John Whelan: AI start-ups taking lion’s share of investment funding in 2026

Apoorva Kumar, chief executive and co-founder of Disseqt AI.

The first quarter of 2026 was unlike any other for venture capital investment, driven by unprecedented spending on artificial intelligence (AI) by investors. Investment researchers show investors poured €260bn into 6,000 start-ups globally in the quarter, up over 150% year over year.

Nearly a quarter of Europe's startups are now AI-backed, and the growth rate is only expected to accelerate, with AI funding making up two-thirds of all VC deal value so far this year — but a handful of regions and sectors are doing most of the heavy lifting.