Black founders raise the largest amount of quarterly funding since 2022, but there’s a problem

According to the latest Crunchbase data on Black founders, $643 million has flowed into Black-founded startups in the US since the beginning of the year — an amount not seen since 2022, when Black founders raised $653 million in funding.

For context, Black founders raised $942 million in total venture funds last year (that’s 0.32% of the total $290 billion, according to Crunchbase estimates). This means that in just a few months, Black founders have already raised nearly 70% of what they raised all of last year.

Leading this funding is just a handful of deals (34, to be exact, per Crunchbase), most notably the $350 million Series E raised by AI hardware company SambaNova, followed by sports prediction startup Noviq (which raised a $75 million Series B) and YC-backed AI insurance platform Harper (which raised $47 million). However, while the $643 million raised so far is a record amount compared to the past few years, Crunchbase notes that it’s still very small compared to the $252 billion raised by US startups overall in the same period, and doesn’t really indicate that much progress has been made.

Speaking to TechCrunch, Crunchbase head of research Jenny Terry said factors that appear to be holding many black founders back include “access to networks, relationships and early introductions,” even in the “increasingly AI-focused funding market of 2026.”

“We’ve been through eight to nine quarters of declining venture funding, but Crunchbase data shows a continuing decline in funding for Black-founded businesses that outpaces the overall decline in startup funding,” she continued.

Right now, it’s still unclear what might happen next – there could be 34 more big deals during the quarter, or there could be literally none. In some ways, this is a reflection of the market, which has been described as overweight and/or bifurcated for the way certain groups, such as some investment funds, have struggled to raise capital.

“One has to wonder whether the excess caution now prevalent in the industry has prevented investors from exploiting first-time founders who are likely to be diversified,” Terry said.