Startup valuation: how it is set, and the biggest valuation jumps of 2026
How a startup's valuation is set in a funding round, what pre-money and post-money mean, why most rounds never state one, and the startups whose valuation rose most in 2026, with both valuations linked to their sources.
A startup valuation is the price investors agree a private company is worth when they buy into it, set by negotiation in each funding round rather than by a market. Most rounds never state one. Among the startups on Recent Funding, 12 companies have a stated valuation for a 2026 round and for the round before it, both linked to a source, and those are the ones whose rise this year can actually be measured.
How a valuation is set
A startup has no share price to look up. Its valuation is whatever the lead investor in a round agrees to, based on:
- Traction: revenue, growth rate, usage, and how repeatable they look.
- The market: how large the opportunity is, and what comparable companies have been priced at recently.
- Competition for the round: several funds wanting to lead pushes the price up.
- The team, especially a founder who has built and sold a company before.
Pre-money and post-money
- Pre-money valuation is what the company is worth before the new money comes in.
- Post-money valuation is the pre-money value plus the new investment.
The difference matters for ownership: investors' stake is their investment divided by the post-money valuation. When an announcement just says "valued at", it usually means post-money, but not always, so read the source before comparing two companies.
Why most rounds have no valuation
Companies are not obliged to disclose a valuation, and most do not, especially early: a pre-seed or seed round raised on a SAFE has no agreed valuation at all until a later priced round. Valuations get reported mostly for large later-stage rounds, where the number is news in itself. That is why this list is short, and why it leans towards well-known companies.
The biggest valuation jumps of 2026
The rise is the company's valuation at its latest 2026 round, less its valuation at the round before it. Both valuations link to where they were reported; the rise is the difference between them. A company with only one stated valuation cannot appear here, however fast it grew.
| # | Company | Industry | Valuation before | Valuation after | Rise | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | other | $3B | $11B | +$8B | 3.7× | |
| 2 |  OpenEvidence | other | $6B | $12B | +$6B | 2.0× |
| 2 | trading-markets | $15B | $21B | +$6B | 1.4× | |
| 4 | other | $5B | $10.3B | +$5.3B | 2.1× | |
| 5 | data-analytics | $500M | $4B | +$3.5B | 8.0× | |
| 6 | ai-agents | $1.5B | $4.5B | +$3B | 3.0× | |
| 7 | other | $2.45B | $5.4B | +$2.95B | 2.2× | |
| 8 | ai | $520M | $2.6B | +$2.08B | 5.0× | |
| 9 | ai | $740M | $2B | +$1.26B | 2.7× | |
| 10 | ai | $3.1B | $4B | +$900M | 1.3× | |
| 11 | other | $650M | $1.5B | +$850M | 2.3× | |
| 12 | ai | $5.55B | $5.6B | +$50M | 1.0× |
The largest absolute rise belongs to ElevenLabs, and the largest multiple to micro1, whose valuation grew several times over between its two rounds. Polymarket is the only crypto company in the list. Every profile has the full raise history: see ElevenLabs, micro1 and Polymarket.
Reading valuation news carefully
- Check which valuation it is. Pre-money and post-money differ by the size of the round.
- Check that the round closed. Reports that a company is "in talks to raise at" a valuation describe a price being sought, not one agreed. We only record valuations from rounds that were announced.
- Check the date. A valuation from a round a year ago says little about today.
Getting the data
The same ranking is in the API, with both valuations and their sources on every entry:
curl "https://recentfunding.com/api/v1/leaderboard?metric=gained_ytd&crypto=any&limit=5"For the startups that raised the most money this year, see the crypto startup leaderboard, and for the earliest rounds, pre-seed funding and Series A funding.