Pre-seed founders: your potential angel investors are still signing checks. They just might be smaller than you expect.
Took a look at how the median check size for pre-seed companies on Carta is trending since Jan 2022.
For awhile, check sizes were holding at high levels ($50K median).
In the past 6-8 months, that median has drifted down to $30K per check.
Couple data caveats: this data is for pre-seed SAFE investments in the U.S. only. I also excluded any SAFE checks over $2 million (if you've got a SAFE investor willing to put up that much cash - well done!)
So angels are being more choosy with their checkbooks, that's clear. However, lots of checks are still being written. Over 1,000 per month over the first 3 months in 2023.
If you break out the distribution of those checks more closely in Q1 2023, it looks like this:
𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀 $10K or less: 23% of all checks $10K-$25K: 26% $25K-$50K: 19% $50K-$100K: 13% $100K or more: 19%
So about half of angel investments come in under $25K. Founders, don't be afraid of aggregating those smaller checks!
The part of the angel market currently under the most pressure are the mid-level checks (say $30K-$75K). It seems likely that angel checks will see more of a barbell distribution (either quite small or quite large) over the coming months.
More great data on pre-seed in this week's Data Minute — wait, what? You aren't subscribed to our Data Minute newsletter? Check out the first comment below.
#cartadata #preseed #angelinvesting #startups #founders
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