Startups Still Having Trouble Raising Early Rounds?
from the still-true? dept
Here in Silicon Valley there’s been a noticeable buzz among both startups and VCs that the funding gates have opened again and, while it may not be easy to get money, there is money to be had. However, a study now claims that very little venture cash is going into early stage startups, with most of it going to later stage deals. This has been a general trend in VC over the last few years anyway, as the earlier stages are often funded more with angel funds or smaller VC firms that focus almost exclusively on early stages. Of course, it also depends on how you define “early stage.” What used to be called “friends and family” or “seed” rounds are often called A rounds to make them seem more important. Also, the biggest reason why this study may not sound right is that it’s already out of date. The data seems to be from 2003. It’s not entirely clear why it’s taken nearly a year to compile this data, but it wouldn’t be at all surprising to find the trend heading back in the other direction in 2004.
