Total Capital Raised to Date
Cumulative gross equity capital raised across all prior rounds (and the current round in-progress). Treated as historical context — investors and board members look at this to gauge capital efficiency (capital raised vs. ARR achieved). Common pitfall: includes all equity but typically excludes convertible debt that has not converted, venture debt principal, and grants — be explicit about what is and is not included when the number is presented. Capital efficiency benchmarks (per KBCM, SaaS Capital, and Bessemer State-of-the-Cloud) compare `total_capital_raised` to current ARR — e.g. "$30M raised, $10M ARR" is efficient at A but lean at B+. — Fundraising KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: fundraising.total_capital_raised
Type: Currency
Domain: Fundraising
Definition
Cumulative gross equity capital raised across all prior rounds (and the current round in-progress). Treated as historical context — investors and board members look at this to gauge capital efficiency (capital raised vs. ARR achieved). Common pitfall: includes all equity but typically excludes convertible debt that has not converted, venture debt principal, and grants — be explicit about what is and is not included when the number is presented. Capital efficiency benchmarks (per KBCM, SaaS Capital, and Bessemer State-of-the-Cloud) compare total_capital_raised to current ARR — e.g. "$30M raised, $10M ARR" is efficient at A but lean at B+.
Formula
Sum of gross equity capital raised across all rounds. Be explicit about inclusion of convertibles and exclusion of venture debt / grants — surface in a footnote.Why it matters
Tracks capital efficiency over time and frames the company's next-round narrative ("we raised $X to get to $Y ARR"). Investors and board members use this for stage-vs-traction sanity-checking.
How to interpret
Compare to current ARR for capital efficiency. The right ratio is ARR ÷ capital raised — most early-stage SaaS companies generate noticeably less ARR than they have raised (ratio typically well under 1.0x at Series A, with the gap intentional during growth-spend ramps). The KBCM (now Sapphire / KBCM) Private SaaS Company Survey publishes a "capital efficiency" cut for the current vintage; the Bessemer State of the Cloud report covers the same axis qualitatively. Pull the current edition for the live benchmark rather than relying on a memorized number, and tag any heuristic range as "directional, not citation-grade" if you cannot cite a specific section.
Related KPIs
fundraising.total_round_sizefundraising.total_receivedsales.arrfinance.net_burn_rate
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). 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/total_capital_raised.json - All Fundraising KPIs:
/api/ontology/fundraising.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Target Valuation
The pre-money valuation the current round is being run to land — the valuation "ask" that anchors the pitch and the dilution math management is targeting. Distinct from `pre_money_valuation` (the precise NVCA-defined price the round actually closes at, known only once a term sheet is signed): this is the aim, set going in. The board reads the target alongside `fundraising.minimum_valuation` as a valuation BAND — the two together tell a very different story than a single point. Common pitfall: a target valuation set on 2021-vintage multiples in a compressed market; always sanity-check against current stage-relative ranges from quarterly Carta / PitchBook / SaaS Capital reports. — Fundraising KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
Total Received
Cash that has actually been wired and cleared the company's bank account from investors in the current round. This is the cash-in-the-bank version of `committed_amount`. Common pitfall: commitments do not pay the bills — wiring can lag commitments by weeks to months for the second / third closes, and a committed-but-not-received delta of $5M+ can quietly extend the runway forecast incorrectly. Reconcile this against `finance.total_cash_in_bank` increases each period. — Fundraising KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).