The changed landscape of early stage funding

While raising funding for my new company ENZO, it is interesting to notice how the early stage startup funding landscape has changed in the last few years.

Since the last time raised funding, all the rounds have shifted. What used to be series A is now seed funding. We call the original seed preseed now. Early stage funds who do seed are now doing rounds the size of an original series A.

Also, the impact of accelerators in the startup funding landscape is significant. Since there is an accelerator for every conceivable segment and geography, investors now expect at least a small team and product in-market before they want to move on a seed-type round. Startups coming out of accelerators have those in place and some early market traction data. Accelerators have changed the funding landscape in significant ways. They pushed up the seed round while reducing the risk for early stage funds.

I think this could also be the reason why angel funding has gone down. The seed round went up in size and valuation making them undesirable for angels while the bottom of the market has been picked up by accelerators. In a way, accelerators you could see commodification and professionalization of angel investing.