Rocket fuel: Seattle-area startups raise a record $3.5B as national VC funding cools

Q3 2026 VC deal activity by U.S. (PitchBook-NVCA Graphic, click to enlarge.) Seattle-area startups raised $3.5 billion in venture capital in the third quarter, the most in any quarter going back at least a decade, led by big rounds for Kent-based rocket maker Stoke Space , Bellevue developer platform Temporal and Everett fusion company Helion . That’s more than triple the $1 billion raised in the region in the same quarter a year earlier, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monit