According to the latest data from Crunchbase about Black founders, $643 million has been invested in US Black-founded startups since the beginning of the year – an amount not seen since 2022, when Black founders raised $653 million in funding.
For context, Black founders raised $942 million of all venture dollars last year (that’s 0.32% of the $290 billion total, according to Crunchbase estimates). This means that in just a few months, Black founders have already raised almost 70% of the total amount raised last year.
There are only a handful of deals to run this funding (34 according to Crunchbase), most notably the $350 million Series E raised by AI hardware company Sambanova, followed by sports prediction startup Novick (which raised a $75 million Series B) and YC-backed AI insurance platform HarperCollins (which raised $47 million). Still, while the $643 million raised so far is a record amount compared to the past few years, Crunchbase says it’s still quite small compared to the $252 billion raised overall by US startups over the same period, and doesn’t really suggest that significant progress is being made.
Speaking to TechCrunch, Crunchbase head of research Janine Teare said the factors that are holding many Black founders back include “access to networks, relationships and early introductions,” she said, even “in the increasingly concentrated, AI-focused funding market of 2026.”
He added, “We’ve been eight to nine quarters into a recession in venture funding, but Crunchbase data shows a consistent decline in funding to Black-founded companies, which outpaced the overall decline in startup funding.”
For now, it’s unclear what might happen next – there could be 34 more big deals this quarter, or virtually nothing at all. In some ways, it’s a reflection of the market, which has been described as a barbell and or divided for the way some groups, even like some venture funds, have struggled to raise capital.
“One has to wonder whether the abundance of caution now prevalent in the industry has deterred investors from taking risks on first-time founders, who are more likely to be diversified,” Teare said.
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