Established venture firms maintained their grip on U.S. startup funding in Q2, with General Catalyst leading post-seed deal volume at 39 investments, followed by Y Combinator at 34 and Andreessen Horowitz at 28. More than two-thirds of these deals targeted AI-focused startups, underscoring the sector's continued dominance of capital allocation. Y Combinator's high count reflects its model of non-lead follow-on investments in accelerator graduates, while General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz appeared consistently across all ranking categories.

When measuring lead investors specifically, Andreessen Horowitz topped the list with 17 led rounds, while Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst tied at 13 each. At least 12 firms led or co-led six or more venture rounds. The highest-spending ranking told a different story: Anthropic's $50 billion Series H dominated, with 10 co-leads sharing the massive round alongside Google's $10 billion tranche and Amazon's $5 billion commitment. Twenty-three investors participated in rounds valued at $2 billion or more.

At the seed stage, Y Combinator remained unchallenged with 225 deals, dwarfing second-place Antler and third-place Lvl Up Ventures. The accelerator's volume reflects its pipeline strategy rather than check size.

The data reveals a bifurcated market: mega-rounds for AI foundation models concentrate capital among a handful of deep-pocketed backers, while early-stage volume stays dispersed. Investors should watch whether Q3 sustains this pace or if the Anthropic-scale outliers mask a broader slowdown in mid-tier dealmaking.