Seed funding concentrated in mega-rounds last year. Over 50% of seed dollars flowed into deals worth $10 million or more, according to Crunchbase data. Meanwhile, deal counts for seed-stage startups dropped from their 2021-2022 peak, and funding for sub-$10 million rounds also declined.
The trend reveals a bifurcated seed market. Well-connected founders with proven traction land outsized checks. Everyone else faces a harder path to capital. Smaller seed rounds, once the lifeblood of early-stage startups, lost ground as investors concentrated bets on later-stage companies masquerading as seeds.
This shift squeezes founders without networks or prior exits. The number of startups receiving seed funding shrinks even as the average check size balloons. Fewer companies get funded overall, but those that do capture more capital upfront. This creates a winner-take-most dynamic at the seed stage.