Pre-Seed Companies: what does it mean to be pre-seed in different sectors?

"Different sectors have different understanding of what it means to be pre-seed. In this graphic, we based the analysis on companies who raised between $1 million and$3 million on SAFEs or Convertible Notes in 2024.

X-axis: median valuation cap

Y-axis: median cash raised

Bubble size: total companies

What stands out?

• As usual, B2B SaaS is the largest sector (big grey bubble in the center of the chart).

• AI, unsurprisingly, has very high cash and valuation medians. The bubble size for AI is not to scale, as it actually appears in many other sectors as well.

• Biotech (with some heavy influence from notes as opposed to SAFEs) is valued quite highly at this stage with a median valuation cap of $17 million.

• Good showings for Fintech, Healthtech, and Web3 (yes, crypto startups are still out there).

• Not so good for Edtech, Food, or Logistics.

Now these metrics are reflective of many things, but the primary dynamic is supply and demand. There are certain industries (and certain founders) who can generate a higher ""demand"" for their companies - and there are some sectors that investors are cooler towards.

Each individual negotiation will be different but hopefully this helps set some reality for fundraising founders out there - and if you want to dig deeper into pre-seed, join us tomorrow at our virtual event! 10am PT sharp, comment below for a link.

VCs headed back from vacation, more deals happening - bullish on H2 2024!

ABN and its venture studio products try to rely on bootstrapping and real revenue rather than relying on VC money. We only raise when product market fit is already reached."

Author

AiUTOMATING PEOPLE, ABN ASIA was founded by people with deep roots in academia, with work experience in the US, Holland, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Vietnam. ABN Asia is where academia and technology meet opportunity. With our cutting-edge solutions and competent software development services, we're helping businesses level up and take on the global scene. Our commitment: Faster. Better. More reliable. In most cases: Cheaper as well.

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