Series A, More Money, Fewer Checks
There is more money than ever being invested. Less companies are getting it, so what do you do?
More Money, Fewer Seats
Venture investors have put close to $680 billion into private companies through the first three quarters of this year. That is the most ever deployed in the first nine months of any year. If you only read the headlines, you would think this is the easiest time in a decade to raise a Series A.
It is not, and the reason sits underneath the headline.
About a third of last quarter's global funding went to just 27 companies, each raising a billion dollars or more. In North America, total dollars were up 50% from a year ago while the number of deals fell 16%, landing at the lowest quarterly count since 2023. The drop was concentrated in seed and early stage. Late stage deal counts actually went up.
So the money did not disappear. It got concentrated. Early stage dollars are up 25% year over year, but half of those early stage financings were $100 million or larger. That is the shape of the market right now: bigger checks written to fewer companies.
What This Looks Like at Series A
The Series A is where this shows up most clearly. Crunchbase counted 272 Series A rounds globally in Q3, down from 377 a year earlier. That is roughly 28% fewer companies getting through the door, in the same year that at least 114 Series A rounds came in at $100 million or more.
The graduation numbers tell the same story from the other side. Of the companies that raised a $1 million plus seed in 2020 or earlier, 55% or more eventually raised past seed. For the 2023 seed class, that number is 24%. For 2024 it is 16% so far. The younger group will improve with time, but nobody expects the gap to close.
The bar moved with it. Series A investors are now looking for roughly $2 to $3 million in ARR, sometimes $4 million. The time from seed to A has stretched past two years. A company that planned for 18 months of runway and a raise on schedule is planning against a market that no longer exists.
I see this play out with founders all the time. Good traction, a clean deck, a handful of warm intros, and a sense that the market is hot because the news says so. They go out expecting momentum and find polite interest, slow follow ups, and investors who want to see another quarter. Nothing is technically wrong. The company just was not built to be one of the few.
Raising Like You Are Already Chosen
When capital concentrates, investors are not hunting for good companies. There are plenty of good companies. They are looking for the ones where passing feels like a mistake. That changes what a Series A raise really is. It becomes less about getting in front of enough investors and more about walking in already looking like the company that gets funded.
In practice that means your numbers carry the story, not the other way around. Revenue quality, retention, and efficiency will do more for you than another vision slide. Your investor list gets built around the firms that actually lead A rounds in your space, which right now tend to be funds in the $100 million to $500 million range, rather than whoever happened to reply. And your timeline needs real margin, because a six to nine month raise is normal now, not a sign something went wrong.
The founders closing rounds in this market are rarely the loudest ones. They started preparing before they needed the money, they know which firms are deploying at their stage, and they run the raise with the same discipline they run the company.
The headline number is real. It just is not the number that matters for you. What matters is how many seats are at the table, and right now there are fewer of them.
If you are a few quarters out from your A and want a second set of eyes on whether your numbers clear today's bar, send me a note. It is the conversation I am having most weeks right now, and it is usually the most useful one a founder has before going out.