New VC Funds 2026: Who Just Raised and Who Is Deploying
A fund that just closed has a clock running. Which vehicles announced fresh capital, how much they have deployed, and how to sort them into a target list.
New VC Funds 2026: Who Just Raised and Who Is Deploying
New VC funds 2026 closed at pace: Carta recorded 86 new venture funds and $3.9 billion raised in Q1 2026, the most funds in any first quarter since 2022. Those funds had deployed about 28% of committed capital, leaving 72% as dry powder and making recently closed vehicles the highest-yield names on a target list.
Every roundup of 2026 fund closes reads like a press digest. The question that changes your week is which of those vehicles still has money it is obliged to spend.
As of August 7, 2026, the hard data here covers Q1 2026 for fund closes and deployment, and Q2 2026 for dry powder and fund formation. Carta, PitchBook and NVCA publish quarterly, weeks after each quarter ends, while firms announce closes continuously. Every figure carries its period.
New VC funds 2026 by the numbers
Fund formation is splitting in two: record first-quarter fund counts underneath, extreme concentration on top.
| Metric | Latest reported figure | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New venture funds closed on Carta | 86 funds, $3.9B raised, most in any Q1 since 2022 | Q1 2026 | Carta |
| Deployed by those funds | About 28%, leaving 72% dry powder | Q1 2026 | Carta |
| Share of all VC raised by a16z, Thrive and Founders Fund | 48.1% | Q2 2026 | PitchBook-NVCA |
| Dry powder in funds two to five years old | About 50%, near the record 54.4% a quarter earlier | Q2 2026 | PitchBook |
| First-time fund formation | Lowest annual pace since 2016 | Q2 2026 | PitchBook-NVCA |
Two rows do the work: 72% of Q1 2026 fund capital was still uninvested (Carta), and roughly half of all dry powder sat in two-to-five-year-old funds in Q2 2026 (PitchBook).
VC fund closes 2026: who announced fresh capital
The biggest 2026 raises are large, specialised, and mostly not pointed at your round.
- Andreessen Horowitz raised more than $15 billion across new strategies in 2026: $1.176 billion for American Dynamism, $1.7 billion for Apps, $700 million for Bio and Health, $1.7 billion for Infrastructure, $6.75 billion for Growth and $3 billion for other venture strategies (a16z).
- Index Ventures announced $3.5 billion in 2026: a $400 million seed fund, a $900 million venture fund and a $2.2 billion growth fund (Index Ventures).
- The volume sits below the headlines. The 86 funds counted on Carta in Q1 2026 (Carta) are the vehicles that actually lead seed rounds.
Growth alone took $6.75 billion of the a16z raise, so the only line in that announcement concerning a pre-seed founder is the strategy split. Concentration is the second trap: deals of at least $100 million captured 87.5% of the $412.7 billion deployed in H1 2026 (PitchBook-NVCA).
Do new venture funds deploy faster than older ones?
Newer funds are actively buying, but the newest fund is rarely the one with the most capital left.
Carta puts Q1 2026-vintage funds at about 28% of committed capital deployed and 2025-vintage funds at about 35%. That gap is narrow, so treat anything closed in roughly the last 18 months as equally live.
Age is the sharper filter. Funds raised before 2021 had invested roughly 90% of available capital, leaving about 10% for follow-ons and strategic needs (Carta). A 2019-vintage partner still takes meetings; that capital is largely spoken for.
The newest fund is not the richest fund. About half of private-market dry powder sat in vehicles two to five years old in Q2 2026 (PitchBook).
Emerging managers 2026: what first-time fund managers can and cannot do
An emerging manager buys you speed and partner attention; an established platform buys you reserves and signal.
AngelList treats a manager with fewer than three funds, or a fund under $200 million, as emerging, and put emerging managers at roughly 14% of the venture capital market in 2024.
| Dimension | Emerging manager | Established firm |
|---|---|---|
| Median IRR since 1997 | Has outperformed established GPs (PitchBook) | The benchmark being beaten |
| Supply in 2026 | Lowest first-time fund formation since 2016 | Three firms took 48.1% of capital raised (PitchBook-NVCA) |
| Ask them for | A lead check at seed, speed, partner time | Reserves, brand signal, Series B capacity |
Pitch first-time fund managers, but never build a list of only first-time fund managers, because first-time fund formation was on pace for its lowest year since 2016 (PitchBook-NVCA). A Fund I manager is also building the record that decides whether Fund II exists, which makes conviction, not politeness, the thing that closes them.
Which VCs have dry powder: the five-minute check
Check the vehicle before the brand. Dry powder is capital LPs have committed but the fund has not yet invested, and Carta says it stays reserved for suitable investments rather than sitting in a bank account as cash.
- Find the vintage year. It predicts remaining new-deal capital better than any other public field.
- Read the strategy split, not the headline. One a16z press number covered six strategies, which means six separate mandates.
- Do not skip the two-to-five-year band, holding roughly half of dry powder in Q2 2026 (PitchBook).
- Filter on sector first. AI took 86% of venture dollars in H1 2026 (PitchBook-NVCA), so outside AI, thesis fit decides whether the meeting happens.
- Confirm the fund leads at your stage. Announcing FV X in 2025, Felicis said more than 93% of its prior fund went into seed and Series A rounds it led or co-led (Felicis).
How to turn a fund list into a pitch list
A list of 2026 fund closes is raw material, and sorting it is the actual work.
- Sort by close date and stage fit, in that order. A 2026 growth vehicle is a worse target than a 2023 seed fund with capital left.
- Work the sourcing tools, not the news cycle. Start with how to find investors for a startup in 2026, then pick tooling using the best VC databases to find investors in 2026.
Market data tells you what is normal. It does not tell you which funds are actually deploying into your stage and sector right now. Causo matches you to the investors most likely to fund you and drafts the outreach. The concrete next step is the list of seed funds writing checks this quarter.
FAQ
Which VCs raised new funds in 2026? Andreessen Horowitz announced more than $15 billion across new strategies in 2026, and Index Ventures announced $3.5 billion including a $400 million seed fund. Underneath those names, investors on Carta closed 86 new venture funds worth $3.9 billion in Q1 2026, the most in any first quarter since 2022. The smaller closes are your addressable pool at seed.
Do new VC funds deploy faster than established funds? They deploy, but the gap is narrower than founders assume. Carta reported that funds closed in Q1 2026 had put about 28% of committed capital to work, while 2025-vintage funds had invested about 35%. Age is the sharper break: pre-2021 funds had invested roughly 90% of available capital, leaving about 10% mostly for follow-ons.
Should I pitch a first-time VC fund manager? Yes, as part of a list rather than as the whole list. PitchBook reports that emerging VC managers have outperformed established GPs on median IRR since 1997, though that history says nothing about any individual manager. The trade-off is reserves, since AngelList treats a fund under $200 million as emerging.
How do I find VCs with dry powder? Check vintage year, close date, deployment pace and strategy split before you check the brand. PitchBook found that about 50% of private-market dry powder sat in funds two to five years old in Q2 2026, near the prior-quarter record of 54.4%. The newest fund is not automatically the one with the most left to spend.
What is dry powder in venture capital? Dry powder is capital that limited partners have committed to a fund but that the fund has not yet invested. Carta says it stays available for suitable investments rather than sitting in a bank account as ordinary cash. For a founder it tests whether a fund can write your check at all, which matters more than how recently it was announced.
Related on the hub
- AI Startup Funding This Quarter: Deals, Sizes, Valuations — Related fundraising basics guide.
- The VC fundraising process in 2026: inside the firm — Related vc process guide.
- European Startup Funding This Quarter: 2026 Data by Market — Related regional guide.
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