Carta's review of 2025 shows capital concentrating in fewer companies, and a slower path between rounds for everyone else.
Key figures
- Startups on Carta raised nearly $120 billion in 2025, up almost 17% from 2024.
- The number of new rounds fell to 4,859, a six-year low.
- Bridge rounds made up 29% of rounds at seed and Series A, 26% at Series B, 22% at Series C, 15% at Series D and 20% at Series E and later.
- Fewer than 14% of Q4 rounds were down rounds, the lowest quarterly share since early 2023.
- The median time from Series A to Series B rose to 2.5 years, from 1.8 years in 2020. Seed to Series A took 2.1 years.
- Median round sizes in Q4 2025 were $4.5 million at seed and $13.5 million at Series A.
- At Series D, 58% of cash raised went to AI startups, and median valuations rose at every stage.
What it means
More bridges and longer gaps mean more companies are raising money between priced rounds, often from existing investors, on terms that stack up on the cap table. Our guide to bridge rounds explains how they work.
Rubicon's take
When the gap between rounds stretches past two years, the record a new investor reviews covers years of changes nobody has checked since the last round.
Source
Carta, "State of Private Markets: 2025 in review". This post summarizes the source in our own words; figures are as reported there. Read the original for full methodology.