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VCbacked

AI 1000 Index

Q1 2026 Edition

Comprehensive AI funding data and venture capital rankings for the 1,000 most-funded artificial intelligence companies. $871.8B in total VC investment tracked across 36 countries.

Last updated January 31, 2026

Key Findings

Total Funding

$871.8B

Median Funding

$240.0M

Public Companies

101

Top Location

United States

Top Industry

Artificial Intel...

Avg Founded

2015

AI Funding Analysis

Funding by Industry

Total venture funding by primary industry classification, top 10

Geographic Distribution

Number of AI 1000 companies by headquarters country

Funding Stage Breakdown

Distribution of companies by current funding stage

IPO Status

Public vs. private breakdown across the AI 1000

By industry, Artificial Intelligence (AI) leads AI funding with $871.8B, followed by Machine Learning ($431.1B).

Geographically, United States hosts the most AI 1000 companies (625), with China (122) and United Kingdom (46) rounding out the top three. 101 of the 1,000 companies are publicly traded, while 884 remain private.

The AI 1000 ranks the worlds top venture-capital-funded AI companies by total cumulative funding raised, tracking 1,000 companies across 36 countries with a combined $871.8B in investment. The top 50 are shown in fullsign up for free to access the complete database and export data.

Full Rankings

Ranked by total funding raised. Click column headers to sort.

#
Company
IndustriesHQ Location
Total Funding
Stage
IPO
Founded
Last Round
Last Amt
1
OpenAI
Agentic AIArtificial Intelligence (AI)+5
San Francisco, California$79.0BPrivate2015Corporate Round$1.0B
2
xAI
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AI+3
Palo Alto, California$42.7BLate Stage VenturePrivate2023Series E$20.0B
3
Anthropic
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AI+3
San Francisco, California$33.7BLate Stage VenturePrivate2021Series F$13.0B
4
Didi
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Mobile Apps+3
Haidian, China$23.4BIPOPublic2012Post-IPO Equity$149.0M
5
Databricks
AnalyticsArtificial Intelligence (AI)+5
San Francisco, California$26.0BPrivate2013Debt Financing$1.8B
6
Meta
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Computer+8
Menlo Park, California$54.6BIPOPublic2004Post-IPO Debt$26.0B
7
Intel
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+5
Santa Clara, California$30.0BIPOPublic1968Post-IPO Equity$5.0B
8
Scale
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+4
San Francisco, California$15.9BPrivate2016Corporate Round$14.3B
9
Crusoe AI Data Center
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Big Data+1
Denver, Colorado$15.0BPrivate2024Undisclosed$11.6B
10
Waymo
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Automotive+3
Mountain View, California$11.1BLate Stage VenturePrivate2009Series C$5.6B
11
Cruise
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Automotive+3
San Francisco, California$16.0BM&APrivate2013Corporate Round$850.0M
12
Siemens
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Consulting+2
Munich, Germany$7.0BIPOPublic1847Post-IPO Equity$1.5B
13
Anduril Industries
AerospaceArtificial Intelligence (AI)+3
Costa Mesa, California$6.3BPrivate2017Grant$150K
14
Project Prometheus
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AI+2
$6.2BPrivate2025Venture - Series Unknown$6.2B
15
Kuaishou Technology
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Mobile Apps+3
Beijing, China$6.4BIPOPublic2011Post-IPO Debt$2.0B
16
NVIDIA
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+6
Santa Clara, California$4.1BIPOPublic1993Grant$5.0M
17
Yuanfudao
Artificial Intelligence (AI)EdTech+2
Beijing, China$4.0BLate Stage VenturePrivate2012Series G$300.0M
18
Argo AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Autonomous Vehicles+1
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania$3.6BPrivate2016Corporate Round
19
CoreWeave
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+4
Livingston, New Jersey$26.9BIPOPublic2017Post-IPO Equity$2.0B
20
Anysphere
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Developer Tools+4
San Francisco, California$3.4BPrivate2022Venture - Series Unknown
21
Yinwang Smart Technology
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Automotive
Shenzhen, China$3.2BPrivate2024Corporate Round$1.6B
22
Noon
Artificial Intelligence (AI)E-Commerce+3
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia$3.2BPrivate EquityPrivate2016Private Equity$500.0M
23
Mistral AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AI+4
Paris, France$3.2BLate Stage VenturePrivate2023Series C$2.0B
24
Palantir Technologies
AnalyticsArtificial Intelligence (AI)+3
Denver, Colorado$3.0BIPOPublic2003Post-IPO Equity$10.1M
25
Safe Superintelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AI+3
Palo Alto, California$3.0BPrivate2024Venture - Series Unknown
26
Genesys
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud Computing+2
Menlo Park, California$3.0BM&APrivate1990Corporate Round$1.5B
27
Inspur Cloud
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud Computing+4
Jinan, China$3.0BPrivate EquityPrivate2010Private Equity
28
Zuoyebang
AppsArtificial Intelligence (AI)+6
Beijing, China$2.9BLate Stage VenturePrivate2014Series E$1.6B
29
SenseTime
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Computer Vision+1
Sha Tin, Hong Kong$2.9BIPOPublic2014Post-IPO Equity$255.6M
30
Crusoe
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+4
Denver, Colorado$3.9BLate Stage VenturePrivate2018Secondary Market
31
Lambda
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+4
San Jose, California$3.2BLate Stage VenturePrivate2012Series E$1.5B
32
Nuro
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Autonomous Vehicles+2
Mountain View, California$2.3BLate Stage VenturePrivate2016Series E$97.0M
33
G42
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud Computing+3
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates$2.3BPrivate2018Corporate Round$1.5B
34
View
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Smart Building+2
Milpitas, California$2.6BIPODelisted2007Post-IPO Debt$50.0M
35
Workday
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud Computing+4
Pleasanton, California$2.2BIPOPublic2005Post-IPO Equity$2.0B
36
Reflection.Ai
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Database+3
New York, New York$2.1BEarly Stage VenturePrivate2024Series B$2.0B
37
Moonshot AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AI+3
Haidian, China$2.1BLate Stage VenturePrivate2023Series C$500.0M
38
Snowflake
AnalyticsArtificial Intelligence (AI)+4
San Mateo, California$2.0BIPOPublic2012Post-IPO Equity$621.5M
39
Thinking Machines Lab
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AI+4
San Francisco, California$2.0BSeedPrivate2025Seed$2.0B
40
UiPath
Agentic AIArtificial Intelligence (AI)+5
New York, New York$2.0BIPOPublic2005Post-IPO Equity
41
Figure
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Hardware+2
San Jose, California$1.9BLate Stage VenturePrivate2022Series C$1.0B
42
WeRide
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Autonomous Vehicles+2
Guangzhou Shi, China$1.8BIPOPublic2017Post-IPO Equity$308.0M
43
Skild AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Information Technology+1
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania$1.8BLate Stage VenturePrivate2023Series C$1.4B
44
Cerebras Systems
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+5
Sunnyvale, California$1.8BLate Stage VenturePrivate2015Secondary Market
45
Nebius Group
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+3
Amsterdam, The Netherlands$5.6BIPOPublic1989Post-IPO Debt$2.8B
46
Clio
Artificial Intelligence (AI)CRM+3
Vancouver, Canada$2.1BLate Stage VenturePrivate2008Series G$500.0M
47
Metropolis
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Computer Vision+3
New York, New York$3.5BLate Stage VenturePrivate2017Debt Financing$1.1B
48
Celonis
AnalyticsArtificial Intelligence (AI)+4
Munich, Germany$2.4BLate Stage VenturePrivate2011Secondary Market
49
Groq
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+3
San Jose, California$1.8BLate Stage VenturePrivate2016Series E$750.0M
50
Nscale
AI InfrastructureArtificial Intelligence (AI)+4
London, United Kingdom$1.7BLate Stage VenturePrivate2024Series C$433.0M
51
Cyera
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud Data Services+2
New York, New York$1.7BLate Stage VenturePrivate2021Series F$400.0M
52
Cohere
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Foundational AI+3
Toronto, Canada$1.7BLate Stage VenturePrivate2019Series D$100.0M
53
Didi Woya
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Automotive+1
Beijing, China$1.5BLate Stage VenturePrivate2020Series D$280.0M
54
Inflection AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Chatbot+4
Palo Alto, California$1.5BPrivate2022Venture - Series Unknown$1.3B
55
Helsing
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Drones+3
Munich, Germany$1.5BLate Stage VenturePrivate2021Series D$688.9M
56
Tricentis
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Business Process Automation (BPA)+4
Austin, Texas$1.5BPrivate EquityPrivate2007Private Equity$1.3B
57
Perplexity
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Chatbot+3
San Francisco, California$1.5BPrivate2022Undisclosed
58
Transportadora de Gas del Peru
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Environmental Engineering+1
Perú, Colombia$1.4BM&APrivate1997Private Equity$1.4B
59
AlphaSense
AnalyticsArtificial Intelligence (AI)+4
New York, New York$1.4BLate Stage VenturePrivate2008Series F$650.0M
60
MEGVII
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Facial Recognition+3
Beijing, China$1.4BPrivate2011Venture - Series Unknown

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Methodology

The AI 1000 Index ranks the top 1,000 artificial intelligence companies globally by total funding raised. Companies are selected based on the following criteria:

  • Primary business operations involve artificial intelligence, machine learning, or related technologies
  • Company has disclosed at least one verified funding round
  • Active operations as of the index date (not acquired or dissolved)
  • Rankings are determined by total cumulative funding in USD

Data is sourced from public filings, press releases, and verified third-party databases. The index is updated quarterly to reflect new funding activity and market changes.

Cite This Index

APA Format

VCbacked. (2026). AI 1000 Index: Q1 2026 Edition. VCbacked. https://www.vcbacked.co/ai-1000

News / Editorial

According to the VCbacked AI 1000 Index (Q1 2026), the top 1,000 funded AI companies have raised a combined $871.8B across 36 countries.

Frequently Asked Questions

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