Seed Round — what is a seed round?
What is a seed round? How much money do startups raise, from whom and on what terms. Seed round in Poland.
Definition
Seed round (seed round, seed funding round) is one of the first formal funding rounds for a startup. The goal is to raise capital to build the product, acquire first customers and prove the business model (product-market fit).
Seed vs pre-seed vs Series A
| Round | Goal | Typical amount (PL) | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed | MVP, idea validation | 100-500k PLN | Founders, F&F, angels |
| Seed | Product-market fit | 500k - 5M PLN | Angels, VC, crowdfunding |
| Series A | Scaling | 5-25M PLN | VC |
What does a startup spend seed money on?
- Team — hiring first programmers, salespeople
- Product — developing MVP into a full product
- Marketing — acquiring first customers
- Runway — securing 12-18 months of operation
What does a seed round look like?
Valuation
The startup sets a pre-money valuation (value before investment). In Poland, typical seed valuation is 2-10M PLN.
Example:
- Pre-money valuation: 4M PLN
- Investment: 1M PLN
- Post-money valuation: 5M PLN
- Investor share: 20%
Instruments
- Equity — direct purchase of company shares
- Convertible note — loan convertible to shares in next round
- SAFE — Simple Agreement for Future Equity (popular in US, increasingly common in PL)
- Subscription warrants — Polish legal tool
Typical terms
- Liquidation preference — investor recovers money first at exit
- Anti-dilution — protection against dilution in subsequent rounds
- Founder vesting — yes, VCs require vesting from founders too
- Board seat — seat on supervisory board
How to prepare for seed round?
- Pitch deck — 10-15 slides (problem, solution, market, team, traction, ask)
- Financial model — 3-5 year projections
- Traction — revenue, users, LOI (Letter of Intent)
- Data room — legal documents, company agreement, KRS
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