2026 Outlook: US Venture Capital

The PitchBook 2026 Outlook webinar series, hosted by our expert analysts, explores shifting private market expectations for the year ahead. With the most comprehensive, reliable, and timely intelligence, you will never miss a beat.

VC continued to face liquidity and fundraising challenges in 2025, despite an uptick in flashy IPOs and billion-dollar acquisitions. However, this past year laid important groundwork for a sustained recovery in venture activity.

In this webinar, our analysts shared their perspectives on what lies ahead for the US VC market in 2026, covering where capital is flowing, sector-specific opportunities, predictions for IPOs and secondaries, and more.

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Key themes

The early-stage market will see a surge in deal activity.
Late-stage VC deal activity is set to remain strong, with venture growth expanding further by value.
Liquidity will return, though recovery will remain uneven.
Fundraising has bottomed out, and a gradual rebound awaits as distributions and LP sentiment improve.

Featuring

Kyle Stanford, CAIA

Director, VC Research
Kyle Stanford is the director of US venture capital research at PitchBook, where he oversees a team of analysts covering the US venture market. He has developed PitchBook’s coverage areas within nontraditional VC investment, venture debt and VC ecosystem development, as well as our breakout of the venture growth stage of the VC market. He also contributes to quarterly core reports, produces thematic analyst notes on various topics and speaks at industry conferences such as SXSW and Collision. He is regularly cited in top-tier publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and Axios, and has been featured in segments on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Yahoo Finance. Prior to this role, he worked on PitchBook’s publishing team, building custom reports across all asset classes and managing the development of analyst core research reports. 

Stanford received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Washington and is a CAIA charterholder. He is based in PitchBook’s Seattle office. 
Emily Zheng

Senior Research Analyst, Venture Capital
Emily Zheng is a senior research analyst at PitchBook, where she covers major trends and evolving themes in US venture capital through quarterly core reports and thematic analyst notes. Prior to this role, Zheng was a private banker at J.P. Morgan, where she provided wealth management solutions and advice to affluent individuals, families, endowments, and foundations throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Zheng received a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in Public Policy Analysis and Economics from Pomona College. She also holds the Securities Industry Essentials, Series 7, Series 63, and Series 65 licenses. She is based in PitchBook’s Seattle office.
Susan Hu

Quantitative Research Analyst<br/>
Susan Hu is a quantitative research analyst at PitchBook, where she contributes to data-driven research across private market asset classes. Prior to this role, Hu worked as a senior data analyst, supporting the US venture capital research team at PitchBook. She has contributed to the development of PitchBook’s breakout of the venture growth and pre-seed stages of the VC market.

Hu received a master’s degree in information systems and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Washington. She also holds a master’s degree in data science from the University of Texas. She is based in PitchBook’s Seattle office.

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2026 Outlook: US Venture Capital

Key themes

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