New SAFE Data for Founders Raising in Fall 2023

Founders - new data on SAFEs in case you're fundraising this weekend.

Took a spin through 6,000+ SAFEs issued between June and October this year, all for startups that have yet to raise a priced round.

I've had multiple founders reach out and say our broad data on SAFEs is useful but that regional variation makes a bigger difference than I realize. Turns out, they are spot on.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝘀

Raising $250K or less ("Friends & Family)

• $6M valuation cap in the West, $4M in the Midwest

• Pretty close across the country at this point

$250K-$499K ("F&F + Angels")

• West jumps up to $10M cap already

• Other regions remain pretty stable

$500K-$999K ("Is this pre-seed?")

• Everyone up to $10M val cap

• Wider distributions in Midwest and South, but same median value

$1M-$2.4M ("Seed on SAFEs")

• $15M val cap in the West, $13M in the Northeast

• Compare these values to a $13.5M median pre-money valuation for priced seed rounds

$2.5M-$4.9M ("Big Seed on SAFEs")

• $20M val cap across the country

Good to rightsize your expectations to different regional levels, but no two companies are the same - good luck on the raise!

The raise names are my best guesses, but happy to listen to strong arguments otherwise :)

#cartadata #SAFEs #founders #startups #preseed