Research
Reports from the FundingWatcher investor and startup files.
40% of Product Hunt's top launches from 2015 to 2018 still run on their domain. Startup Launch List is now a casino
Of the 1,461 most upvoted Product Hunt launches of each day from 2015 to 2018, 591 (40.5%) still run the same product on the same domain, 149 domains no longer resolve and 48 serve gambling sites.
YC's 2015 to 2019 batches made 43 unicorns. Techstars' made 7.
Of 1,324 YC companies from the 2015 to 2019 batches, 43 carry a unicorn tag; of 1,484 Techstars accelerator companies from the same years, 7 are unicorns by Techstars' own count.
AI Startup Funding 2026 Statistics (Updated October)
45 AI startup funding statistics for 2026: AI totals and share of venture funding, generative AI and model makers, deal sizes, countries, research findings, plus FundingWatcher counts of AI startups by year.
Startup Funding 2026 Statistics (Updated October)
60 startup funding statistics for 2026: global and US venture totals, seed round sizes and valuations, who gets funded, how VCs pick deals, exits and survival, plus FundingWatcher counts from 166,059 funded startups.
Startup funding by country and city, 2026
Venture rounds from January to September 2026 by country and city: 15,185 rounds, $286.1B; $97.9B in rounds under $100M; $61.0B in early-stage rounds under $100M.
Rivals raised SaaS prices as often as private equity did, but only 5% hid them (PE: 33%)
20 SaaS companies without private equity, matched by category and size to companies in our private equity census and checked on the same Wayback dates, raised prices at 45% (private equity 44%) and took them off the page at 5% (private equity 33%).
San Francisco has as many AI startups as the entire EU
FundingWatcher lists 4,067 funded AI startups in San Francisco and 4,147 in all 27 EU countries combined; the San Francisco companies raised $529.5 billion, 8.9 times the EU's $59.8 billion.
Product Hunt used to be indie hackers. Now it is dominated by funded startups
On four hand-checked days in 2016 and 2020, 3 of 12 top-three Product Hunt products came from funded companies; on two days in 2025, all 6 did.
71% of SaaS companies bought by private equity raised or hid their prices
Of 75 software companies that listed prices before a private equity deal, 53 have since raised them or taken them off the pricing page; 2,273 deals from 2008 to 2025 checked on the Wayback Machine.
Since 2022, .ai has made more unicorns than .com
Of the 51 unicorns founded in 2022 or later, 20 use a .ai domain and 17 a .com, from 6,342 and 22,261 funded startups.
Angel Investor 2026 Statistics (Updated September)
45 angel investor statistics for 2026: how many angels there are, how much they invest, what they fund, how often they say yes, and what the research says about angel money, plus FundingWatcher counts from 23,916 angels.
Venture Capital 2026 Statistics (Updated September)
42 venture capital statistics for 2026: money invested, AI share, fund counts, fundraising concentration, returns and exits, plus FundingWatcher counts from 24,254 VC firms.
Women in Venture Capital 2026 Statistics (Updated September)
40 statistics on women in venture capital for 2026: women partners and investment staff in the US, UK and Europe, women-led funds, returns research and funding to female founders, plus FundingWatcher counts of women-focused investors.
Y Combinator 2026 Statistics (Updated September)
68 Y Combinator statistics for 2026: companies funded, acceptance rate, unicorns, valuation, exits, batch sizes, plus FundingWatcher counts from YC's directory.
For every unicorn founded a decade ago, 57 seed startups are dead
Of 30,826 seed-stage startups founded 2015 to 2017, 170 became unicorns and about 9,710 are dead, 57 for each unicorn; 31.9% raised a Series A or later.
1 in 35 old Product Hunt launches is now a casino
About 1,230 Product Hunt launch domains from 2014 to 2019 now serve casinos, slots or betting, from 69 of 2,400 sampled (2.9%); launches with 100+ upvotes were hit almost twice as often.
YC broke up with .com in 2022
.com covered 95.5% of Winter 2011 YC companies with a domain and 47.5% of Summer 2026; .ai went from zero to a high of 37.0% in Summer 2025.
Accel backed CrowdStrike and SentinelOne, and 68 more pairs of competitors
Accel holds 69 pairs of portfolio companies that describe the same product, against 15.76 expected from a random portfolio of the same size.
YC batches got twice as likely to repeat an earlier YC company, from 18% to 47%
A 2013 to 2019 YC batch had a close match among 500 earlier YC companies for 18.3% of its companies; in Summer 2025 it was 46.5%.