10 things to know about the Series A funding environment in 2024
1. It's not all AI startups!
2. It is a lot of AI startups, though. ~25% of total invested capital is going to AI startups currently.
3. Total investment in Series A primary rounds is down about 8% over the same period last year. Hoping for a good Q4 to pop that back up.
4. Cybersecurity is the biggest riser as an industry, jumping from 8th to 2nd year over year.
5. Median cash raised = $10M, alongside a median $43M pre-money valuation (add those up and you get a very healthy $53M post-money valuation)
6. Only 3% of Series A rounds have a liquidation preference over 1x.
7. The mega-round is mostly absent from Series A - only 0.76% of rounds raised more than $100M.
8. The time between the seed round and the Series A has lengthened to nearly 2 years (median). Bridge rounds post first seed have become common (seed +, seed II, return of the seed, whatever today's name is)
9. Median percent of the company sold in a primary Series A round: 20.3%
10. This is perhaps the hardest jump to make right now in startup-world (to get from seed to A). Younger companies moving faster are starting to swamp older companies who raised their seed rounds in 2021 or early 2022.
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Oh, and if you are raising a Series A, Carta can help with our Deal Closings tool. Save yourself approximately 1,000 email chains by tracking signature packets, cash wires, and law firm conversations all in one place - included in all Carta plans. Hit me in the comments for the details.
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