Raising equity funding for your startup may be a long, difficult, and sometimes disheartening method. However, if you’re victorious, you leave with cash that may facilitate your startup grow and become everything you hope it might become.
Startup Funding Stages
The startup funding rounds have reworked the business landscape utterly, over the past few years. shortly past, the offered startup fundraising choices were few, but lately, we’ve tough a surge for startup funding at totally different stages. As a budding startup owner, you need to value wherever your startup stands and how abundant funding are you able to raise from external sources.
Pre-Seed Funding
This prime stage of seed funding falls so early that it’s not even thought of as a startup funding. The pre-seed funding stage typically refers to the period within which a startup is obtaining its operations off the bottom.
It’s possible that investors won’t build associate investment in exchange for equity within the startup throughout the pre-series stage. This stage will last for an extended time otherwise you will get pre-series funding in gait. It depends on the character of your startup and therefore the initial prices that you simply should contemplate whereas developing the business model.
The pre-seed funding stage is usually called bootstrapping. In easy terms, it means that victimization your own existing resources so as to scale your startup. Startup owners invest from their own pockets and check out to grow themselves within the most capable manner.
Seed Funding
After the pre-seeding stage, it’s time to truly plant the seed. the primary within the startup funding stages is “Seed funding”. nearly twenty-nine % of startups fail as a result of they run out of capital while bootstrapping, which makes seed capital essential to induce a business up and running.
Seed funding could also be raised from family and friends, angel investors, incubators, and capital companies that target early-stage startups. Angel capitalists are maybe the foremost common variety of investors at this stage.
Series-A Funding
Series A funding (also referred to as Series A round ) is one in all the stages within the capital-raising method by a startup. basically, the series A round is the second stage of startup finance and therefore the initial stage of venture capital financing.
Similar to seed funding, series A finance could be a sort of equity-based finance. this suggests that a corporation secures the desired capital from investors by selling the company’s shares.
Series-B Funding
Series B funding each parameter must be supported by concrete proof. it's now not concerning positive assertions or ideal assumptions. some of the foremost vital parameters for Series B funding area unit repeatability and scalability.
Series B funding is acceptable for firms that are prepared for their development stage. they're firms that generate stable revenues, furthermore as earn some profits. Also, such firms usually accompany solid valuations of over $10 million.
Series-C Funding
Series C financing (also referred to as series C round or series C funding) is one in all the stages within the capital-raising method by a startup. The Series C round is the fourth stage of startup finance, and usually the last stage of capital finance. However, some corporations value {more highly to|favor to|choose to} conduct more rounds, like series D, E, etc.
Companies request series C funding for any growth to strengthen their existing success. Following a series C round, a corporation aims to rescale its operations and continue its growth. The issue from this funding round is most typically used for coming into new markets, analysis, and development, or acquisitions of alternative corporations.
Series-D Funding
A series D round of funding is a little additional difficult than the previous rounds. As mentioned, several corporations end raising cash with their Series C. However, there are some reasons a corporation could opt to raise a Series D.
Startups discovered a replacement chance for enlargement before going for an IPO, however simply want another boost to urge there. additional corporations are raising Series D rounds (or even beyond) to extend their price before going public. or else, some corporations wish to remain personal for extended than wont to be common.