Here's what founders need to know about going from Seed to Series A:
1. Right now, the jump in valuation is about 2.5x between stages 2. Unless you are in AI, then you may get 3.5x. 3. Unless you're the most in-demand AI, then you may get 5x.
Data from 9,184 Series A rounds raised from 2019–Q3 2025. All US startups, all using Carta.
The orange dots show the median step-up multiple from the seed post-money to the Series A post-money. The green dots show the same data but only for AI companies in the past few years.
𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀
1. Multiples are actually 𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 for non-AI companies than they were in the years prior to 2021. It's a challenging market for non-AI across the board.
2. Multiple for AI startups are approaching the heights of 2021, though not quite there yet. Kinda of crazy to think right now is not as wild as it could be, but we've always got more bubble in us.
3. The valuation multiple expands most rapidly between Seed and A. Every subsequent round usually sees the multiple expand by a smaller factor (from A to B, B to C, etc).
4. Since we're comparing post-money to post-money, this takes into account the size of the rounds these startups are raising. And those rounds are definitely bigger than they used to be.
5. For investors, yes - entry price still matters 😁
#startups #founders #valuations
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