Every time a startup raises money, your share of it shrinks. See what following on would cost, and what your stake could return when the company sells.
€5,000 invested at Pre-seed
Enter your first cheque, add the rounds the company raises, and decide at each one whether you follow on. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Start with your cheque and the round you are investing in.
The whole round, your cheque included.
Your ownership
What is a post-money valuation?The company’s value once the new investment has been added: pre-money plus the amount raised. Your ownership is your cheque divided by this.0.10%
of the company, after this round
Post-money valuation
What is a post-money valuation?The company’s value once the new investment has been added: pre-money plus the amount raised. Your ownership is your cheque divided by this.€5,000,000
Paper value of your stake
What is paper value?Your ownership multiplied by the company’s latest valuation. It is an implied figure, not a price anyone has offered: it does not mean your stake could be sold for that amount today.€5,000
Each time the company raises money it issues new shares, so your percentage falls unless you invest again. For each round, choose whether to use your pro-rata right.
No later rounds yet. Add a Series A to see how new money dilutes you What is dilution?The fall in your percentage ownership when the company issues new shares to other investors. Your shares stay the same; there are simply more shares in total. and what it would cost to keep your share.
One cheque, every possible exit
What your €5,000 Seed cheque returns at every price the company could sell for. Drag the exit slider, or click the curve.
What reaches you, by exit valuation
Chosen: a €100M exit pays you €100,000 · 20×
You get your money back from about a €5M exit. This curve assumes no later rounds. Add one to see how dilution lowers it, and what following on would add back.
The maths, briefly
You invest €5,000 in a Pre-seed round: €4M pre-money, raising €1M.
1Post-money valuation
€4,000,000 + €1,000,000 =€5,000,000
2Your ownership
€5,000 ÷ €5,000,000 =0.10%
Pre-money is the company’s value before the round; post-money adds the new money. Your ownership is always your cheque divided by post-money.
The Seed raises €3M at a €15M post-money valuation, and you don’t invest.
1Share of the company sold
€3,000,000 ÷ €15,000,000 =20%
2Share of your stake you keep
100% − 20% =80%
3Your new ownership
0.10% × 80% =0.080%
4Your paper value
0.080% × €15,000,000 =€12,000
Your percentage fell, yet your paper value rose from €5,000 to €12,000, because the company grew faster than it diluted you.
To stay at 0.10% through the Seed, you buy your share of the new money.
1Pro-rata cheque
0.10% × €3,000,000 =€3,000
2Ownership after investing
0.080% + (€3,000 ÷ €15,000,000) =0.10%
3Your paper value
0.10% × €15,000,000 =€15,000
Investing €3,000 more lifts your paper value from €12,000 to €15,000. Skip it and your share falls to 0.080%.
You sit out every later round and the company sells for €250M.
1Ownership after Seed, Series A and Series B
0.10% × 80% × 80% × 80% =0.0512%
2Your proceeds
0.0512% × €250,000,000 =€128,000
3Your multiple
€128,000 ÷ €5,000 =25.6×
4After 20% carry
€128,000 − 20% × (€128,000 − €5,000) =€103,400 · 20.7×
Near or below the €32M the company raised, liquidation preferences pay later investors first, so you can receive less than your percentage suggests.