California Pulls $385 Billion, Over Half From OpenAI, Anthropic

California startups have raised $385 billion through seed-to-growth rounds in 2026 so far, more than double what the state pulled in during all of 2025 and larger than any annual U.S. total on record. The number is from Joanna Glasner at Crunchbase News, who writes that 'flabbergasting financings for San Francisco-based OpenAI and Anthropic account for more than half of this year's California statewide tally.'

Outside those two, the headline deals still read as California stories. Waymo raised $16 billion in February. Prometheus, the physical AI startup co-founded and led by Jeff Bezos and launched last year, pulled in $12 billion in new funding this spring. Databricks closed $5 billion in August. Safe Superintelligence landed $5 billion in a Nvidia-led round this summer.

One of the biggest 2026 rounds is a California number only on a technicality. xAI raised $20 billion as a California-headquartered company earlier this year. Today it is part of SpaceX, which is headquartered in Texas.

The state's early-stage figure holds up too. California companies secured nearly $62 billion in seed and early-stage funding, around 57% of the U.S. total at those stages. Crunchbase calls that 'a record funding level.' It fits the pattern across the 422 funding alerts we have tracked in the last 90 days, where a California address on the term sheet has been the modal case.

Glasner's closing: 'Don't bet against California. Whatever the year, whatever the technology cycle, California, and Silicon Valley in particular, have a knack for being home to the leading companies of the era.'