SaaS fundraising in 2026 has a single defining fact: almost none of it is happening without AI attached. In the first quarter of 2026, 83% of all capital raised by SaaS startups went to AI-enabled companies, according to Carta’s State of Private Markets report published in May 2026. Traditional, non-AI SaaS deals still close, but they are fighting for a shrinking 17% of the money.
If you run a SaaS company, this is the backdrop your next raise happens against: bigger checks, fewer deals, and an AI label that now decides most of the outcome. Here is what the current funding data actually shows, quarter by quarter.
How much of SaaS funding went to AI in 2026?
83% of every dollar raised by SaaS startups in the first quarter of 2026 went to companies building AI-enabled products, per Carta’s Q1 2026 State of Private Markets report (published May 29, 2026). That is the SaaS-specific figure. Across the entire venture market, more than 60% of all dollars went to AI, itself the highest share Carta has recorded in its data series.
The gap between the SaaS number and the market-wide number matters. SaaS is more AI-concentrated than venture capital as a whole, which tells you the category itself is being redefined around AI rather than simply hosting an AI subset within it.
Figure 1: Where Q1 2026 SaaS venture capital actually went. Source: Carta, State of Private Markets Q1 2026.
A non-AI SaaS company raising in 2026 is not just competing for a smaller slice of investor attention. It is competing inside a category where the reference point for “normal” pricing and round size has shifted toward AI-native comparables.
| Capital destination | Share of Q1 2026 SaaS funding | Share of overall VC market |
|---|---|---|
| AI-enabled SaaS startups | 83% | 60%+ (record high) |
| Non-AI SaaS startups | 17% | Remainder |
Source: Carta, State of Private Markets Q1 2026.
How much total funding did startups raise in 2026?
Startups raised $30.4 billion in the first quarter of 2026, a pace already ahead of where the market stood at the same point in 2025, according to Carta. That figure covers all sectors, not SaaS alone, but SaaS remains one of the largest single categories inside it given how much of the current AI wave is delivered as software.
This follows a full-year 2025 in which total round count fell to a six-year low even as the dollars invested kept climbing, a pattern Carta describes as capital concentrating into fewer, bigger, and usually AI-dominated rounds. Fewer companies are getting funded. The ones that do are raising more, faster.
That dynamic changes what a funding round signals to customers and partners. A company that just closed a round is expected to look and operate like a company that can be trusted with real commitments, which starts with a properly published terms and conditions document, not a placeholder page left over from launch.
How much have SaaS valuations risen heading into 2026?
Median SaaS seed valuations reached $19.8 million in the third quarter of 2025, up from $14.7 million a year earlier, a 34.7% increase, according to Carta’s SaaS Industry Spotlight for Q3 2025. Series A told nearly the same story: a median of $60 million in Q3 2025, up from $44.5 million in Q3 2024, a 34.8% rise. Both figures are drawn from Carta’s cap table platform, which aggregates data from more than 35,000 startups.
Figure 2: SaaS seed and Series A median valuations, one year apart. Source: Carta, SaaS Industry Spotlight Q3 2025.
| Stage | Q3 2024 median | Q3 2025 median | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | $14.7M | $19.8M | +34.7% |
| Series A | $44.5M | $60M | +34.8% |
Source: Carta, SaaS Industry Spotlight Q3 2025.
The climb has not stopped at Series A. By Q1 2026, Carta reported Series B primary valuations up 17.2% year over year and Series C up 12.5%, evidence that the repricing seen at seed and Series A in 2025 has worked its way further up the stack.
Is it taking longer to reach a SaaS Series A?
Yes. The median time between a SaaS company’s seed round and its Series A stretched past 24 months by early 2025, up from roughly 18 months in 2020, according to Carta’s Q1 2025 private markets data, the longest lag the firm had measured in six years. Bridge rounds filled part of that gap: 46% of seed financings in Q1 2025 were structured as bridge rounds, up from under 30% in 2022.
Figure 3: How much longer SaaS startups now wait between seed and Series A. Source: Carta, State of Private Markets Q1 2025.
For a topic related to funding pace, our SaaS growth rate benchmarks for 2026 cover how revenue growth expectations have shifted alongside these longer fundraising timelines.
Is venture capital concentrating in fewer, bigger SaaS deals?
Yes, sharply. Mega-rounds of $500 million or more captured 33% of all global venture funding in 2025, up from 24% in 2024, according to Crunchbase. In the US specifically, 70% of venture dollars, more than $200 billion, went to just 389 companies that raised rounds of $100 million or more.
Figure 4: How a 2025 venture round gets classified by size, and where the money went. Source: Crunchbase, 2025 data.
This is the same story visible in the AI share numbers above from a different angle: money is not spreading out across more SaaS companies, it is stacking into fewer rounds that happen to be larger and increasingly AI-branded.
Which funding stage improved the most in 2025?
Every priced stage got more expensive while getting harder to reach in the first half of 2025. Seed valuations rose 15%, Series A valuations rose 17%, and Series B valuations rose 25% year over year, while deal counts fell 13% at seed, 10% at Series A, and 5% at Series B, according to SaaStr’s analysis of Carta data through Q2 2025. Series B, though the smallest stage by deal volume, showed the best combination of rising prices and the smallest drop in deal count.
Figure 5: Relative positioning of each funding stage on valuation growth versus deal-count decline, H1 2025 vs H1 2024. Source: SaaStr, citing Carta data through Q2 2025.
Read this as directional. It comes from a blog’s synthesis of Carta’s numbers through the first half of 2025 rather than a full-year primary report, so treat the exact positioning as illustrative of the pattern rather than a precise coordinate.
Has SaaS pricing stabilized in 2026?
Some signs point that way. The down-round rate, the share of new rounds priced below the company’s prior valuation, fell to 11.4% in Q1 2026, back in line with 2019 and 2020 levels, according to Carta. That is down from 17% in Q3 2025, which was itself the lowest quarterly rate in nearly three years at the time.
Falling down rounds alongside rising median valuations tell a consistent story: the companies that do get funded in 2026 are, on average, priced with more confidence than at almost any point since the 2021 to 2022 peak. The catch is that fewer companies are reaching a term sheet at all.
The Bottom Line
The number that matters most for a SaaS founder in 2026 is not the total dollars invested, it is the 83% AI concentration figure. Capital has not simply grown, it has consolidated around a specific kind of company, and that reshapes what a competitive round looks like at every stage from seed to Series C. Valuations are up, down rounds are down, and the time between raises keeps stretching. If your company just closed a round, or is preparing to, getting the basics of your public-facing legal documents in order is one of the fastest, highest-impact steps before you start signing bigger customers or onboarding enterprise accounts. A terms and conditions generator handles that in minutes rather than weeks of drafting.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of SaaS funding went to AI startups in 2026? 83% of all capital raised by SaaS startups in the first quarter of 2026 went to AI-enabled companies, according to Carta’s State of Private Markets report published in May 2026.
How much total funding did startups raise in the first quarter of 2026? Startups raised $30.4 billion in Q1 2026, already running ahead of the same point in 2025, per Carta. Across all of venture capital, more than 60% of that money went to AI companies, the highest share Carta has recorded.
Are SaaS valuations still rising in 2026? Yes. Median SaaS seed valuations reached $19.8 million in Q3 2025, up from $14.7 million a year earlier, and Series B and Series C valuations climbed 17.2% and 12.5% year over year by Q1 2026, according to Carta.
Is the SaaS down-round rate improving in 2026? Yes. The down-round rate fell to 11.4% in Q1 2026, back in line with 2019 and 2020 levels, down from 17% in Q3 2025, according to Carta’s private markets data.
Sources and References
- Carta. (2026). “State of Private Markets: Q1 2026.” Published May 29, 2026. Aggregated cap table data from Carta’s platform.
- Carta. (2025). “SaaS Industry Spotlight, Q3 2025.” SaaS-specific seed and Series A valuation data.
- Carta. (2025). “State of Private Markets: Q3 2025.” Down-round rate, deal counts, overall market valuations.
- Carta. (2025). “State of Private Markets: Q1 2025.” Bridge round share, seed-to-Series A timing.
- Crunchbase News. (2025). Global 2025 venture funding total and AI share of investment.
- Crunchbase News. (2025). “Venture Capital Is Concentrating Faster Than Ever.” Mega-round and $100M+ round concentration data.
- SaaStr. (2025). Analysis of Carta data through Q2 2025 on valuation and deal-count changes by stage.
Note: All figures verified as of August 2026. SaaS funding data moves quickly, especially the AI concentration figures, so headline numbers here are refreshed at least twice a year.
