Axios · Lucinda Shen ·

A record 42 startups became decacorns so far in 2026, beating 2021's 34; PitchBook: the average time to hit $10B dropped to 5.5 years in 2025 vs. 9.4 in 2020

We're in the golden age of decacorns.

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A record 42 startups became decacorns so far in 2026, beating 2021's 34; PitchBook: the average time to hit $10B dropped to 5.5 years in 2025 vs. 9.4 in 2020

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Axios — A record 42 startups became decacorns so far in 2026, beating 2021's 34; PitchBook: the average time to hit $10B dropped to 5.5 years in 2025 vs. 9.4 in 2020 ↗

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Crunchbase News: California startups have raised a record $385B across seed to growth rounds so far in 2026, or 75%+ of all US startup funding; early and seed stage raised ~$62B

Wall Street Journal: PitchBook: 4,000+ California-based startups have raised ~$366B in venture capital in 2026 so far, more than triple the total of all other 49 US states combined

Crunchbase News: North American startup funding hit $92B in Q3, down 35% QoQ but up 50% YoY, with $61B to AI startups; there were 11 $1B+ acquisitions and IPOs remained quiet

Financial Times: PitchBook: VCs have invested $4B+ in quantum computing companies YTD, almost as much as in all of 2025, which nearly matched the previous four years combined

Crunchbase News: Chip giants participated in startup funding rounds collectively valued at $250B+ YTD; Nvidia leads the sector with a record 59 known rounds, up from 53 in 2025

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