Seed post-money benchmarks

Cap-table mechanics at this stage

PitchBook reports $18.4M Seed pre-money; Carta reports $24M Seed post-money. The gap is partly methodology (Carta is cap-table-only, PitchBook includes broader transaction data) and partly stage-definition variation. The 25th-75th percentile spread is wide.

Typical post-money breakdown

For a seed round at the cohort median ($24M post-money, average check 3.5M, 15% option pool refresh): new investor takes roughly 14.6% of post-money. Option pool refresh of 10-15% of post-money consumes additional founder + existing-investor allocation. Existing holders absorb the dilution proportionally.

AI-labelled seed rounds price +35% above non-AI. AI Seed post-money median: approximately $32M. The cap-table implication: AI rounds have higher absolute valuations but similar dilution percentages — the absolute dollar value of the new investor's stake is materially higher.

Source

Source: Carta Q4 2025 (via FutureSight + SaaStr) + PitchBook-NVCA Q1 2026 ($18.4M PitchBook variant) · Verified 2026-06-03.