Pre-Seed SAFE Valuation Ranges by City Across the US

So you’re raising between $500K and $1M for your startup. What’s the right valuation?

There isn’t one right answer, but the range depends on where you live.

Benchmarks taken from 3,370 SAFEs signed from June 2024-Sept 2025.

The ranges in the chart looks at the valuation caps on each of the signed SAFEs. The val cap range goes from the 10th percentile at the left to the 90th percentile on the far right.

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀

1. Where you raise money matters. The top 25% or so of Bay Area valuation caps for this amount of money basically don't exist anywhere else.

2. There is no national market for startups. The deal you get will be based on the available investor pool and the perceived demand for your business.

3. Founders in non-major markets do tend to get diluted more heavily at the beginning than founders in the core VC ecosystems.

4. Valuation caps are NOT valuations. Many startups will convert at their first priced rounds below the cap (or at it, which again is not what the investors are hoping for).

5. You should care about dilution, for sure. But you should not refuse to take in capital you need just because the dilution isn't what you hoped for. Stay alive first!

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