Series A funding over the last 6 months: most difficult in 5 years?
A little table-setting context here. Funding across VC is down, but it was a more pronounced decline at the later stages. However, of late both seed and Series A funding have had struggling quarters.
For reference: in Q4 2021, there were 851 Series A rounds completed by Carta companies. In a single quarter!
In Q3 this year - 279 Series A rounds. Now that number will rise a bit over time as some late-arriving data comes in, but still. Damn.
Now, the rounds that are happening are going off at pretty healthy metrics. Median valuations hover around $40M while round sizes are just a tick above $9M.
But again, the overriding emotion at this stage for founders is probably frustration. They likely raised their seed rounds under one set of investor expectations and are now attempting to raise the A under a completely different one.
Salute to the founders out there making it happen 🙏
𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗕𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘀
As always, this scatter map shows median valuation, median cash raised, and number of rounds for each qualifying industry. If your industry is not on the chart, it usually means there were not sufficient rounds available in the dataset to graph it.
Biggest categories for Series A: General SaaS (led by sales tools, martech, a smattering of other subsegments), Biotech, Healthtech, and Fintech. This is a pretty typical industry distribution.
Most highly valued industries (median pre-money basis): Real Estate (not many rounds but cool!), Edtech (this median is dragged up by one mega-valuation), and Pharma.
Industries getting the most cash per round: Renewable Energy (turns out fusion, et al is hard - glad people are working on it), Cybersecurity, and Biotech.
Where is AI, you ask? Across almost every one of these categories. More specific data on AI coming soon, but you can safely say that those companies are usually getting above the $40M valuation median.
A continued thumbs down from investors on Personal Products and DTC retail in general. Not a lot of rounds and those that do happen are small / lower valued.
Only industry with decent volume not pictured: Transportation, which was way out to the right due to a couple gigantic Series A rounds.
Our full breakdown of what happened in Q3 is available on Carta dot com - just visit our blog page if you simply need more data right now.
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DISCLOSURE: This communication is on behalf of eShares, Inc. dba Carta, Inc. ("Carta"). This communication is for informational purposes only, and contains general information only. Carta is not, by means of this communication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business or interests. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business or interests, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. This communication is not intended as a recommendation, offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Carta does not assume any liability for reliance on the information provided herein. © 2026 Carta. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited.
