025's total, with three mega-deals accounting for 67% of capital deployed. Autonomous machines posted a record $29 billion across 118 deals in Q1, with Waymo's $16B Series D alone more than tripling the segment's prior-quarter deal value. Anthropic's annualized revenue surpassed $30 billion in April, while OpenAI's topped $25 billion, fueling investor pile-on ahead of both companies' anticipated IPOs.
Our Take
When a single quarter of AI investment outpaces an entire prior year — with one self-driving car deal worth $16B — the 100x future isn't a forecast anymore, it's a balance sheet.
Continue Reading on Unscarcity
OpenAI's $122B Round: The Biggest Bet in History
This article provides deep analytical framework on mega-funding rounds in AI — the same pattern now repeating and accelerating in Q1 2026 across the entire sector.
100x Future: Why Next Decade Changes Everything
The record-shattering Q1 funding data is a live data point for the book's core thesis that AI, robotics, and autonomous systems are hitting exponential inflection points simultaneously.