State of Pre-Seed: Q1 2026

Carta

Hamza Shad

Research

21 Pages

Carta finds that U.S. pre seed funding stabilized in Q1 2026, with roughly 3,000 startups raising more than $2.3 billion. The market is becoming more uneven, as smaller rounds grow more common, mid sized rounds shrink, and AI captures a rising share of early stage dollars.

Key Takeaways

Pre Seed Stabilized: Carta expects Q1 2026 pre seed cash raised to reach about $2.9 billion, broadly matching recent quarterly levels.
Middle Rounds Shrunk: Rounds between $1 million and $2.5 million fell from 24% of pre seed rounds in Q1 2023 to 18% in Q1 2026.
AI Share Rose: AI startups captured 50% of pre seed dollars in Q1 2026, up from roughly 30% just a few years ago.
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