Look-backs over Q1 startup data continue — how are founders fundraising in pre-seed?
They seem to be taking the SAFE route (sorry, had to).
The SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) was used by at least 75% of companies in four of the top startup markets in the U.S. for their pre-seed fundraise in Q1. Convertible notes continued to fall out of favor.
Now the type of SAFE is getting more varied (post-money vs pre-money, val cap vs discount, MFN, all sorts of fun clauses). But the general instrument seems to be dominate right now with angels and pre-seed investors. Some of this growth is down to the ecosystem making SAFEs easier to create and distribute (Carta contributes here with our free SAFE calculator: https://safes.carta.com/).
Happy fundraising!
PS Thank you to everyone who reached out wanting to take advantage of our data graphic creation offer. Lots to respond to, apologies in advance if I'm a little slow! The demand was high enough that we'll be thinking through how to productize the intake more crisply.
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