Silicon Valley’s Realtors, Like Its Bankers, Are Having a Tough MonthRead More

Seed Investors to Watch
venture capital

The Information’s Seed Investors to Watch

In the last few years, everyone has become a seed investor. From veteran venture capitalists to hedge funds, private tech investors are looking to invest in companies earlier and earlier. 

But the number of deals has been flat—or shrinking. There have been about 1,000 seed deals for U.S. venture-backed companies per quarter since 2013, according to PitchBook. 

What’s happened is the deals have grown significantly in valuation and size. The median deal size has quadrupled from 2013 to 2018 up to $2 million. The average ownership stake for a seed investor has grown to more than 20%. 

Get access to exclusive coverage
Read deeply reported stories from the largest newsroom in tech.
Latest Articles
 
markets
Musk Puts $20 Billion Value on Twitter
By Erin Woo and Martin Peers · March 25, 2023 4:45 PM PDT
Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.
Elon Musk offered Twitter employees stock grants at a valuation of roughly $20 billion, said a person familiar with an email Musk sent to staff, less than half what he paid to buy the company. It was a concrete acknowledgment of how much Twitter’s value has dropped since the deal—but it is still well above public market valuation levels for Twitter’s rivals. As Musk has...
Latest Briefs
 
Twitter Valued at $20 Billion in New Employee Stock Grant
By Erin Woo · March 25, 2023
Amazon Starts Latest Round of 9,000 Layoffs
By Theo Wayt · March 24, 2023
Nasdaq to Launch Crypto Custody Service By End of June
By Aidan Ryan · March 24, 2023
Stay in the know
Receive a summary of the day's top tech news—distilled into one email.
Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
Tonal’s now-shuttered Palo Alto, Calif. retail store. Photo by Getty.
Exclusive startups
Tonal’s Valuation May Fall 90% in ‘Cram-Down’ Financing
By Maria Heeter
Tonal, a fitness startup with a cadre of celebrity backers, is crunched for cash after failing to find a buyer.
Clockwise from top left: Julie Bornstein, Esther Crawford, Mark Hammond, Max Cutler, Kağan Sümer. Photos via Julie Bernstein, Robert Cowherd, Microsoft, Wikimedia and Kağan Sümer.
Free Agents startups
On the Market: The Founders Who Joined Microsoft, Spotify, Coinbase and Twitter
By The Information Staff
Call them acqui-fires. Several founders who took positions at the bigger tech companies that bought their startups recently lost their jobs when layoffs rolled through Silicon Valley.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk last August. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive startups electric vehicles
SpaceX Plans New Funding With Backing From Saudi, UAE Investors
By Becky Peterson
A subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s investment fund and an Abu Dhabi investment firm are planning to invest in a multibillion-dollar funding round for SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, according to people familiar with the investor discussions.
Bill Gurley in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive
Good Eggs Cuts Its Valuation 94% in Lifeline Financing as More Startups Get Desperate
By Amir Efrati
As more startups struggle to raise money from venture capitalists and approach bankruptcy, they are going to extreme lengths to stay afloat.
Block chairman and co founder Jack Dorsey. Photo by Getty
markets
Fintech’s Big Wakeup Call
By Ann Gehan
Fintechs were supposed to transform banking by making it dead simple for users to open savings accounts or pay their bills.
Art by Mike Sullivan
Exclusive microsoft startups
Amazon Faces Moment of Truth on Alexa as ChatGPT Steals Its Thunder
By Theo Wayt
At the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, Amazon announced one of its biggest partnerships yet to help make its Alexa voice assistant ubiquitous: a deal with Toyota to integrate Alexa into the auto giant’s cars.