Where is the smartest money in startups going in 2026? A good way to find out is to look at Sequoia and a16z. Between them, they joined OpenAI’s $122 billion round, Anthropic’s $65 billion round, Waymo’s $16 billion round and Anduril’s $5 billion round.
But the headlines only show big numbers. They don’t tell you what the deals mean for you. In this article, we cover the biggest deals, the companies both firms backed, and what fast price jumps mean for your cap table.
Key Takeaways
- OpenAI closed $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation in March. a16z co-led the round and Sequoia took part.
- Anthropic’s $65 billion Series H at $965 billion was co-led by Sequoia, Altimeter, Dragoneer and Greenoaks. About $15 billion of it was previously committed hyperscaler capital.
- Both firms have fresh capital: a16z announced more than $15 billion in new funds in January, and Sequoia raised about $7 billion for its expansion strategy in April.
- Eight companies in this review took money from both firms in 2026: OpenAI, Waymo, The Boring Company, Kalshi, ElevenLabs, Temporal, Etched and Harvey.
- Defense and industrial capacity is a shared bet, from Anduril and Saronic to Hadrian, Mach Industries and Valar Atomics.
Why 2026 Is a Record Year for Venture Money
Startups worldwide raised a record $510 billion in the first half of 2026, based on Crunchbase data reported by SiliconANGLE. Two companies, OpenAI and Anthropic, took $217 billion of that, or 43 percent. In the second quarter, AI companies pulled in more than 70 percent of all the capital raised.
Sequoia and a16z both had plenty to spend. a16z announced five new funds in January, including a $6.75 billion growth fund. Sequoia’s expansion fund followed in April and was its first big raise since Alfred Lin and Pat Grady took over its leadership. The Next Web also noted that Sequoia joined Anthropic’s round in January after backing OpenAI earlier, which is not something venture firms have traditionally done.
Sequoia’s Biggest 2026 Investments
Sequoia’s largest checks went to frontier AI and to companies that build things in the physical world. It joined Anthropic’s $30 billion Series G at a $380 billion valuation in February, then co-led the Series H three months later, when Anthropic said its run-rate revenue had passed $47 billion. It was also one of three lead investors, along with Dragoneer and DST Global, in Waymo’s $16 billion round. The smaller deals are worth a look too:
- Ineffable Intelligence: Sequoia and Lightspeed co-led a $1.1 billion seed round at a $5.1 billion valuation, the largest seed round in Europe.
- Skild AI: Sequoia joined SoftBank’s $1.4 billion Series C, which valued the robotics software company at over $14 billion.
- ElevenLabs: Sequoia led a $500 million Series D at an $11 billion valuation.
- Valar Atomics: Sequoia led a $1 billion Series B in August at a $6 billion valuation, about triple the price of the company’s earlier round this year.
- Etched: Sequoia led the $300 million Series C at $10.3 billion in July, then joined the $700 million Series D at $21 billion in August.
- Mach Industries: Sequoia joined a $300 million Series C at $1.8 billion in June and a $600 million extension at $3.7 billion in September.
- Sierra: per CNBC, Sequoia took part in the $950 million Series E at $15.8 billion, led by Tiger Global and GV.
a16z’s Biggest 2026 Investments
a16z wrote its biggest checks through its growth and American Dynamism teams. It co-led OpenAI’s round with SoftBank, then co-led Anduril’s $5 billion Series H at a $61 billion valuation with Thrive Capital in May. In September it co-led Cognition’s $2 billion Series E at $48 billion, alongside Accel. Cognition said its run-rate revenue grew from $492 million to nearly $900 million between May and September, which goes some way toward explaining the price.
- Temporal: a16z led the $300 million Series D at $5 billion in February and came back for the September Series E.
- Digital Asset: a16z crypto led a $355 million round at about a $2 billion valuation in June, to grow the Canton Network for regulated finance.
- Saronic: a16z, already an investor, joined the $1.75 billion Series D at $9.25 billion led by Kleiner Perkins.
- Hadrian: a16z joined a $1.37 billion Series D at $7.87 billion in August.
- Mistral AI: a16z, also an existing investor, joined the EUR 3 billion Series D (about $3.49 billion) led by Samsung, which valued the company above EUR 21 billion.
Largest 2026 rounds involving Sequoia, a16z or both. Mistral’s round was EUR 3 billion and is shown at the dollar figure reported at announcement.
Where Sequoia and a16z Backed the Same Companies
Eight companies took money from both firms this year. Competing firms often share large late-stage rounds, and that pattern is clear here.
| Company | 2026 round | Size and valuation |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | Closed March 31 (a16z co-lead) | $122 billion; $852 billion post-money |
| Waymo | Announced February 2 (Sequoia co-lead) | $16 billion; $126 billion post-money |
| The Boring Company | Series D, September | $3 billion; $23 billion valuation |
| Kalshi | Series F, May 7 (Coatue led) | $1 billion; $22 billion valuation |
| ElevenLabs | Series D, February (Sequoia led) | $500 million; $11 billion valuation |
| Etched | Series C, July (Sequoia led); Series D, August | $300 million at $10.3 billion; $700 million at $21 billion |
| Temporal | Series E, September 14 (Lightspeed led) | $550 million; $12.55 billion valuation |
| Harvey | September 9 (Diffusion and Lightspeed co-led) | $550 million; $15.5 billion valuation |
Harvey shows how this works over time. Sequoia and GIC co-led it $200 million round at $11 billion in March, and both firms joined the September round.
Four Themes Behind the Deals
AI at every layer. The two portfolios span models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, Ineffable), chips (Etched), coding and legal agents (Cognition, Harvey), voice (ElevenLabs) and infrastructure such as Temporal, whose software keeps AI agents running when something fails. Revenue is catching up in places: Cognition said its run-rate revenue grew from $492 million to nearly $900 million between May and September.
Defense and industrial capacity. Anduril, Saronic, Hadrian, Mach and Valar all sell into national-security or energy demand. The Next Web reported that defense-tech startups raised about $35 billion from private investors in the first half of 2026.
Doubling down on winners. Sequoia appears in both Anthropic rounds, both Harvey rounds and both Mach tranches. a16z led Temporal’s Series D and came back for the Series E.
Financial infrastructure. Kalshi said its annualized trading volume rose from $52 billion to $178 billion in six months, while Digital Asset builds rails for banks and exchanges.
Valuation multiple between each company’s two most recent rounds in 2026. Figures come from the sources linked above.
What Fast Repricing Means for Your Cap Table
Look at the second chart again. Valuations rose between 1.4x and 4.9x within months. Most of us will never raise a billion dollars, but two lessons carry over to any startup.
Big up-rounds cost less dilution than you might expect. Divide the new money by the post-money valuation and you get roughly what existing holders give up. On the announced figures, Harvey’s $550 million at $15.5 billion sold about 3.5 percent, and Cognition’s $2 billion at $48 billion sold about 4.2 percent. Those are our own calculations. Option pool top-ups and secondary sales would change the real numbers, so model them properly.
Option prices go stale quickly. Under Treasury rules, a valuation is not reasonable if it ignores later information that could materially change the value, or if it was calculated more than 12 months earlier. A priced round at twice the old valuation is exactly that kind of information. Get a fresh 409A valuation before you grant more options, and check the timing with your tax adviser.
FAQs
It is the company’s value right after the new money goes in. OpenAI’s $852 billion post-money figure minus its $122 billion raise implies about $730 billion before the round.
Not always. OpenAI described its total as committed capital, and part of Anthropic’s Series H was money that cloud partners had pledged earlier. It is worth reading the fine print before you compare rounds.
Rarely. OpenAI said this round was the first time it raised more than $3 billion from individuals through bank channels. Most private rounds are still open only to institutions and accredited investors.
Venture firms have usually avoided backing direct rivals in the same sector. The Next Web described Sequoia’s move as a break from that habit.
It gives the lead investor a direct say in how the company is run. Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire joined Valar’s board, and Sequoia’s Andrew Reed joined ElevenLabs’ board
Your Equity Should Be Ready Before the Round Is
Sequoia and a16z spent 2026 backing the same handful of ideas: frontier AI, agents, defense manufacturing and financial infrastructure. The bigger lesson for everyone else is what those rounds do to a company’s ownership table and to the price of its stock. You don’t need a mega-round to run into that. Every priced round changes who owns what and what common stock is worth, and it is much easier to handle when your records are clean and your valuation is current before the term sheet arrives.
That is where Eqvista can help. It puts cap table management and 409A valuations in one place, so you can model a new round, see who owns what and keep option pricing up to date as your company grows. Take a look at the Eqvista services and get your cap table ready for the next round.
