PitchBook: US venture funding hits $412.7B in first half as AI deals dominate U.S. venture capital deal value hit $412.7 billion in the first half of 2026, nearly 30% more than investors put to work in all of last year — and a small cluster of giant artificial intelligence rounds accounted for almost the entire jump. That’s according to the second-quarter PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor report released Wednesday night. Artificial intelligence companies took $355.9 billion of the total, some 86% o...