“According to Cooley, the median pre-money valuation of a Series A rose from $3 million in Q1 2009 to $16 million in Q4 2015 (5x). Series Bs rose from $13 million to $70 million (5x), Series Cs rose from $27 million to $80 million (3x) and Series D and later rose from $30 million to a whopping $266 million (9x). As I discussed in my post on the Marginal Productivity Trap, this led too many companies to raise at valuation multiples that were unsupported by historical standards and that put too much pressure on companies’ growth expectations.
Beginning earlier this year, the market has been pulling back toward historical norms, though we’re only part of the way there so far. Financing statistics reported typically lag current market terms by a quarter, because deals reported today were likely off processes negotiated in the prior quarter, so we’re just beginning to see this pullback show up in the numbers.”
Source: Recapalypse now | TechCrunch
