Though a record $242 billion in AI venture funding in Q1 2026 suggests founders have the leverage, the complex deal structures being negotiated reveal a more nuanced battle for boardroom control as valuations soar past $900 billion.
Startups · Venture Capital
From SiFive's $3.65 billion chip-design round to Anthropic's massive shadow funding, late-stage AI and infrastructure deals concentrate capital among hedge funds and strategic giants, leaving less room for early-stage backers.
Startups · Venture Capital
As venture fundraising fell 35% in 2025 and institutional money crowded into top-tier firms, emerging managers were forced to rewrite the fund-formation playbook.
Venture · AI Infrastructure
April's $56 billion venture haul masks a deepening split, as AI and infrastructure companies like Integrant race from Series A to pre-IPO in under a year, leaving later funds and loose pitches crowded out by structural risk.
From participation caps to compounding liquidation preferences, term sheets are growing teeth again as the era of founder-friendly money recedes.
Venture Capital · Deal Mechanics
As structured deals with liquidation preferences, participation caps, and ratchet protections proliferate across startup funding rounds, press releases keep silent on the fine print that decides founder dilution and investor payouts.
Startups · Venture Capital
Q1 2026 shattered venture capital records with $122B deployed, but the spoils went exclusively to AI founders as deal count hit a five-year low and non-AI startups faced creeping liquidation preferences and a new era of founder power imbalance.
Startups · Deal Flow
Venture term sheets in 2026 feature participation caps, MFN ratchets, and liquidation preferences that are more creative—and more punitive—than in a decade, redrawing cap tables for years even as capital flows.
Startups · Venture Capital
Cooley's Q1 2026 data shows that structured terms like multiple liquidation preferences and participation caps are now standard in venture capital, as investors protect against downside risk in a wave of down rounds.
Startups · Venture Capital
Secondary offers doubling a company’s valuation in weeks show the traditional funding ladder has collapsed into a single continuous price-discovery event.
Startups · VC
The $122B headline is the Series-AI-9. The term sheet behind it includes a 3x participation cap most coverage has skipped, and one anti-dilution provision that will shape every venture round in the category for the next year.
Startups · VC
Series A median is $42M post. Three rounds in April closed at five times that, and the term sheets share a feature. The one that did not close at $200M is the more interesting story.