Early Founders Get to Know These Key SAFE Terms

Early Founders Get to Know These Key SAFE Terms

Author

Peter Walker

|

Read time: 

1 minute

Published date: 

March 22, 2023

88% of 2023 SAFEs have a valuation cap, 51% have a discount, 41% have both—these three percentages shape the negotiation for every pre-priced startup fundraise.

LinkedIn: Early Founders Get to Know These Key SAFE Terms

Early founders: get to know terms for your SAFE raises intimately.

Some context from the thousands of pre-seed SAFEs raised on Carta over the past few years:

1. 88% of SAFEs raised so far in 2023 have a valuation cap

2. 51% of them have a discount

3. 41% have both a val cap and a discount

These terms matter a great deal when it comes time to raise that priced round. They dictate how much of the company your SAFE investors will own after priced round money enters the picture.

Interesting that, of late, the discount (with or without a valuation cap) seems to be making a comeback. Perhaps the more investor-friendly climate is pushing founders to give a little on that term?

Also important to note that 80% of the SAFEs this year have been post-money SAFEs. The YC standard holds strong.

If you're a founder thinking of raising on SAFEs and want to know before any ink is spilled what the eventual ownership implications will be, check out our free SAFEs calculator in the comments.

More knowledge = better fundraising!

#cartadata #SAFEs #startups #preseed #angels #investing #fundraising

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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