‘Venture Capital Is A Trap’: This Entrepreneur Built A Billion-Dollar Idea Endorsed By Joe Rogan Without Playing By Silicon Valley’s Rules

“Anyone in business who says, ‘How do you make money?’ is asking the wrong question,” says longtime entrepreneur Alex Tarnava. “What need do you have that you wish society had? Ask yourself that, and then ask yourself: Is it helpful to other people?”

Tarnava is the inventor, manufacturer and patent holder of hydrogen water tablets, which he describes as a leading method of hydrogen therapy. His product is private-labeled by roughly 100 brands, including Gary Brecka, Dr. Gundry, Sports Research, QuickSilver Scientific and The Wellness Company, and he currently sells around 40 million doses per month. READ MORE

Private Equity: Potential Risks and Benefits

Private equity's popular reputation as the secretive preserve of the ultra-wealthy obscures the truth behind this asset class: It simply means investing in businesses and private assets outside of the public markets.

To be sure, investing in private equity can be complex and risky. But, as with any investment, understanding the innerworkings can help you account for those risks and potentially offer a different way to generate returns. READ MORE

VCs are finding their best returns outside the coasts

While US venture investment has remained concentrated on the coasts, with a handful of New York and Bay Area startups capturing the bulk of overall VC dollars, the performance of those investments has been much more mixed.

Backing startups in smaller hubs, such as Washington, DC; Miami and even Phoenix, has been more lucrative this year for VCs on a MOIC (multiple on invested capital) basis, according to new PitchBook data. READ MORE

The 19 Largest Global Startup Funding Rounds of July 2026

Armed with some data from our friends at CrunchBase, we present the largest global startup funding rounds of July 2026 — a month defined by scale, ambition, and the accelerating convergence of artificial intelligence with every sector from defense and energy to healthcare and quantum computing. The rounds tracked here span nine-figure raises and beyond, reflecting investor conviction at a time when infrastructure bets, deep tech breakthroughs, and AI platform plays are commanding unprecedented capital. This analysis goes beyond the headline numbers, providing detail on each company’s founding team, investor syndicate, industry focus, and cumulative funding history — context that separates signal from noise in an increasingly crowded market. READ MORE

Anthropic's Record $65.3 Billion Single-Quarter Fundraising Drives Global VC to $227.4 Billion in Q2, Second-Highest Ever

Global venture capital markets delivered their second-highest quarterly total on record in Q2 2026, reaching $227.4 billion, fueled by mega-deals in artificial intelligence. U.S. AI company Anthropic led the charge with the largest single fundraising round in history at $65.3 billion, while Project Prometheus and China's DeepSeek raised $12 billion and $7.4 billion respectively. The Americas dominated with $150 billion in investment, while Asia posted its best performance since late 2021 at $50.8 billion. Corporate venture capital participation surged to $149.1 billion, underscoring major corporations' aggressive AI positioning. On the exit front, SpaceX's merger with xAI and subsequent Nasdaq IPO—the largest in history—raised $75 billion, propelling global exit values to a record $1.9 trillion. Defense and space technology also gained prominence, with Anduril and ICEYE completing substantial funding rounds. Looking ahead to Q3, AI investment is expected to expand from model development into industrial applications including robotics and embodied intelligence. READ MORE

Pre-IPO Funds Slump After SpaceX Debut

Publicly traded VC funds have been booming this year, amassing billions of dollars of pre-IPO equity as retail investors clamor for exposure to top startups before they go public. But that excitement is reversing, as SpaceX’s SPCX public debut and its wave of expiring share lockups flood the market with supply that scarcity had once made precious.

Closed-end funds marketed to retail investors—including Robinhood Ventures, Fundrise, and ARK Invest—traded at huge multiples to net asset value earlier this year. Retail investors lacking direct access to companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI drove prices higher. READ MORE

Major US law firms explore PE investment through alternative ownership structures

According to reports, firms including Paul Weiss, Quinn Emanuel and Proskauer have held discussions with private equity investors or financial advisers about so-called management services organisation (MSO) structures, which are designed to comply with US rules prohibiting non-lawyer ownership of legal practices.

Under the model, a law firm’s legal practice remains owned by lawyers, while a separate entity responsible for administrative services, technology, intellectual property and other business functions can accept outside investment. The legal partnership then pays the MSO for those services. READ MORE

IPO readiness: Positioning for a successful exit

Private equity-backed companies are holding assets longer, facing evolving market conditions and seeking ways to maximize value at exit. As a result, many organizations are exploring an initial public offering not just as a destination, but as one of several potential paths to liquidity.

During a recent RSM webinar, IPO readiness professionals discussed what companies should be thinking about long before filing registration documents. While every organization’s journey is different, the conversation highlighted a common theme: companies that prepare early create more strategic flexibility—whether they ultimately pursue an IPO, a strategic sale or another transaction. READ MORE

The July 2026 US Venture Capital Funding Report

US startups raised $19.44B across 492 companies in July 2026, a month defined by a convergence of mega-rounds in artificial intelligence infrastructure, energy, and robotics that pushed the late-stage total to $12.26B — 63% of all capital raised. The top four rounds alone accounted for more than $5.95B, led by Joulent, Atoms, Fireworks AI, and SambaNova. Beneath the headline figure, 401 Series A and early-stage deals collectively raised $4.45B, reinforcing the depth of the innovation pipeline across the country even as capital concentrated sharply at the top. READ MORE

AI bubble nearing 1929, 2000 levels and the lesson people always forget: ‘Wealth is not the same as money’

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, delivered one of his starkest warnings yet on the current market environment during a wide-ranging appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast with host Steven Bartlett, arguing AI enthusiasm has pushed markets into bubble territory reminiscent of 1929 and 2000. His warning arrives just as the market prepares to test his thesis in real time: SpaceX has already gone public in the largest IPO ever, and Anthropic and OpenAI are barreling toward trillion-dollar valuations—precisely the kind of speculative issuance surge that market historians treat as a bubble's clearest warning sign. READ MORE

A Record 14 Billion-Dollar Rounds In July Pushed Venture’s Historic Run Higher

Global venture funding showed no signs of slowing in July. Startup capital totaled $65 billion, up 100% year over year, as the month notched the highest-ever number of billion-dollar venture rounds on record, per Crunchbase data.

July ranked as the third-largest funding month of the year, up 10% over June, following on the heels of a record-breaking first half of 2026, when startups raised $515 billion globally. READ MORE

VC is changing dramatically — what’s a founder to do?

When I moved to Seattle in 2000 and started in venture capital, I read the book “The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams,” which told the story of how venture capital drove the innovation ecosystem.

Entrepreneurs toiled day and night in their garages. Venture capitalists discovered these entrepreneurs, writing “small” checks for ownership and partnering side by side to build blue-chip companies. John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins alone backed Intuit, Netscape, Amazon, and Google. READ MORE

In Silicon Valley, Some Say an A.I. Bubble Would Be Just Fine

Michael Burry, the investor made famous in “The Big Short,” has warned about an artificial intelligence bubble. So has Dean Baker, an economist who identified the U.S. housing bubble ahead of the 2008 financial crisis. Even Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, has expressed caution.

But in Silicon Valley, some people are less worried. In fact, they say, a bubble might be a good thing. READ MORE

AI in SBIC fund administration: Building regulatory confidence at scale

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping private equity (PE) fund administration—but for small business investment companies (SBICs), adoption requires a different lens. SBICs are not simply another category of private equity fund. They operate in a uniquely regulated, mission‑driven environment, with Small Business Administration (SBA) oversight layered on top of standard PE requirements. That structure fundamentally changes how AI should be evaluated, deployed and governed.

SBIC managers face ongoing examination, leverage limits, distribution requirements and highly prescriptive reporting requirements, including SBA‑specific filings such as capital certificates and Forms 468, 1031, 480 and 652. Regulatory scrutiny is continuous rather than episodic, and the cost of errors—whether classification mistakes, incomplete documentation or inconsistent application of SBA rules—is disproportionately high. READ MORE

The Evolving Private Equity Toolkit

Over the past 25 years, private equity evolved into an important allocation for institutional investors, driven by an ownership model purpose-built for longer-term value creation which, in turn, drove strong returns. In recent years, however, a healthy level of scrutiny has emerged. Private equity returns have moderated relative to the historical average time-weighted net return of approximately 13% over the prior 25 years, and some investors have begun to question what lies ahead. READ MORE

Next Billion-Dollar Startups 2026

For a dozen years, Forbes has partnered with TrueBridge Capital Partners to highlight the companies that are likely to become unicorns in the near future. To qualify, startups must be venture-backed, based in the U.S. and worth less than $1 billion. In a sign of the times: Nearly all this year’s list members use AI in some fashion as they work on everything from bone marrow to biological threats, cybersecurity to creative design. Our track record is striking: Of the 275 alumni of this list, 60% did indeed become unicorns, including household names Duolingo and DoorDash. Another 60 were bought (or were merged). Nearly half of last year’s picks already are worth more than a billion. There have been surprisingly few disasters—just six companies, about 2%, imploded or shut down. READ MORE

Where Innovation Is Thriving Across America

Innovation shapes where new companies are built, breakthrough technologies emerge, and high-paying jobs are created. Across the U.S., however, that activity is concentrated in a relatively small group of states.

This map ranks all 50 states using a composite score based on patents per capita in 2025, venture capital deal value per capita in 2025, and research and development expenditures per capita in 2023. READ MORE