
Hottest startup sectors right now:
AI applications | $4.5M median raised at a $20M pre-money valuation
Hardware | $5.2M median raised at a $19M pre-money val
Analytics/Data | $4.8M median raised at a $18.5M pre-money val
Cybersecurity | $4.3M raised at a $16M pre-money
Social Apps | $4.2M raised at a $18.8M pre-money
Data: 1,208 seed round raised by US startups using Carta in the last 12 months.
Chart: median round size (x-axis) vs median valuation (y-axis). Bigger bubbles = more deals in that sector.
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Personal products
Food/Bev
Edtech π₯
Medical Device π
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About 50% of seed deals this year have been done on SAFEs, the other half on priced equity.
Lead investors are taking more share in seeds. The median % of the round for the lead has moved from 51% to 61% over the last 12 months.
Typically, founders are selling 20% of the company in their seed rounds.
SF deals are different than all the other seed deals.
About 30% (maybe slightly higher over time) of seed companies will end up raising a bridge financing.
Share with a fundraising founder!
#startups #founders #seed
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