How TIME and Statista Determined America's Top Venture Capital Firms of 2026

—Photo-illustration by TIME; Lari Bat/Getty Images TIME has published the second annual "America’s Top Venture Capital Firms” ranking, in partnership with Statista, the leading global provider of market and consumer data and rankings, to recognize 350 firms at the forefront of the U.S. venture capital landscape.

Methodology This year, we further developed the model, building on last year's foundation while incorporating direct feedback from the venture capital community.

Based on conversations with VC firms and industry experts on how the market defines success, we refined the methodology by expanding it from three to four pillars and placing a stronger focus on deal-level investment data—capturing a firm's ability to identify and back winning companies early, and to sustain that conviction over time, while also recognizing the hands-on work investors do beyond simply writing checks.

Eligibility To be considered, a firm must be headquartered in the United States and, as a core part of its business model, raise third-party capital and deploy it as direct venture capital funding to companies and startups across various venture stages and sectors.

Firms whose investment activities are exclusively or predominantly focused on growth equity, private equity, fund-of-funds, venture debt, or similar non-VC-focused strategies are not eligible.

The four pillars Fundraising Strength (30%) captures a firm's ability to consistently attract and grow investor capital over time.

It was measured by analyzing total capital raised across one-, five-, and ten-year horizons complemented by fundraising momentum indicators to assess both the scale and trajectory of each firm’s fundraising activity.

New in this edition: the ten-year horizon, added in response to market feedback that a single strong vintage shouldn't overshadow a sustained track record.

Investment Capacity & Activity (20%) reflects the operational firepower a firm brings to bear and the pace at which it deploys it.

It was evaluated using each firm's assets under management and available capital, alongside deal volume across one-, five-, and ten-year windows, capturing both the scale of its investment operations and the intensity of its current deployment activity.

New in this edition: deal volume, so this dimension reflects not only the capital a firm holds, but the rate at which it actually puts that capital to work.

Performance & Conviction (40%) assesses each firm's ability to identify and back winning companies early, and to sustain that conviction over time.