18 October 2024
$5 Billion and 150,000 Companies Later, What We’ve Learned
Twelve years ago, we set out to change the way startup valuation was approached. Since 2013, the…
11 October 2024
The State of Funding in Southern Europe: Insights from Rome Startup Week 2024
At this year's Rome Startup Week, a notable panel titled "The State of Funding in Southern Europe"…
13 September 2024
PARAMETERS UPDATE P5.9
On September 25, 2024, you’ll be upgraded to the latest version of Equidam with updated valuation…
21 August 2024
Equity Percentages to Offer Investors at Different Stages
You might occasionally come across the sentiment that “early stage investors don’t…
21 August 2024
How to set your SAFE Cap
SAFEs (Simple Agreements for Future Equity), and other regional variants of the SAFE, have surged…
21 August 2024
How to set your SAFE Discount
SAFEs (Simple Agreements for Future Equity), and other regional variants of the SAFE, have surged…
20 August 2024
How To Value a SaaS Startup
Every startup valuation presents a unique challenge. It’s not just about throwing numbers into a…
5 August 2024
SAFE Caps and Discounts: Setting the right terms for your round
Increasingly, founders are turning to convertible instruments (40-95%, depending on round size)…
30 July 2024
Revenue and EBITDA Multiples: The role of comparison in startup valuation
Multiples are the cornerstone for understanding the share pricing for companies of all sizes, from…
10 July 2024
The $5B Club: Irrationality in Generative AI valuation
How do you value startups creating foundational LLMs, or related generative AI technologies? So far…
12 June 2024
Building a Winning Data Room: Best Practices for Early-Stage Startups
For early-stage startups looking to onboard prospective investors, a well-organized data room is an…
30 May 2024
Building Confidence: The Purpose of Financial Projections for Startups
For early stage startups seeking investment, especially pre-revenue companies,…
21 May 2024
Equidam Startup Valuation – What’s in the report?
In this article, we’ll cover our video walkthrough of Equidam’s startup…
12 May 2024
The Hype Trap: Valuation for AI Startups
In a difficult environment for founders and investors, AI startups have been the obvious outlier…
23 April 2024
Case Study: Spiro Carbon – Democratizing Carbon Credits
Spiro Carbon enables robust sustainability monitoring across the agricultural supply chain, making…
18 April 2024
Quick Startup Valuation Estimate – Powered by Equidam & ChatGPT
Today we release our Quick Startup Valuation Estimate GPT, built on top of OpenAI’s…
3 April 2024
Estimating AI Startup Market Size for Effective Fundraising in 2024
At the heart of every conversation between AI startup founders and potential investors, lies a…
25 March 2024
Revenue Multiples by Industry in 2024
You can find in the table below a list of revenue multiples broken down into the same industry…
20 March 2024
Beyond the Hype: Credible Valuation for AI Startups
Against the backdrop of a frosty market for startup fundraising, AI companies are raising large…
29 February 2024
EBITDA Multiples by Industry in 2024
You can find in the table below the EBITDA multiples for the industries available on the Equidam…
16 February 2024
PARAMETERS UPDATE P5.8
On February 29th, 2024, you’ll be upgraded to the latest version of Equidam, with updated…
7 February 2024
How to Calculate Startup Valuation: Step by Step
Valuing a startup can feel like plotting a course in the dark, as you try to reconcile significant…
6 February 2024
WE.VESTR – Simplifying Equity Management to Empower Founders
Equidam partner WE.VESTR is a digital platform designed to streamline equity management for…
1 February 2024
The Challenge for Venture Studios
Venture Studios are an innovative approach to venture capital which aim to reduce investor risk by…
18 January 2024
A Manifesto for Effective Crowdfunding
Maximizing Value for Startups and Investors In recent years, crowdfunding has revolutionized the…
9 January 2024
The Role of Intangible Assets in Startup Valuation
When analyzing the value of startups, the interplay of tangible and intangible assets becomes an…
6 December 2023
How to Raise Your First Round: A Step-by-Step Guide to Startup Fundraising Strategy
Fundraising for your startup is more than just a quest for capital; it’s about creating a…
24 November 2023
Understanding Startup Valuation: Intuitions from real estate
Similar to startups, valuing residential real estate presents a particular set of challenges: each…
29 September 2023
Benchmarks for startup revenue growth
One of the hardest parts of building a truly innovative company is understanding what success looks…
13 September 2023
Average Growth Rate For Startups
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2016 and has been updated…
11 September 2023
What is a “good” valuation for your startup?
A question that comes up fairly often in our workshops: “What is a good valuation for my……
31 August 2023
PARAMETERS UPDATE P5.7
On September 12, 2023, you’ll be upgraded to the latest version of Equidam with updated valuation…
27 August 2023
Share Council: Turning employees into owners
Equidam partner Share Council streamlines the process for startups and SMEs to implement Employee…
10 August 2023
Equity Incentives: Best Practices for Startup Founders
Guest post from an Equidam partner: Bianca Iulia Simion, Marketing Lead at SeedBlink As the world…
27 July 2023
The role of AI in Startup Valuation
If you’ve been in the orbit of ‘tech’ at any point in the last six months, you’re likely to have…
12 July 2023
How To Create a Startup Pitch Deck – [Template included]
Pitch decks are a set of slides that clearly describe your value proposition, your business case,…
6 July 2023
Equidam releases Valuation Delta™: Global benchmarking tool for Startup Valuation
After a decade of helping founders, investors and advisors to close fairer fundraising deals,…
21 June 2023
Valuation for growth startups and maturity stage companies
Use Equidam to calculate a fair valuation for your company at any stage of development, with the…
8 June 2023
Startup investors must consider fair value, or risk another crash
For over a decade Equidam has supported founders (and investors) with the challenge of setting a…
18 May 2023
Fundraising in 2023: The ‘Dry Powder’ Conundrum
Since the start of the year, two main narratives have emerged in early stage investment: The first…
17 April 2023
Advanced Multiples: The tools of valuation professionals at your fingertips
Nothing can be priced in a vacuum, and so there is always some comparative element to startup…
14 April 2023
The Attributes of an Investible Startup
As the founder of a startup, you know that raising money from investors is sometimes crucial for…
11 April 2023
The role of qualitative methods in startup valuation
In a previous article, we looked at the role that financial projections (and the associated DCF…
23 March 2023
The Startup Fundraising Stack
6 Tools to Help Close Your Round As a startup founder, one of the biggest challenges you'll face…
22 February 2023
The State of Startup Valuation – February 2023
Note: We update our startup valuation parameters on a regular basis, in order to stay current with…
19 February 2023
The 10 Characteristics Of Startup Valuation
Startups are innovative, fast-paced, and highly dynamic entities that play a crucial role in…
15 February 2023
The role of financial projections in startup valuation
The valuation of early stage companies is a one of the more complex and contentious topic in the…
10 February 2023
Average and maximum valuations for Scorecard and Checklist
You can refer to the table below to see the average valuation for the Scorecard Method and maximum…
8 February 2023
PARAMETERS UPDATE P5.6
On February 23, 2023, you’ll be upgraded to the latest version of Equidam with updated valuation…
26 January 2023
The role of founder-led valuation in startup fundraising
For a long time, the standard has been for founders to let their lead investor worry about deal…
20 December 2022
Calculate ROI for your Angel Portfolio – Spreadsheet Included
Angel investing is the practice of investing in startup companies, typically at the earliest…
13 December 2022
What connects interest rate rises to startup valuations
New day, new interest rate rise. A few serious faces from the Fed announce that they will do…
21 November 2022
Startup Valuation – Everything We Know
In this post, we'll discuss everything that we have learned in the last 10 years performing startup…
8 November 2022
Startup Valuation: navigating opportunity
“Every number in your valuation has to have a story that’s attached to it. And every story you tell…
21 September 2022
PARAMETERS UPDATE P5.5
On September 22nd, 2022 you’ll be upgraded to the latest version of Equidam with updated…
15 September 2022
Did VCs overpay during the pandemic?
Being a VC is not easy. It's one of the few jobs with minimal feedback on your performance for up…
31 August 2022
10 Newsletters to Keep Tabs on Startup Fundraising
On Sunday morning, there’s nothing better than a good coffee and your favourite newsletter.…
11 August 2022
How many years to forecast for startup fundraising?
TLDR: For startups, 3 years is the most common. 5 years if you are in a later stage (Series B+) or…
18 July 2022
How to value your startup for a friends & family round
When we raised our first round of capital for Equidam, about a decade ago, we didn't know much of…
14 July 2022
What connects the stock market contraction to startup valuations?
In an analysis of the market, Justin Kahl and David George of Andreessen Horowitz showcase data on…
10 June 2022
How to value your startup for crowdfunding?
In 2013 equity crowdfunding was making headlines as the new frontier for startup investment.…
7 June 2022
How much do UK startups raise?
The current fundraising environment There’s never been so much capital available for startups… and…
2 May 2022
Fundraising Strategy: How Much and When to Raise
There’s no shortage of content covering startup fundraising advice, whether it’s solidifying your…
3 February 2022
Case Study: Yotta Energy – Scaling Solar Power
Yotta Energy are creating more opportunities for solar power, with their end-to-end solution that…
26 January 2022
7 Steps to Solidify Your Startup’s Financial Projections
For early stage startups, multi-year financial projections may feel too speculative to be a good…
7 December 2021
Debunking the ‘Startup Bubble’ With Valuation Data
A startup is overvalued when its price is not rational. Through Equidam's data, we see that a…
23 November 2021
GreenTec Capital Partners: Investing in SDG Impact Across Africa
Equidam partner GreenTec Capital Partners invests in African startups that target some of the most…
22 November 2021
PARAMETERS UPDATE P5.4
On November 29th, 2021 you’ll be upgraded to the latest version of Equidam with updated…
16 November 2021
Venturerock: Reshaping Venture Capital To Boost the Odds
Equidam partner Venturerock is a digital venture capital platform and ecosystem of founders,…
15 October 2021
Raise: Powering Startup Growth and Fundraising Across Africa
At Equidam, we work with partners around the world who share our ambition of enabling fairer deals…
14 September 2021
Equidam Partners with ProjectionHub for Easier Financial Projections and Valuations
Equidam, the online platform for startup valuation, is partnering with ProjectionHub, which helps…
10 June 2021
VC Perspectives: The misconception about convertible loans
Convertible loans: a loan with interest (whether actually paid or accrued), in which the loan will…
4 June 2021
Why startup valuation matters more than any other KPI
"One of the things that I’ve been quite keen on internally and externally is that the valuation of…
17 May 2021
Employee Stock Options Template
Preparing employee stock option agreements is a complex and lengthy process. This is why we decided…
2 February 2021
Convertible Note Template
Convertible loan agreements involve a multitude of terms, which facilitate their execution.…
30 August 2020
Dilution 101: Calculation And Examples
What is dilution? TL;DR Dilution is the reduction in the ownership percentage in a certain…
4 March 2020
Company Valuation In Decision-Making
It’s not uncommon for business owners to be aware of the valuation of their company. What is…
25 February 2020
Average Discount Rate For A Convertible Note
A few weeks ago, we built and released a convertible note calculator. It’s useful for making…
1 December 2019
Business Angels or Venture Capital?
Angel investors are individual investors who provide capital to early stage startups in exchange…
8 July 2019
How to Estimate Market Size for a Startup
Rachleff’s Law of Startup Success (of Andy Rachleff, formerly of Benchmark Capital) The #1…
14 March 2019
How To Value A Business
Valuation is too often where the conversation between investors and founders falls apart. With a…
19 December 2018
2018: megarounds, crypto-sobering and more IPOs to come!
2018 has been an intense year in the startup funding world. While for early stage companies seed…
3 December 2018
How Do Investors Value A Startup?
Valuing companies is tricky. The methods used to value a company are dependent on the stage of…
18 November 2018
The Discount Rate in Startup Valuation
If you approach a Venture Capitalist or a Business Angel, you will probably hear that “I need to…
5 September 2018
The Seed is Dead, Long Live the Seed
As Q4 2018 draws near, we receive more and more confirmations of what cannot be called a chance…
21 September 2017
Fundraising: A Treasure Map
When it comes to fundraising, entrepreneurs are like knights on a quest to find the Holy Grail.…
31 August 2017
Why isn’t asset based valuation for startups?
Many entrepreneurs have the misconception that the value of their businesses is the sum of their…
14 July 2017
How much value do you really capture from your data?
With the growth of IoT and connected devices, companies can capture and store more and more data.…
11 May 2017
Can Uber’s Valuation Be Explained By Only Numbers?
Can you measure the value of a company relying entirely on financial tools and models? Should you…
5 May 2017
People crying, systems crashing, risking bankruptcy – it’s all logical
In 2001, the career of Kees de Jong went through a pivotal moment. Right in between his first…
7 April 2017
Hiring at seed stage: for 10X users, look for “10X” people
With the ongoing conversation about growing and scaling a startup from pre-seed and seed stage to…
8 November 2016
Milestones To Raise Series A In 2017
Do you prefer to listen to podcasts? Listen to the audio here Any metric of VC activity has…
1 November 2016
How To Increase Valuation
Do you prefer to listen to podcasts? Listen to the audio here I have a patent and that is a reason…
25 October 2016
Term Sheet: Common Terms & Practices To Be Aware Of
In this post we are going to touch upon some of the concepts that occur in a term sheet and the…
18 October 2016
DCF in Startup Valuation
Question: Why would you use financial methods for the valuation of a startup company? Answer:…
12 October 2016
Investors in The Netherlands
This table includes a list of investors and crowdfunding platforms active in The Netherlands, with…
11 October 2016
Unit Economics For Startups
Do you prefer podcasts? Listen to the audio here Unit economics are basically a summary of your…
4 October 2016
Valuation Multiples: Why Do We Use Them & How [Video]
Multiples is a term widely used in lots of valuation theories. But why do we use valuation…
20 September 2016
Burn rate: what it is and how it influences fundraising
Why does your accounting show different figures from your actual cash flow? How long can…
13 September 2016
What Investors Look For In An Entrepreneur
Do you prefer podcasts? Listen to the audio here A lot of trust is involved in investing in…
6 September 2016
Incubator Or Accelerator: Which One Should You Choose?
Do you prefer podcasts? Listen to the audio here You probably have heard of incubators and…
23 August 2016
Convertible Debt vs Equity Financing
Do you prefer podcasts? Listen to the audio here. You have probably heard of the concept of…
16 August 2016
Comparables: How To Use Them To Defend Your Valuation [Video]
Do you prefer podcasts? Listen to the audio here. In valuation theory, comparables are referred to…
9 August 2016
Employee Stock Options: Common Practices And Examples
In our previous post about how much equity to offer to investors at different funding rounds, we…
2 August 2016
How To Reach Out To Investors [Video]
Do you prefer podcasts? Listen to the audio here In our post about the right timing for…
26 July 2016
Planning and Timing Fundraising
Fundraising is an activity that requires considerable time and effort and, as founders, we often…
13 July 2016
Read This Before Writing A Business Plan
Call them unfashionable, long, unread, or boring, business plans are still the main way to…
12 July 2016
Financial Projections: The Top-Down Approach
Suggested reading: Startup Projections, How to Start Financial projections cause headaches to many…
5 July 2016
Financial Projections: The Bottom-Up Approach
Suggested reading: Startup Projections, How to Start Financial projections cause headaches to many…
21 June 2016
Negotiating with investors: 3 elements that make your story compelling
Company valuation is not only about financials: the story you present to investors significantly…
14 June 2016
Convertible Debt: risks and terms to be aware of
Do you prefer podcasts? You can listen to it here. Gianluca Valentini, co-founder of Equidam,…
7 June 2016
What to offer to investors?
Do you prefer podcasts? Listen to the audio here Entrepreneurs who are in the process of raising…
2 June 2016
Raising seed capital
Do you prefer podcasts? You can listen to it here. Entrepreneurs who are in the process of…
30 March 2016
The Definitive Guide To Startup Valuation
This article originally was published on the MergeLane Blog and is republished with permission of…
23 March 2016
Lower Valuations Explained: Should Entrepreneurs Care?
“Morgan Stanley marked down it’s Flipkart participation[1]”, “Fidelity…
17 March 2016
How To Rock Your Crowdfunding Campaign
This infographic originally apparead on Vound Software Blog How to rock your crowdfunding campaign?…
2 March 2016
How Do Convertible Notes Work [Infographic]
After discussing how to price convertible notes, we realised that there is a simpler way to explain…
16 February 2016
7 Sources That Give Away The Secret Behind Convertible Notes
Are you issuing a convertible note? Do you want to know the ins and outs of this financing tool?…
10 February 2016
Practical Advice On Convertible Notes
Are you issuing a convertible note? Are you doing it to avoid the headaches of setting a…
4 February 2016
85% of Italian Startups Struggle to Break € 100,000 Annual Revenues
The number of Italian startups keeps on growing. According to the official register for innovative…
14 December 2015
How to Plan a Successful Exit Strategy for Your Business
The global number of businesses bought and sold in 2014 was 11% higher than the year before. As…
14 December 2015
Flexibility in Startup Financing: Alternative options
There are several ways to accept external funds from investors. Debt is strict and it doesn’t…
14 December 2015
4 Reasons why Cash is King or Why You Should Care About Your Burn Rate
Cash is important for survival. The burn rate (how fast you 'burn' the cash in your business) is…
14 December 2015
Crowdfunding Platforms Serve As Information Brokers
In the previous post, we explained how VC funds and crowdfunding platforms can partner up. In this…
14 December 2015
Crowdfunding: Information Broker for Early-Stage Venture Capital Funds
In the previous post we analyzed the advantages that associations of Business Angels, namely…
14 December 2015
Crowdfunding: Why Business Angel Networks are Inefficient
The Second Generation of Business Angel Networks (BANs) In the previous article I have…
14 December 2015
Crowdfunding: Business Angels and the Lack of Suitable Investment Opportunities
Business Angels' Limited Exposure Business Angels (BAs) are the major providers of investment…
14 December 2015
The First Fully European Literature on Startup Scaling
This post originally appeared on Medium here ‘All told [American VCs] did not [seem to have] a…
10 December 2015
Crowdfunding: The Emergence of Online Investing
Online investing is a new trend in venture capital industry that has arisen in recent years. It…
9 December 2015
How to Negotiate with Investors: Pre-money Valuation
Attention from investors is the first thing. We discussed that in our previous post. If you have a…
7 December 2015
Investment paid in services. What’s the value?
Investors often own different complementary businesses. Some of these businesses may be focused on…
7 December 2015
Better Late Than Never: The Success of Older Entrepreneurs
This inofgraphic originally appeared on the SurePayroll blog here For anyone who thinks startups…
3 December 2015
Drivers in Investment-Based Online Crowdfunding
In one of our previous posts, I outlined both the theoretical potential of investment-based…
3 December 2015
After raising funds, how to keep your shareholders happy?
After you’ve raised funds, you might forget what it takes to keep your capital providers satisfied.…
3 December 2015
An Angel Investor And Economist On Dilution
There are two statements in general you can hear out there related to dilution: Future rounds are…
3 December 2015
Investment-based Crowdfunding: Why People do NOT Invest Online
Lots of hyped articles about crowdfunding can be found online. Is everything they describe…
3 December 2015
Small Business Funding Series: Hybrid Financing
After discussing crowdfunding, equity and debt financing throughout the month of February, let's…
2 December 2015
Small Business Funding Series: Equity Financing
At Equidam, our goal is to provide small business owners the tools to manage their business easily…
2 December 2015
Small Business Funding Series: Debt Financing
Last week we looked at Small Business Funding and talked about the ins and outs of Equity…
2 December 2015
ICO – Initial Crowdfunding Offering
An introduction to Equidam Valuation Academy Who, among the entrepreneurs reading this post, feels…
2 December 2015
Crowdfunding Campaign: How to stand out from the crowd
Crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly popular way of financing businesses. Nowadays, the world…
2 December 2015
Small Business Funding Series: Crowdfunding
This is already the third episode of our Small Business Funding series. Earlier, we talked about…
2 December 2015
10 Ways to Finance your Business
You've got a clear business idea but your pockets are empty. That's okay! As the old saying goes,…
2 December 2015
A quick guide to Financial Metrics
When running your business, having the discipline to keep track of your financials might be tough,…
1 December 2015
How to attract investors’ attention?
Wondering how to convince investors of your idea? Use the right tools to display your strengths!…
1 December 2015
3 Competitive Advantages that set European Startups Apart
This article was originally posted on Medium here. European startups raised $6,9 Bln in the first…
26 November 2015
The Rise of Female Entrepreneurs
In some regions - the US and developed Europe - female entrepreneurs have higher levels of…
23 November 2015
Are Networks and Regulation Responsible for Slow European Startups?
This post originally appeared on my Medium feed here. A few weeks back I wrote “The European…
19 November 2015
Alternative Finance in Europe
What hides behind the term alternative finance? Centre for Alternative Finance of Cambridge Judge…
18 November 2015
Startup Valuation Methods
Early stage valuation is considered an art by many. However, as all arts, methods and best…