Stages in Raising Venture Capital

There are several customary stages in venture capital investments, which will be discussed in this section. All of the stages are affected by several characteristics that change from one investment round to the next: the condition of the company, the sources of financing, the company's value, the amount of capital raised, the designation of the capital raised, and problems related to the specific stage of financing. Obviously, these are general characteristics that change from one company to another and also depend on the condition of the given market. For instance, the value of seed companies rose immensely in the years 1998–1999 and dropped sharply, beginning in the second half of the year 2000. It is also important to note that several rounds of investment are possible within one stage before the company moves on to the next stage.

Distinguishing among Preliminary Rounds of Investment

The distinction among the different rounds of investment at the first stage—pre-seed, seed, and first round—is not simple. There are many differences which are sometimes a little artificial. Nevertheless, we shall now attempt to explain these differences according to the development axes described above.