AI companies raised a $242 billion in Q1 2026, accounting for 80% of all global venture funding for the quarter. This surge was driven by a handful of historic "mega-rounds" that accounted for the majority of the quarter's capital: • OpenAI: Raised $122 billion in a landmark round led by Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank—the largest private funding round in history. • Anthropic: Secured $30 billion as it scales Claude for enterprise and healthcare sectors. • xAI: Closed a $20 billion Series E, aligning its strategic interests with the anticipated SpaceX IPO. • Waymo: Raised $16 billion as autonomous ride-hailing scales into city-wide commercial operations. While venture funding is focused on frontier labs, corporate spending is shifting toward infrastructure. Gartner estimates total AI spending will reach $2.52 trillion in 2026, a 44% year-over-year increase.(Ali Charts)