How Much Equity Founders Sell in Each Venture Round

For founders - here's how much equity you'll sell to VCs per round:

Seed: 19.5% Series A: 18% Series B: 14% Series C: 10% Series D: 7.5%

But of course those medians are just the middle of wide distribution ranges. And this data is for software startups only, deep tech companies typically have to sell a little more in the early stages.

𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱

• Dilution is one leg of the 3-leg fundraising stool (dilution, valuation, amount raised). You can't really optimize for all 3 at the same time.

• Knowing how much cash you truly need to raise makes everything else much easier. That said, knowing that exact figure is anything but easy.

• Excessive dilution matters because a) you as the founder may no longer be incentivized to the right level and b) you may not have enough cap table left for future fundraising needs.

• On the other hand, refusing a deal that has slightly high dilution simply because it isn't in the middle of these benchmarks is silly. Above all, don't let the company die.

• Deals in major venture markets (SF, NY) will often have more competition on the investor side which can increase leverage for the founder.

• Startup valuations are a reflection of the math for dilution and amount raised. They are 𝗻𝗼𝘁 reflections of the actual underlying value of the company in most cases.

Last few weeks for selling equity in 2025 starts now!