Friday Q&A - at what point in the fundraising journey are most startups acquired?
Looked back over 6+ years of data for startups using the Carta cap table platform. This data covers more than 1,700 company acquisitions (US startups only).
Series A emerges as the most frequent purchase point. About 30% of all startup acquisitions take place with that as the most recent round of funding.
I was personally surprised by how much M&A occurs in the pre-seed startup population. These are likely acquihires or bolt-ons by bigger firms, but cool to see the potential of an exit for even very nascent teams.
Late-stage startups make up a small percentage of all startup M&A. Intuitive, in that there are many fewer late-stage firms. But it does seems as though exiting thru acquisition is a narrow path the closer a company gets to IPO.
Shoutout to Jesse Randall for the great question! Leave your own question below and we may answer it next Friday.
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#cartadata #startups #fundraising #seriesA #MandA #acquisition
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