Founder Fridays No. 36
Helping founders scale smarter.
Happy Friday!
Since it’s the first Friday of the month, it’s Funding Friday. On the first Friday of the month we recap the startup funding activity in the previous month from Pre-Seed to Series B. The charts below track the general trends over the last year. The goal is to equip you with real-time intelligence so you can be prepared for your next round of funding.
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For the last 9 months I have been scouring the data, reading reports and searching the far corners of the internet to try to find some good news in startup funding. After a long, fruitless search, this week I finally found some.
Pre-Seed and Seed Valuations. You’ll see in the charts below that after months of decline, Pre-Seed and Seed stage valuations seem to be leveling out. Let’s hope this trend holds.
NYC Seed Funding. According to a report by Primary Ventures on the state of New York seed stage investments, though the Q1 deal count was down 2%, overall investment dollars in the seed stage are up 31% compared to Q4 of 2022.
Series A Funding Guide
After 15 years of working with early stage startups I’ve learned a lot about Series A funding. In this 9-minute video I cover the key deal points in a Series A. I'll also give you the tools to navigate negotiations with your investors to make sure that your company gets the best deal. YouTube (5 minutes)
Pre-Seed
Median Money Raised:
$994,375
Median Post-Money Valuation:
$9,250,000
Seed
Median Money Raised:
$2,375,000
Median Post-Money Valuation:
$19,000,000
Series A
Median Money Raised:
$7,992,188
Median Post-Money Valuation:
$58,125,000
Series B
Median Money Raised:
$32,533,333
Median Post-Money Valuation:
$160,000,000
About Founder Fridays
Founder Fridays is a weekly briefing designed to help founders level up by learning best practices on startup funding, growth, product and management. After reading you will have industry context, think more clearly, make smarter decisions faster and spot new opportunities before anyone else. It is written by Kyle Westaway – Managing Partner of Westaway All funding data is from our partners at AngelList.
Startup Funding Guides
I’ve put together a series of guides to equip founders to excel at fundraising. These guides break down the deal term by term and give you negotiation tips so that you can speak to investors with confidence.
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This newsletter is my passion project. When I’m not writing, I run a law firm that helps startups move fast without breaking things. Most founders want a trusted legal partner, but they hate surprise legal bills. At Westaway, we take care of your startup’s legal needs for a flat, monthly fee so you can control your costs and focus on scaling your business. If you’re interested, let’s jump on a call to see if you’re a good fit for the firm. Click here to schedule a 1-on-1 call with me.