Post-Money Valuation
Company valuation immediately after the new round closes, including the new capital raised — the canonical "valuation" number quoted in TechCrunch headlines. Per NVCA Model Documents, post-money = pre-money + new money raised. Common pitfall: post-money math gets messy with SAFEs — modern post-money SAFEs (the YC 2018+ form, per the Y Combinator SAFE primer) fix dilution at the SAFE's valuation cap regardless of subsequent priced-round pricing, so the board should always reconcile the headline post-money against the fully-diluted cap table. — Fundraising KPI anchored to NVCA Model Legal Documents (2024 revision).
Rogue ID: fundraising.post_money_valuation
Type: Currency
Domain: Fundraising
Definition
Company valuation immediately after the new round closes, including the new capital raised — the canonical "valuation" number quoted in TechCrunch headlines. Per NVCA Model Documents, post-money = pre-money + new money raised. Common pitfall: post-money math gets messy with SAFEs — modern post-money SAFEs (the YC 2018+ form, per the Y Combinator SAFE primer) fix dilution at the SAFE's valuation cap regardless of subsequent priced-round pricing, so the board should always reconcile the headline post-money against the fully-diluted cap table.
Formula
post_money_valuation = pre_money_valuation + total_round_size. Per NVCA Model Documents. With outstanding post-money SAFEs, reconcile against the fully-diluted cap table — SAFE dilution is fixed at the cap regardless of priced-round price.Why it matters
The headline number the company carries forward — sets the goalposts for the next round (a down-round means raising at a lower post-money) and the strike-price floor for new option grants.
How to interpret
Watch the post-money-to-ARR multiple (or post-money-to-net-burn if pre-revenue): public sources covering 2024–2025 (e.g. SaaS Capital "Private SaaS Company Valuations" report, valuation-multiples section; Sapphire / KBCM SaaS Survey, "valuations" chapter) show median ARR multiples have compressed materially from 2021 peaks. Pull the current edition for the live range — do not rely on a memorized number — and flag out-of-band multiples as next-round price risk. Where you only have rough heuristics, mark them as "directional, not citation-grade" rather than fabricating a precise band.
Related KPIs
fundraising.pre_money_valuationfundraising.total_round_sizefundraising.founder_dilutionsales.arrfinance.net_burn_rate
Source
NVCA Model Legal Documents (2024 revision) · section: Series A Charter — Post-Money Valuation convention — published 2024-01-01.
Why does this cite NVCA Model Legal Documents (2024 revision)? Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Pre-Seed | Recommended |
| Seed | Recommended |
| Series A | Recommended |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C+.
Default owning functions
- Finance
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/fundraising/post_money_valuation.json - All Fundraising KPIs:
/api/ontology/fundraising.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Founder Dilution
Percentage of founders' fully-diluted ownership that is given up in the new round, including any pre-close option-pool top-up (the "option pool shuffle" — option-pool expansion taken in the pre-money dilutes existing holders rather than new investors). Common pitfall: founders often quote the "investor dilution" (new money / post-money) and forget the option-pool top-up component. The Carta State of Private Markets quarterly reports publish stage-typical dilution ranges that boards should use as a sanity check. — Fundraising KPI anchored to Carta State of Private Markets Q3 2025.
Pre-Money Valuation
Company valuation negotiated with investors immediately before the new round closes — the denominator for the new investors' ownership math. Per the NVCA Model Documents, pre-money = post-money − new money raised. Common pitfall: when convertible instruments (SAFEs, notes) are outstanding, the "headline" pre-money the CEO quotes and the effective pre-money after conversion can differ materially — the board should always ask for both. Equally important: option-pool top-ups taken pre-close come out of the pre-money share count, diluting founders not investors (the "option pool shuffle"). — Fundraising KPI anchored to NVCA Model Legal Documents (2024 revision).