| Measure | Q2 2025 | Q2 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Share of US deals | 6.4% | 6.0% |
| Share of US funding dollars | 7.4% | 0.90% |
All bars begin at zero. Gray marks Q2 2025; blue marks Q2 2026. Display widths are rounded to whole percentages of the shared 0–8% scale; printed values are authoritative.
Source: Start Midwest, July 12, 2026. The publisher draws on Dealroom and covers Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Figures are presented as reported and may be revised.1
Deal share slipped 0.4 percentage points; dollar share fell 6.5 points. That gap does not establish a cause, measure company quality, or predict investment results. It tells us the next question must be more specific than “How much venture capital did the Midwest get?”
One Quarter Is Not a Trend
Dollar totals swing on a single large check, so a one-quarter comparison overstates how much has actually changed. Placing five reported quarters on one scale shows how much of any regional headline is carried by individual rounds.
Start Midwest-reported fundraising · six states · USD billions · Q2 2025–Q2 2026
| Quarter | Reported funding (USD billions) |
|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | $3.70 |
| Q3 2025 | $1.21 |
| Q4 2025 | $1.03 |
| Q1 2026 | $1.10 |
| Q2 2026 | $1.27 |
Bars begin at zero and scale to the largest quarter shown. Q2 2025 included a $2.1B Acrisure financing; Q2 2026 included a $650M Slate Auto financing and a $67M Spectrum Brands public-company convertible note that the publisher chose to count and label. Timing, classification, and individual rounds can change the totals.2
Start Midwest reports that one Michigan financing supplied more than half of the six-state Q2 2026 total. The five-quarter series shows the same sensitivity in reverse: one $2.1 billion financing helped lift Q2 2025 far above the four quarters that followed. A measure that one round can reset is a measure to read carefully.
Figures are presented as reported by the publisher. Measures with different definitions, denominators, geographies, or periods should not be compared as if they were one series. This exhibit is educational and is not investment advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation to buy any security. It makes no market forecast and draws no forward-looking conclusion from any dataset.
- “Midwest startup funding Q2 2026: $1.27 billion across 114 deals,” Start Midwest, July 12, 2026, https://www.start-midwest.com/news/midwest-startup-funding-q2-2026-1-27-billion-across-114-deals. 114 reported rounds, 6.0% of US deal count, and $1.27B, 0.90% of reported US funding; Q2 2025 comparison shares were 6.4% and 7.4%. The publisher covers six states and draws on Dealroom.
- Start Midwest’s 2025 year in review and quarterly reports supply the five-quarter totals: Q3 2025, Q4 2025, Q1 2026, and Q2 2026. Q2 2025 included a $2.1B Acrisure financing; Q2 2026 included a $650M Slate Auto financing and a $67M Spectrum Brands public-company convertible note. Timing and classification can change totals.
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