US venture deal value hits record $515.8B, but exits lag behind

US venture capital deal value reached a record $515.8 billion in the first nine months of 2026, driven largely by giant AI rounds for OpenAI and Anthropic, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. Exit activity has not kept pace, with third-quarter exit value heavily dependent on SpaceX's $60 billion all-stock purchase of Anysphere, and IPOs remaining sparse.