Carta’s The State of Seed 2025: Benchmarks for the New Era of Building is officially out. Packed with insights from thousands of private companies and investors across the North American startup ecosystem, this must-read report offers a data-driven look at how today’s best startups are being built.
We’ve pulled out 15 of the most compelling pre-seed and seed benchmarks spanning founding team dynamics, SAFEs, dilution, AI-native company valuations, and more to help founders and investors stay ahead of the curve.
Download and dive into Carta’s full report here and explore what’s shaping the next era of startup building. (Note, the data used in the report spans multiple years.)
Founding and Equity Structure
- Solo Founders on the Rise: Solo-founded startups have become significantly more common, accounting for 35% of US startups in 2024. Despite the rise of solo founders, VCs still favor teams; only 17% of VC-funded startups in 2024 were solo-founded.
- Equal Equity Splits: Splitting equity equally among co-founders is becoming more common, especially for 2-founder teams (45.9% in 2024).
- Cofounder Attrition: Approximately 24% of 2-founder, VC-backed teams lose a co-founder by their fourth year.
- Hiring Equity Declines: Equity granted to early employees drops quickly; the first hire’s median grant is 1.50%, while the fifth hire’s is 0.33%.
Early-Stage Fundraising (SAFEs & Notes)
- Robust Early Market: The market for rounds under $5M raised via SAFEs or Notes remains healthy.
- SAFE Dominance: SAFEs have largely replaced convertible notes, used in 92% of pre-seed rounds as of Q3 2025.
- Standard SAFE Terms: The most common SAFE type is post-money with a valuation cap only.
- Dilution Ranges: Dilution in early SAFE rounds varies widely; for $1M–$1.9M raised, the median expected dilution is 15.6%. At the $5M-$5.9M raised, the median expected dilution is 23.7%.
- Standard Discounts: When a discount is included in a SAFE, it is almost always 20% (used in 63% of cases).
Priced Seed Rounds & AI
- Median Valuations: The median post-money valuation for a seed round in 2025 is $20.0M.
- Seed Cash Raised: The median cash raised in a 2025 seed round is $4.0M.
- AI Valuation Premium: AI software companies command higher median valuations (~$19M) compared to the broader market median ($15M).
- Typical Seed Dilution: Founders usually sell about 20% of their company during a priced seed round.
- Geographic Concentration: 66% of top-decile seed valuations go to startups based in the Bay Area (44%) or New York (22%).
- AI Dominating Capital: AI is capturing an increasing share of capital across all stages, including 41.7% of all seed capital in 2025.
Thank you Carta for pulling these benchmarks together.
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