US seed valuations
What US seed rounds are priced at, from the middle of the market to the top, and how much of the company they sell.
- Data as of Q2 2026
- Updated 20 August 2026
- Sources: Carta
The numbers
At a glance
- Median pre-money valuation
- $18.4M
- Excluding AI-native companies
- Carta, Q1 2026
- Top quarter
- $32.2M
- 75th percentile pre-money, excluding AI-native
- Carta, Q1 2026
- Top 10%
- $78.8M
- 90th percentile post-money, all companies
- Carta, Q1 2026
- Median dilution
- 19%
- Share of the company a seed round sells
- Carta, Q1 2026
Our reading
What the numbers say
The median US seed round outside AI was priced at $18.4M pre-money. A quarter of those rounds were priced above $32.2M, and the top 10% of all seed rounds above $78.8M post-money.
At the median, a seed round sold about 19% of the company. Selling much more than that at seed leaves less room for the rounds that follow.
AI-native companies were priced close to everyone else at seed. The gap opens at Series A.
The data
The full tables
| Companies | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | 90th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-money, excluding AI-native | $10M | $18.4M | $32.2M | — |
| Pre-money, AI-native | $11M | $18.6M | $32.3M | — |
| Post-money, all companies | — | $21.6M | — | $78.8M |
Pre-money rows are Carta's quartiles; the all-company row is post-money, with its median and 90th percentile.
Sources: Carta, State of Private Markets: Q1 2026
- Seed and Series A figures are Carta's for Q1 2026, its latest. The AI-native split leaves out foundation-model companies, whose rounds are far larger. The all-company figures are post-money: they include the new money.
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