The number of $5M+ seed rounds in the US has risen steadily, from 45 in 2014 to 180 in 2018, but the trend may be cooling off, with 110 such rounds in 2019 YTD
Joanna Glasner / Crunchbase News :
Context & Ripple Effects
This data point lands mid-arc in the 'seeds are getting huge' story that Crunchbase News and others have been tracking. Earlier coverage established the two ends of the barbell: a decade of US seed-stage trends showing sub-$1M rounds shrinking while $10M-$20M rounds grew, and a Wall Street Journal analysis finding initial VC deals down 40% from 2015 even as the median seed hit $2M — roughly four times its 2013 level.
First-order effects
- Founders who could raise $5M+ at seed through 2018 now face a thinner checkbook: 110 such rounds year-to-date puts 2019's pace below 180, so the marginal big-seed startup either raises less or waits.
- Seed investors who scaled check sizes during the run-up are competing for a smaller pool of outsized seed deals, concentrating attention on proven teams.
Second-order effects
- A pricier, scarcer seed round pushes the burden downstream: with the median Series A already at $8.6M for US startups, companies that took $5M+ seeds must justify step-up valuations to a Series A market that itself is writing bigger checks to fewer companies.
- The same cooling shows up at the top of the market — giant $100M+ rounds fell in both count and dollar volume in 2019 — suggesting funds are tightening across stages rather than just rotating out of seed.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, US early-stage venture consolidates structurally: fewer companies funded at entry (initial VC deals were down 40% from 2015) but each backed more heavily — later analysis of 15K+ rounds confirmed seed rounds kept getting bigger, with $3M+ deals jumping from 7.8% of totals in 2015-17 to 17% in 2018-20.
- That structure favors experienced operators over first-time founders and shifts power toward investors able to write large early checks, narrowing the funnel long before Series A.
The trend: US venture capital is barbelled — deal counts falling while round sizes balloon — and the 2019 dip marks the point where that concentration started to bite at the seed stage.