Pre-Seed Startup Fundraising Differs Dramatically by State

Pre-Seed Startup Fundraising Differs Dramatically by State

Author

Peter Walker

|

Read time: 

1 minute

Published date: 

April 12, 2023

California dominates in both median cap and amount raised, but the spread across other states reveals meaningful differences in how early-stage capital...

LinkedIn: Pre-Seed Startup Fundraising Differs Dramatically by State

How is pre-seed fundraising affected by location?

Digging into intra-state dynamics in the U.S. All of this data comes from companies raising pre-seed SAFEs (post-money, to be clear) in Q1 2023.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝘁 x-axis: median amount of cash raised per company y-axis: median valuation cap State bubble size: number of companies (5 company minimum)

As you can see, the California bubble bludgeons its way into the middle of everything. Companies in CA on Carta raise at higher valuation caps and get more cash in the door.

But CA isn't the only hub for pre-seed companies. Love seeing the growing bubbles for Texas, Florida, Washington, and Colorado.

Clearly network effects matter in these location dynamics. Some ecosystems have well-developed networks of angel investors and pre-seed funds. Some are just getting started. Heartening to see this much startup activity across 20 states, even in a down quarter.

Digging into pre-seed conversion terms and other goodies in our Data Minute newsletter tomorrow - sign up in the comments!

#cartadata #preseed #angelinvesting #startups #states #SAFEs

Peter Walker
Author: Peter Walker
Peter Walker runs the Insights team at Carta, focused on discovering key data and narratives across the private capital ecosystem. In a former life, he was a marketing executive for a media analytics startup and led the data visualization team at the Covid Tracking Project.

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