This explainer from Spice Route Finance walks through the funding lifecycle with specific dollar ranges at each stage. Pre-seed raises $250K-500K at a $2-5M valuation; seed raises $1-5M at a $3-6M valuation; Series A raises $2-15M at a $10-15M valuation, a round the deck notes can end in a Series A Crunch for early companies that fail to close it; Series B raises roughly $7-10M at a $30-60M valuation; and Series C raises around $26M at a $100-120M valuation, often the last round before IPO. It also covers Bridge Round funding for companies running out of runway between rounds, and Mezzanine Finance, a hybrid of equity and bank debt carrying 12-20% interest, used as a final push toward IPO or acquisition.

This deck functions as a single page reference that a first time founder can use to gauge whether a term sheet they're being offered is roughly in line with what companies at their stage typically raise and at what valuation range overall now. The explicit warning about the Series A Crunch is useful for founders who might otherwise assume that closing a seed round guarantees the next round will follow, when in practice many companies stall precisely at that transition point. The side by side explanation of Bridge Rounds versus Mezzanine Finance also helps founders distinguish two financing tools that both fill funding gaps but carry very different costs, since mezzanine debt runs 12-20% interest rather than a typical equity discount.