How do different industries compare at the pre-seed stage?
Of course everyone has a different definition of "pre-seed". In this graphic, we based the analysis on companies who raised between $1 million and $3 million on SAFEs or Convertible Notes in 2024.
X-axis: median valuation cap
Y-axis: median cash raised
Bubble size: total companies
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁?
As usual, B2B SaaS is the largest sector (big grey bubble in the center of the chart).
AI, unsurprisingly, has very high cash and valuation medians. The bubble size for AI is not to scale, as it actually appears in many other sectors as well.
Biotech (with some heavy influence from notes as opposed to SAFEs) is valued quite highly at this stage with a median valuation cap of $17 million.
Good showings for Fintech, Healthtech, and Web3 (yes, crypto startups are still out there).
Not so good for Edtech, Food, or Logistics.
Now these metrics are reflective of many things, but the primary dynamic is supply and demand. There are certain industries (and certain founders) who can generate a higher "demand" for their companies - and there are some sectors that investors are cooler towards.
Each individual negotiation will be different but hopefully this helps set some reality for fundraising founders out there - and if you want to dig deeper into pre-seed, join us tomorrow at our virtual event! 10am PT sharp, comment below for a link.
VCs headed back from vacation, more deals happening — bullish on H2 2024!
#startups #preseed #valuation #founder #fundraising
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