US Series A benchmarks for 2024

Founders raising Series A in 2025 - here's how your sector stacked up in 2024.

Data covers 775 primary Series A rounds raised by US startups using Carta. No bridge/extension figures, no convertible notes or SAFEs.

We split SaaS into AI and Non-AI because the medians are so distinct, but of course you can find AI startups in nearly every sector listed.

So which sector did "best"? Depends on your metric of choice.

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆

1) SaaS (AI and non-AI combined)
2) Biotech
3) Healthtech
4) Fintech
5) Renewables (first top 5 finish in a long time)

𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

1) AI SaaS
2) Transportation
3) Media (on very few deals)
4) Renewables
5) Marketplaces

𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗥𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱

1) Renewables
2) AI SaaS
3) Cybersecurity
4) Hardware
5) Adtech

Total Series A fundraises were down about 10% from 2023 (though the gap will shrink as the last bits of data come in for 2024). All in all, a tricky year to get from Seed to Series A as investors digested the shift in velocity for underlying performance metrics (or got swamped by AI hype, take your pick).

Here's to the founders making it happen in 2025! Share with a founder friend 🙏

150+ slides of insights from Carta due out Dec 30th - subscribe at the link in graphic to reserve your copy of the data deck!

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Peter Walker
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