NEW YORK CITY — U.S. Black-founded startups raised $643 million in venture capital in early 2026, according to Crunchbase data. The total marks the highest quarterly funding amount for Black founders since 2022, when they secured $653 million.
The $643 million was raised across 34 investment deals, Crunchbase reported. This quarter’s total represents nearly 70% of the $942 million Black founders raised throughout all of 2025, highlighting a strong start to the year despite ongoing challenges in the venture capital landscape.
Even with the recent uptick, funding for Black-founded companies remains a small fraction of overall U.S. startup investment. In early 2026, U.S. startups collectively raised $252 billion, meaning Black-founded ventures accounted for approximately 0.25% of the total. In 2025, Black founders received 0.32% of the $290 billion in total venture funding that year.
Gené Teare, Crunchbase’s head of research, said factors holding back many Black founders include “access to networks, relationships, and early introductions,” even in the “increasingly concentrated, AI-centric funding market of 2026.” She noted that venture funding has been in a prolonged downturn, now spanning eight to nine quarters, but added that funding to Black-founded companies has declined at a faster rate than the overall market. “We are eight to nine quarters into a venture funding downturn, but Crunchbase data has shown a persistent decline in funding to Black-founded companies that outpaces the overall decline in startup funding,” Teare said. She also suggested that current investor behavior may be reinforcing existing disparities. “One has to wonder if the abundance of caution that's now prevalent in the industry has prevented investors from taking chances on first-time founders who are more likely to be diverse,” she said.