A smaller market with a better hit rate

Retail capital raising in the US is shrinking, but the campaigns that do launch are closing more often. According to KingsCrowd's H1 2026 report, combined Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) and Regulation A+ investment volume reached $365.2 million in the first half, down 27.9% from the same period in 2025. Reg CF accounted for $139.5 million, down 28.1%, and Reg A+ for $225.7 million, down 27.7%.

The same report shows the success rate for resolved Reg CF raises rising to 74.3% (396 of 533), up from 66.5% in H1 2025. Fewer launches, more closes. Reg CF launches fell 31.2%, from 564 to 388.

That is the central pattern for anyone planning a raise: the pool of competing campaigns is thinning, and the ones that fail to launch or stall are being filtered out before they reach investors. Note that KingsCrowd restated its H1 2025 comparison to about $506.2 million from $447.4 million after backfilling partner data, so earlier year-over-year figures you may have seen are not directly comparable.

What the typical campaign looks like

Averages can mislead here, so look at medians. For successful Reg CF raises in H1, KingsCrowd reports an average of $421.8K and a median of $147.5K, with the median up 12.3% on last year. Equity-like closes (common stock, preferred, SAFEs and convertibles) had a median of $177.4K, while debt-like closes had a median of $70.0K. Equity-like structures made up about 96.3% of volume.

Check sizes are small. The average reported Reg CF check was about $1,892, and the median campaign-level check was $1,790. A LenderKit analysis of Q1 data put the average check at about $2,000, down 16% year over year, while the average raise size rose 66% to roughly $815,000. Read together, the figures suggest fewer small, speculative campaigns and a modest set of larger ones.

In Reg A+, only 17 outcomes had resolved, with 9 closes, an average raise of $11.8 million and a median of $8.2 million. KingsCrowd calls the Reg A+ check-size data directional, since it rests on six raises.

The summer slide, and who held up

May was the low point: KingsCrowd's May report counted about $11.1 million in Reg CF net investment, with Wefunder and Republic together taking 51% of commitments. June rebounded to $28.0 million in KingsCrowd's H1 data. Then July slipped again.

Per Crowdfund Insider's write-up of KingsCrowd data, Reg CF raised $23.1 million in July, down 19.3% from June and 33.5% from July 2025. The number of active rounds was nearly flat year over year (357 versus 354), but average capital per campaign fell 34.1% to $64.7K. Reg A raised $43 million, down 4.4% from June.

KingsCrowd's separate July analysis shows that the money was concentrated. The top four Reg CF platforms held 77.2% of capital, and the top ten positive movers made up nearly half of positive movement. Leading campaigns included Cytonics on DealMaker Securities (about $2.35 million in July), Avadain on Netcapital ($2.16 million, reaching a $5.00 million total) and bluShift Aerospace on Wefunder ($1.07 million). Of 66 Reg CF rounds that closed in July, 43 did so successfully.

What the winners had in common

KingsCrowd attributes the successes to a short list of traits: realistic targets, a specific use of proceeds, a reachable audience, a platform strategy matched to the raise size and type, and existing traction. One KingsCrowd commentator summed the trend up as "quality over quantity this year."

Repeat names show where momentum sits. Boba POPS raised $956,935 on Wefunder in May and was still among the top movers in July at $860K. The Sports Bra closed a $1.24 million round on Republic in July.

For a founder, the practical read is to size the target to the audience you can already reach rather than the amount you wish to raise. A campaign that is mostly funded by people who know the company converts; one that depends on strangers browsing a platform faces thinner traffic when, as now, launch counts and investor attention are both down.

Concentration and what to watch

The platform layer is consolidating. KingsCrowd puts the top three platforms at 71.0% of combined volume and the top five at 86.9%. DealMaker accounted for roughly $167.9 million of the combined total and 62.2% of Reg A+ volume. In Reg CF, Wefunder led H1 with $39.4 million, followed by DealMaker at $27.5 million and StartEngine at $24.3 million. Issuer concentration is lower: the largest single offering was 6.6% of the tracked total.

Disclosure quality is a second watch item. LenderKit, citing a KingsCrowd transparency study, reports that 88.7% of Reg CF offerings disclosed a valuation in Q1 2026 versus 21.4% for Reg A. That gap matters for retail investors judging price, and it is a reasonable preview of the questions a well-informed backer will ask you.

KingsCrowd also cautions that gross investment activity is not the same as final proceeds. An ORBITBeyond offering showed about $9.0 million in activity against a $5 million Reg CF ceiling, and adjusting for that would widen the Reg CF decline to 30.2%.

What to watch next

  • Launch counts. KingsCrowd names launch supply as the main constraint. A recovery in new campaigns would be the first sign of turning.
  • Q3 totals. KingsCrowd's run-rate extrapolation points to roughly $730.4 million for full-year 2026, a figure the report itself calls uncertain.
  • Platform economics. If three platforms control most volume, their fees, curation and investor-marketing choices increasingly set which campaigns get seen.
  • Median versus average. Track medians and close rates, not headline totals, when benchmarking your own raise.

Nothing here is investment advice. The data describes a market where being prepared, specific and already known to your audience is doing more work than it did a year ago.

Sources