Seed Round

An early-stage funding round, typically the first external investment a startup raises, usually from angel investors or early-stage VCs. Used to build the initial product and hire a small team.

Seed funding accelerates the path to product-market fit. Understanding the funding landscape helps founders know when external capital makes sense vs. when bootstrapping is more appropriate.

A founder raises a £500,000 seed round to hire a developer and head of marketing, run 6 months of paid experiments, and build out her SaaS platform beyond MVP.