{"id":9177,"date":"2026-06-12T03:12:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T00:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/the-100m-round-is-now-just-your-typical-late-stage-financing\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T03:12:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T00:12:01","slug":"the-100m-round-is-now-just-your-typical-late-stage-financing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handoli.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/the-100m-round-is-now-just-your-typical-late-stage-financing\/","title":{"rendered":"The $100M+ Round Is Now Just Your Typical Late-Stage Financing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 2018, in the early days of Crunchbase News, we created a category called the \u201cSupergiant Round<\/a>\u201d to refer to startup financings of $100 million or more. Fast-forward to today, and those parameters look laughably puny.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only is a round of $100 million not remarkably large anymore, it\u2019s not even atypical. Per Crunchbase data, the median U.S. late-stage round this year was exactly $100 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, if $100 million is supergiant, what do you call something more than 1,000x bigger, like <\/span>OpenAI<\/span><\/a>\u2019s <\/span>record-setting<\/span><\/a> round this spring? That company\u2019s chatbot suggests terms such as \u201cleviathan,\u201d \u201ccolussus\u201d or \u201ctitan.\u201d Another option would be to recognize that what was once a legit supergiant round is today just a humdrum, everyday kind of deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

The $100M+ round over 10 years<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The rise of the $100 million-plus round hasn\u2019t been chronologically linear, as charted below:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Initially, the category gained traction in the late 2010s, as companies such as <\/span>Uber<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Rivian<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>WeWork<\/span><\/a> scaled up late-stage financing in advance of plans for public offerings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Around the peak of the 2021 bull market, the volume of \u201csupergiant\u201d rounds hit a cyclical peak. Dealmaking fell in subsequent years before picking up again with the rise of the AI funding wave.<\/span><\/p>\n

Notably, more money than ever is now going into jumbo-sized rounds. However, as capital gets concentrated among a handful of hot names, deal volumes remain well below the prior peak.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, trends are looking up. So far this year, investors have backed 250 startup financings of $100 million or more. That puts 2026 on track for a year-over-year gain in deal count. Capital raised, meanwhile, is already at record-setting levels thanks to giant rounds for OpenAI, <\/span>Anthropic<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and others.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Median round on the rise<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In tandem, the size of the median late-stage round has also risen. Per Crunchbase data, the typical financing at this stage has roughly doubled since 2020, from just over $50 million to around $100 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

And it\u2019s not a small cohort either. So far this year, U.S. startups have secured 250 rounds of $100 million or more, per Crunchbase data. Of those, half were for $200 million or more. Eighteen were for $1 billion more.<\/span><\/p>\n

Valuations moving higher too, obviously<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Of course, you don\u2019t get ginormous startup financings without rapidly escalating valuations as well. And this year has been exceptional in delivering those.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among U.S. startups that raised $100 million or more this year, 21 had pre-money valuations of $10 billion or more, per Crunchbase data.1<\/a> Two of those \u2014 Anthropic and OpenAI \u2014 have filed confidentially for IPOs that could reportedly set valuations close to $1 trillion.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom line: Startup investors aren\u2019t just putting unprecedented sums into giant rounds;\u00a0 they\u2019re expecting record-setting returns as well. We\u2019ll see in coming months if public markets deliver.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related Crunchbase query:<\/strong><\/h2>\n