0 to 1 · Research note · 21 Sep 2026
The first check got rationed, not cut
US pre-seed funding held flat in Q2 2026 while the number of checks fell about 22%. What that does to a founder raising a first round.
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Every number, and where it comes from
The first five figures in the note.
The full table has 8 rows. Each figure is as published on the date shown, with its denominator.
| Figure | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
| $3.19B | US pre-seed capital raised on Carta, Q2 2026, across more than 11,500 instruments. Q2 2025 was $3.22B across 14,825 instruments. | Carta, State of Pre-Seed Q2 2026, 13 Aug 2026 |
| -22% | Implied fall in the number of pre-seed instruments year on year. Author's calculation from the two counts above. Instruments, not companies: one company can issue several. | Derived from Carta, 13 Aug 2026 |
| $276K | Average pre-seed instrument size, Q2 2026, up 27% year on year. A record over the past four-plus years. An average, not a median. | Carta, State of Pre-Seed Q2 2026, 13 Aug 2026 |
| $35M | Median valuation cap on SAFEs above $2.5M, Q2 2026, up 40% year on year. 75th percentile approaching $60M. Largest SAFE bucket only. | Carta, SAFE valuation caps Q2 2026, 25 Aug 2026 |
| 49% | Share of US pre-seed dollars on Carta going to AI companies, H1 2026. Full-year 2025 was 50%. Share of dollars, not of companies, on Carta's own sector tagging. | Carta, State of Pre-Seed Q2 2026, 13 Aug 2026 |
3 more figures in the PDF, each with its source.
Sources
7 primary releases.
- Carta, State of Pre-Seed: Q2 2026 (13 Aug 2026)$3.19B across more than 11,500 pre-seed instruments in Q2 2026 against $3.22B across 14,825 in Q2 2025; average instrument $276,000, up 27%; AI companies 49% of pre-seed dollars in H1 2026 against 50% in full-year 2025.carta.com
- Carta, Valuation caps on new SAFEs (25 Aug 2026)Median valuation cap of $35M on SAFEs above $2.5M in Q2 2026, up 40% year on year; 75th percentile approaching $60M.carta.com
- Carta, Pre-seed funding map, Q2 2026 (9 Sep 2026)California 52.0% of US pre-seed dollars in Q2 2026 against 42.9% a year earlier; New York 8.6% against 14.8%; Bay Area $1.26B, up 64%; US total $3.19B across 11,546 transactions.carta.com
- Crunchbase News, Seed and angel funding, Q2 2026 (7 Jul 2026)Seed and angel dollars in the US and Canada down 27% year on year in Q2 2026 to about $4.9B.news.crunchbase.com
- Carta, VC fundraising benchmarks 2026 (Peter Walker) (10 Jul 2026)Median software seed $24.3M pre-money on $4.1M raised; Series A $80M on $14.4M; median dilution 18% at both stages, across 1,000+ rounds in the six months to July 2026.carta.com
- Carta, Seed valuations in SaaS: SF vs NYC vs everywhere else (21 Jul 2026)Median pre-money seed valuation for SaaS startups, Q1 2026: Bay Area $33.3M, New York $24.5M, rest of US $12.7M. Priced seed rounds in SaaS only; excludes SAFEs and notes.carta.com
- PitchBook-NVCA, Venture Monitor, Q2 2026 (9 Jul 2026)5,674 estimated first-time financings across the US in H1 2026, on pace for a record year. Used here as the counterweight to the Carta instrument count.pitchbook.com