What percent of a VC-backed company do founders, employees, and investors own at every stage — from seed through Series E?
Data: 6,350 US software companies that use Carta & raised rounds from 2022-2024.
So no inflated data from the ZIRP era involved (although I guess you could argue the AI bubble of today is similarly frenzied).
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀:
Many (most?) startups that raise a priced seed round already have investors on the cap table through SAFEs or Convertible Notes (though the conversion happens at that aeed moment).
Most founding teams own less than half of the company after Series A.
Employee pools start at 10% or so in pre-seed and then expand to 18%+ by the late stages.
The employee pool gets to be bigger than the founding team ownership around Series C or D.
Investors take majority control (as a group) after Series B although it's fairly close after Series A.
This data is very sensitive to number of rounds raised. If companies are able to skip from Seed to Series B, for instance, the founders will keep more ownership.
Stages in the graphic refer to primary rounds, but many companies will end up raising a bridge or extension financing along the way (hopefully only one).
Hardware / Biotech / Deep Tech companies (not pictured) generally have founder ownership diluted more quickly than their software counterparts.
Employee pool data refers to the total percentage allocated to the pool.
Much of that equity will not be exercised when employees leave the company, meaning it can be re-issued to other employees.
The Klaviyo founders owned ~ 50% at IPO, the DocuSign founder around 2%. There is not one "right" number.
VC is not for the faint of heart. Unsurprising that founders are thinking deeply about whether the full alphabet route is the right path for them these days.
Share with a fundraising founder!
#startups #founders #founderownership #employeepool #VC
In Japan for 2 weeks starting today, expect sporadic content and slow replies from me! Kyoto recs welcome however 🙏
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