The .ai Land Grab: 1 in 8 Funded Startups Now Use a .ai Domain
Startups used to settle for .io when the .com was taken. That has changed. We looked at the websites of 78,896 venture-backed companies whose latest funding round closed between 2021 and October 2026. Among companies that raised in 2021, 3.4% used a .ai domain. Among those that raised in 2026, it's 12.1%, about one in eight.
Key findings
- 12.1% of startups funded in 2026 use a .ai domain, up from 3.4% in 2021.
- .io has fallen from 7.7% at its 2022 peak to 4.1%. .ai overtook it in 2024.
- .com is steady at about 60%. The newcomers are taking share from .io and .co, not from .com.
- Nearly 1 in 4 pre-seed companies funded since 2025 uses .ai, against 4.5% at Series D.
- Startups on .ai raised a median $4.0M seed, against $2.6M for .com.
.ai went from niche to second place in five years
Based on 78,896 companies with a website and a latest round dated Jan 2021 to Oct 2026. Source: VCbacked.
In 2026 so far, .ai is the second most common ending among newly funded startups, behind .com and well ahead of everything else:
Number of companies with a latest round dated Jan to Oct 2026.
.io is the casualty, not .com
| Year | .com | .ai | .io | .co |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 62.9% | 3.4% | 6.9% | 3.6% |
| 2022 | 61.4% | 4.0% | 7.7% | 3.9% |
| 2023 | 59.8% | 5.5% | 6.9% | 3.4% |
| 2024 | 58.4% | 8.1% | 6.1% | 2.9% |
| 2025 | 59.1% | 10.0% | 5.1% | 2.8% |
| 2026 | 59.9% | 12.1% | 4.1% | 2.7% |
.com barely moved. It dipped to 58.4% in 2024 and has recovered to 59.9%. The share .ai gained came mostly from .io and .co, the two endings founders used to pick when the .com was taken. A .ai domain now does that job, and it signals what the company does at the same time.
The earlier the stage, the more .ai
Nearly a quarter of pre-seed companies funded since January 2025 are on .ai. Later-stage companies were mostly founded before .ai was fashionable and built their brands on .com. The pre-seed number shows where naming is heading.
Not every .ai company says it does AI
Among companies tagged with artificial intelligence, machine learning or generative AI that raised since 2025, 31.8% use .ai and 44.0% still use .com. Going the other way, 22.4% of .ai companies have no AI industry tag at all. For some founders, .ai is simply the short, available name.
.ai startups raise bigger rounds
| Domain | Median seed | Median Series A |
|---|---|---|
| .ai | $4.0M | $19.0M |
| .io | $3.0M | $14.0M |
| .co | $2.8M | $14.5M |
| .com | $2.6M | $13.0M |
The domain isn't doing the work here. AI companies raise larger rounds whatever their website is called, and .ai companies are mostly AI companies. Still, the gap is wide: the median .ai seed round is about 50% larger than the median .com seed round.
Where .ai is most popular
Singapore and the US lead. Canada is a surprise at 4.8%, and Japanese startups mostly stick with .jp and .com.
Methodology
We used the website on file for each company in the VCbacked database and took the ending of its domain. Years refer to the date of each company's latest funding round, because our database stores the most recent round for each company. A company that raised in 2022 and again in 2025 counts once, in 2025. Shares are of companies with a website on file. Round sizes are medians of disclosed amounts in USD. Industry tags come from company profiles. Data as of November 3, 2026.
Questions
What percentage of startups use a .ai domain?
12.1% of venture-backed startups whose latest round closed in 2026 use a .ai domain, up from 3.4% in 2021. Among pre-seed companies funded since 2025, it's 23.9%.
Is .ai more popular than .io for startups?
Yes. .ai overtook .io in 2024. In 2026, 12.1% of newly funded startups use .ai and 4.1% use .io.
Do most startups still use .com?
Yes. About 60% of funded startups use .com, and that share has barely changed since 2021.
Want the companies behind these numbers? Browse recently funded startups or search the full database on VCbacked.
Using this data? You are welcome to quote or chart these figures. Please credit VCbacked and link to The .ai Land Grab: 1 in 8 Newly Funded Startups Now Uses a .ai Domain.
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