How many years does it take the average startup to get to each venture stage?
Quite a bit longer these days.
Took a look at the average years from incorporation to each venture round from 31,000+ primary fundraises on Carta since 2015.
You can see the average time drifting upwards year over year before rising steeply in the most recent 2 years.
As of 2023, here are the averages:
Seed - 1.6 years from incorp
Series A - 3.3 years
B - 4.9 years
C - 6.9 years
D - 8.0 years
E+ - 10.4 years
That final figure is a bit tricky since it combines multiple rounds but overall there’s no denying it’s taking everyone longer.
So what’s happening?
- Companies are taking in a lot more funding than they used to in SAFEs, which extends the time to start priced round raises.
- The last two years have been super challenging for new primary rounds writ large.
Will be fascinating to see if these come down at all - or if the companies founded today even try to hit each venture stage.
Lots of experimentation in fundraising on dock for 2024 and beyond.
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