> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.finta.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Valuations

## Pre-money vs. post-money

Most people talk only about post-money valuation; that is also what you see quoted in the news. Post-money valuation is just your pre-money valuation plus the amount you're raising.

For example, if you have a \$25M *pre-money* valuation and you want to raise \$5M, your *post-money* valuation would be \$30M. Post-money also tells you what investors own after they put their money in. In this case, that's \$5M / \$30M = 16.7%.

## What valuation should I raise at?

Valuations for every round have gone up significantly over the years. In 2009, Airbnb raised its Seed round at a \$3M valuation, which was considered amazing at the time. But today, Seed round valuations hover around \$30M.

Here are the current valuations startups raise at as of August 2026:

| **Stage** | **Post-Money Valuation** | **Median** |
| --------- | -----------------------: | ---------: |
| Pre-Seed  |            \$5M to \$15M |      \$11M |
| Seed      |           \$15M to \$40M |      \$24M |
| Series A  |          \$40M to \$140M |      \$80M |

<p className="table-source">Source: PitchBook.</p>

When thinking about valuation, keep in mind the internal constraints of the VC firms that could lead your round.

<Warning>
  Lead VC funds want a minimum of 10-25% ownership.
</Warning>

So if you tell them you want to raise \$2M at a \$40M valuation, the math doesn't work because they'd get at most 5% of your company. In this case, you might even want to raise more, such as \$5M on \$40M, or lower the valuation to \$2M on \$15M. Make sure to align on this before you pitch so you don't waste opportunities with VCs on numbers that rule you out immediately.

Optimizing to raise at a higher valuation looks tempting, but in our experience it has drawbacks. Your next round will need to have metrics that justify at least 3x the valuation you just raised at. And if you miss that, you'll struggle to convince existing or new investors you can hit 3x going forward.

## How much should I raise?

Here's how much startups are raising for different funding stages as of August 2026:

| **Stage** | **Amount raised** | **Median** |
| --------- | ----------------: | ---------: |
| Pre-Seed  |    \$100k to \$1M |     \$250k |
| Seed      |     \$1M to \$10M |       \$3M |
| Series A  |    \$10M to \$60M |      \$20M |

<p className="table-source">Source: PitchBook.</p>

In general, we recommend raising what you need to hit your next milestone with a few months of cushion. A good floor is 2 to 3 years of runway at the burn rate needed to hire your ideal team so you can reach the next milestone. Remember, the same [ownership constraints for VCs](#what-valuation-should-i-raise-at) from above apply.