Greater China Deals Barometer Report: Startups kick off 2026 with robust 26.6% MoM rise in funding

Greater China startups began 2026 on a solid footing as investors expedited deal closures ahead of the over-a-week-long Chinese New Year holiday between February 15-23.

In the seasonal surge, startups headquartered in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan collectively raised more than $6.9 billion in January through the completion of 258 deals, show proprietary data compiled by DealStreetAsia.

January’s funding total was 26.6% higher than in December 2025, while the number of deals increased by 11.7% in the period.

The growth in the monthly financing was even more prominent on a year-over-year (YoY) basis—more than doubling from January 2025, when about $2.9 billion was raised across 248 investments.

Although January’s momentum is expected to wane in February, the strong start to 2026 signalled strong investor appetite for policy-aligned industries, including Software—particularly for artificial intelligence (AI)-centric solutions and products—Semiconductor, Pharmaceuticals, and Medical Devices.

Moreover, a rise in the number of megadeals, or investments of $100 million and above, and more financing into startups beyond the Series A stage suggest a maturing market where capital is increasingly concentrated in sectoral leaders with a sound business model.

Megadeals grow further

January saw 19 megadeals raise $4.3 billion, or 62.3% of the total financing in the month, continuing the trend of growing big-ticket transactions since December—a sign of investor confidence in maturing and high-growth industries.

Compared to December, when 15 megadeals collectively raised over $3.2 billion, January witnessed a 34.4% increase in the overall value of megadeals.

Across industries, Software—particularly developers of AI and machine learning-powered software solutions—dominated the month’s dealmaking scene with 31 transactions that raised north of $1.4 billion.

StepFun and Moonshot AI, the country’s two AI leaders developing capital-intensive large language models (LLMs), secured the only two deals at or above the $500 million mark.

StepFun, which has embedded its AI models into over 42 million smartphones with a goal to power over one million vehicles in 2026, raised $716.9 million in a Series B+ round from investors like Tencent Holdings and Qiming Venture Partners, marking January’s largest financing.

Moonshot AI’s oversubscribed, IDG-led $500 million Series C round was next in line. The company’s founder, Yang Zhilin, said in an internal letter that, with ample cash reserves, the company is in no rush to go public.

Behind Software, Semiconductor ranked as the second most sought-after industry for Greater China-focused private markets investors, with 26 deals raising well over $1 billion.

Featuring successful fundraisers including seven AI chipmakers, and 19 traditional chip foundries and supply chain players, Semiconductor recorded four megadeals all denominated in Chinese yuan.

Among them were Sunrise, an AI chip spinoff from Hong Kong-listed SenseTime, whose fundraising efforts in the past 12 months landed it $286.8 million in strategic financing; Artificial Intelligence of Thing (AIoT) chip solutions provider NetForward, which pocketed $143.4 million in a Series C round; and CPU developer Barrie Tech, which also raised $143.4 million.

There was also one sizeable acquisition in the Semiconductor industry, in which a Chinese consortium led by Shanghai-listed VeriSilicon Microelectronics acquired video and pixel processing chips maker Pixelworks Semiconductor for an equivalent of $134.8 million.

While dealmaking at Series A and earlier funding stages remained the most frequent—146 deals in January—Series B captured the most financing, indicating investor appetite for writing more sizeable cheques at the later stage.

With just 32 deals, Series B round gathered a total of over $1.6 billion, representing 23.5% of January’s financing.

This was largely driven by StepFun’s $716.9-million Series B+ round and another two Series B-stage transactions, namely new energy business Haier Energy‘s $143.4-million deal and prefabricated data centre products provider EPG’s “nine-figure US dollar” financing, which put its fundraising size at an estimated $100 million, or perhaps above.

List of top investors features a mix of backgrounds

The top investors’ rankings of January featured a blend of state-affiliated and private capital groups, reflecting a mix of financial, strategic, and policy-driven investment mindsets.

The state-owned Oriza Holdings, which has over 130 billion yuan ($18.7 billion) in cumulative assets under management (AUM), emerged as the most active investment group of the month. Through direct investments and dealmaking by four of its early- to late-stage platforms, Oriza Holdings participated in 11 investments worth a combined $260.7 million.

Hillhouse-backed venture capital (VC) firm GL Ventures, the hardtech-focused CAS Star, HSG, and Chinese conglomerate Legend Holdings also made it to the list of top five investors.

Note: In our monthly analysis for January 2026, we have put together detailed charts of prominent deals, deal stages, and the most attractive sectors in the Greater China region.

Our database only considers deals officially announced by the related investee, investor(s), and/or financial advisor, while information based on market rumours and news reports citing sources is excluded.

Lynn Huang contributed to this story.