Okuzeka
Entrepreneurship & Startups vocabulary · Fundraising & Investors

Funding round

Meaning in entrepreneurship & startups, with examples

/ˈfʌndɪŋ raʊnd/nounCore term

In entrepreneurship & startups, funding round means: A planned period in which a startup raises a set amount of money from one or more investors, usually on the same terms and at the same valuation.

In Turkish: yatırım turu, finansman turu

How it is used

Often just called a round. Rounds are named by stage: pre-seed, seed, Series A, B, C. You raise, open, lead, join, close or extend a round. An oversubscribed round has more investor demand than the company needs.

Example sentences

  1. We closed our first funding round in March with four angels and one small fund.

  2. The funding round was oversubscribed, so some investors got a smaller allocation.

Common collocations

  • raise a round
  • close a round
  • lead a round
  • join a round
  • oversubscribed round
  • seed roundOne of the first official funding rounds of a startup, used to build the product, hire the first team and look for product-market fit.
  • Series AThe first major venture capital round after seed funding, raised when a startup has real traction and needs money to grow a model that already works.
  • lead investorThe investor who puts the largest amount into a funding round, sets the main terms and often encourages other investors to join.
  • term sheetA short document that lists the main terms of a proposed investment, such as the amount, valuation and investor rights, before the final legal contracts are written.
  • valuationThe estimated value of a company, agreed between founders and investors in a funding round, which decides how much ownership investors get for their money.

More terms: Fundraising & Investors

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: