Thelander PC Digest: June 2026

How Private Company Fundraising Has Changed in 5 Charts

Fundraising rounds at private companies are getting larger at every stage. In this month’s digest, we are digging into the correlation between the most recent series raised and the total amount of financing raised (as a dollar amount) to see how the market has shifted since 2024. That shift has meaningful implications for how companies structure their compensation, specifically the mix of cash and equity (for founders and non-founders) at each level of financing. Let’s take a look.

Pre-Seed / Seed: Companies Are Raising More From the Start 

• The number of pre-seed/seed stage companies raising less than $5 million has declined steadily YoY since 2024.
• Over the same period, the $5 – $14.9 million range has grown from 26.6% to 34.5%

Seed stage companies are coming out of the fundraising gate with larger checks. 

Series A: A New Normal Moving Toward $50 – $70 Million

Given what we now know about seed fundraising, it’s no surprise that the under $5 million and $5 – $14.9 million range have both declined at the Series A level. Here, the most meaningful jump can be seen at the $50 – $69.9 million range, where it has doubled since 2024 from 5.9% to 12.7%

In fact, every financing category north of $50 million has grown YoY since 2024.

Series B: The Middle is Compressing, the Top is Expanding

• In 2024, $5 – $14.9 million accounted for 10.8% of Series B financing. By 2026, that figure had dropped to 3.5%
• The $30 – $49.9 million range, once the most common for a Series B, has also declined
• The real shift is at the top: $110 – $199.9 million has nearly doubled since 2024, from 9% to 17.7%

Series B rounds are consolidating around larger deal sizes.

Series C: Concentration at the Top 

• The $50 – $69.9 million range has declined ~5% at the Series C level 
• Meanwhile, $110 – $199.9 million – already the most common category – has grown further, from 24.7% in 2024 to 29% in 2026

Series C financing is concentrating in the upper ranges with less spread across mid-tier brackets.

Series D or Later: Do You Have $200M+ in the Bank?

• The most striking shift is at Series D and beyond
• The $200 million+ category has grown from 34.9% in 2024 to 46.4% in 2026 – nearly half of all Series D+ companies have now raised at that level 

Why Does This Matter For Your Compensation?

Across every financing stage, the data tells the same story: rounds are larger, and the financing distribution is shifting up. This matters because the mix of cash and equity is directly tied to how much capital the company has raised.

At earlier stages with smaller raises, equity carries more weight. As total financing grows, companies have greater capacity to compete on cash while equity percentages compress. Understanding where a company sits in that continuum, not just it’s most recent round, but it’s total financing, is crucial for benchmarking accurately so that when there is a liquidity event, nobody looks back and wishes they had planned better.

Find out how competitive your current mix of cash and equity is relative to market by filling out the Thelander Private Company Compensation Survey. You’ll secure free access to real-time comp data for all the job titles you fill out for 12 months. We can even do it for you through our white glove service, just respond to this email. 

Learn more about our private company compensation data subscriptions here, or request a demo.