Following news last month that New York’s hottest venture firm, Thrive, just raised $10 billion for a new fund — its largest ever, double the previous one — another big-name VC firm is attempting to equal that raise. General Catalyst is in talks to raise $10 billion, unnamed sources tell Bloomberg. This firm, which has recast itself as a broader financial services company, raised $8 billion just a couple of years ago in 2024.
Meanwhile, Spark Capital is trying to raise $3 billion, sources tell The Information, which would also be a big boost from its previous funds. And, as TechCrunch just exclusively reported, Founders Fund is about to close a new $6 billion fund, too.
All of this follows Andreessen Horowitz’s $15 billion in new funding announced in January.
Venture firms were already sitting on a record amount of so-called dry powder, meaning money available but not yet invested, at the end of 2025, according to the year-end report by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association. But 2026 is already shaping up as a year of bigger and more, at least for venture firms with name recognition and enviable portfolios.
The obvious prediction is that VCs have plenty of money to keep fueling seed-stage AI startups with huge initial rounds and valuations. Record-breaking funding rounds for startups (as long as they are AI) will likely continue to be the new normal for 2026.
