Venture Capital

From Seed to Series A, founders are front-loading capital like never before

Nikhil Patwardhan

December 09, 2025 | 11 Min Read

Early-stage founders are raising far larger seed and Series A rounds, accepting higher dilution to secure runway, talent, and execution speed, as India’s late-stage funding pipeline remains frozen for a third year.

In March this year, the founders of a Bengaluru-based e-commerce AI startup—let’s call them Arjun and Meera—found themselves in a situation that would have felt absurd even three years ago. Their product, a workflow layer that helped online sellers generate catalogue content and automate merchandising decisions, had only a handful of paying pilots. The team was 25 people. And yet, by the time they began formal Series A conversations, three funds had already indicated they were willing to lead.

Corporate

Access unlimited content at a special discounted rate. Trusted by top VC’s and leading organizations, we provide bulk subscriptions for groups of 30+. Contact us for more details

Campus

Top educational institutions have collaborated with us for campus-wide subscriptions. For bulk campus-wide access, please get in touch.

Got a tip? If you have a lead we should be chasing at The CapTable, write to us at tips@the-captable.com

Join our community of 100,000+ top executives, VCs, entrepreneurs, and brightest student minds

Trusted by the best

Karthik Reddy

Blume Ventures

The CapTable brings a refreshing set of insights for us at the Blume team, highlighting stories that bring together the underlying business and founders with that of investors' journeys with these startups. It's an important perspective that very few bring to startup ecosystem enthusiasts.

Latest Articles

The Byju’s money trail: How missing millions may have reached India from Singapore

Investigation of corporate filings reveals Byju Raveendran-controlled Singapore entities with no revenue or operations invested Rs 3,100 crore in Think & Learn, around the time disputed funds from the $533 million term loan allegedly reached the same offshore companies.

Pradip K Saha

Bad boy billionaires: India’s biggest fugitive economic offenders and here’s how much they owe to each bank

The CapTable looks at the fine print of the Lok Sabha data to identify who owes how much money to which bank.

Parvathi Benu

The regulator's gambit: Why SEBI took a stand against a business dynasty

SEBI's rare intervention, backing minority shareholders against the Jindal Poly Films family over alleged value transfers worth Rs 760 crore, could determine whether India's class-action framework becomes a real check on promoter power or remains ornamental.

Anuj Suvarna

The quiet, formidable rise of Agaro

A Kolkata family business spent decades selling other people’s products. Then it started filling the gaps those brands left behind, building a Rs 1,500 crore empire more profitable than most roll-up giants.

Pranav Balakrishnan

Silent layoffs, continuous scrutiny, and anxiety: How AI is upending lives of white-collar workers in tech

With rapid AI automation triggering job cuts, workers are growing increasingly anxious and vulnerable as their skills are constantly scrutinised.

Pratap Vikram Singh

Convinced that The Captable stories and insights
will give you the edge?

Convinced that The Captable stories
and insights will give you the edge?

Subscribe Now

Stories

Explore