Every quarter, Carta releases information on the startup ecosystem in their State of Private Markets report.
Carta, a software development firm focused on equity management software, explains in a blog post that it can take a few weeks for rounds to “be recorded on our platform, so we produce a full analysis after we get the final numbers.”
However, Carta always releases a “first cut” of data as close to the end of the quarter as possible.
Carta also mentions in their latest blog post that this initial analysis “focuses on round valuations and cash raised across the venture stages.”
Here’s Carta’s preliminary look at Q4 data for U.S. startups:
- Valuations rose—but not for late-stage: Median pre-money valuations ticked upwards for most venture stages, but declined (albeit on low round volume) for Series D and E+.
- Round sizes grew: The median amount of cash raised was up for seed, Series A, Series B, and Series C, with particularly sharp increases in the priced seed and Series C stages.
Although the final numbers on total rounds and capital raised “are not yet available for Q1, it looks like another quarter of modest growth for venture capital activity is likely.”
Carta says they will release their full set of quarterly data in the coming weeks. (To obtain the complete Carta market report directly, you may access the firm’s Data Minute newsletter that’s available via their official website.)
As covered, Carta claims that it is “trusted by more than 40,000 companies and over two million people in nearly 160 countries to manage cap tables, compensation, and valuations.”
Carta also says that it “supports nearly 7,000 funds and SPVs, and represents nearly $130B in assets under administration.”
Today, Carta’s platform reportedly “manages nearly three trillion dollars in equity globally.”
Companies and funds like Flexport, Tribe, and Harlem Capital “build their businesses on Carta.”