Datahyena
Research · September 2025 to July 2026

A Series A in India is a seed round in America

Same money, different word. What 7,049 rounds say about a label nobody agrees on.

August 19, 2026

$7.8M
Median Series A in India
$6.0M
Median seed round in the US
3.4×
Seed to Series A, the biggest step
$10M to $30M
Middle half of Series A rounds
The short version
  1. 1 India's Series A lands nearer the US seed round than the US Series A.
  2. 2 The middle half of Series A rounds spans $10M to $30M. Both ends use the same words.
  3. 3 Seed to Series A is a 3.4x step. Every step after it is smaller.

Same money, different word. A founder raising a Series A in Bengaluru and one raising a seed in San Francisco are having the same conversation with their bank. Only one of them gets to say Series A.

01 Where you are matters more than the label

Europe sits between the US and India at every stage. Screen for Series B and up as a proxy for size and you catch Indian companies at $16M while missing American ones raising $50M at Series A.

datahyena.com Same stage, different money Median round size by headquarters region. The dashed line is the American seed round, which India's Series A very nearly matches. Datahyena $0 $20M $40M $60M $6.0M $4.7M $2.0M Seed $21M $17M $7.8M Series A $50M $36M $16M Series B United States Europe India the US seed round, $6.0M Source: Datahyena. United States, Europe (16 countries) and India, Sep 2025 to Jul 2026. Rounds with no resolved country are excluded.
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02 Nobody agrees what a Series A is

The company at the top of the Series A range raised three times what the one at the bottom did. By Series C the middle half spans $40M to $125M.

datahyena.com One label, a very wide range Median round size by stage, with the middle 50% of rounds shaded. The bands overlap, so one company's Series A is another's seed. Datahyena $1.0M $10M $100M Pre-seed 724 rounds $2.0M Seed 1,658 rounds $5.0M Series A 1,304 rounds $17M Series B 641 rounds $40M Series C 280 rounds $74M Series D 135 rounds $115M middle 50% of rounds median Source: Datahyena. 7,049 funding rounds with a disclosed amount, announced Sep 2025 to Jul 2026, deduplicated across publications. Log scale.
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03 Rounds do not keep doubling

Seed to Series A is the largest step on the ladder. After that each step is smaller: 2.3x into Series B, 1.9x into C, 1.6x into D.

datahyena.com The biggest jump comes early How many times bigger the median round is than the stage before it. Datahyena 0 1 2 3 4 2.5× Seed 3.4× Series A 2.3× Series B 1.9× Series C 1.6× Series D Source: Datahyena. Median round size by stage, Sep 2025 to Jul 2026.
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So use the number

If size is what you care about, ask what a company raised. The amount means the same thing in Bengaluru, Berlin and San Francisco. The label does not.

How this was measured Show
  • 7,492 rounds announced between 1 September 2025 and 31 July 2026, of which 7,049 disclosed an amount. Counted by announcement date, and only rounds we serve through the API.
  • One raise counts once, however many publications covered it. Amounts are converted to USD at the rate on the announcement date.
  • Regional cuts use the company's headquarters country. Europe is 16 countries. Around one round in ten has no country attached and sits out of those cuts.
  • Announced rounds only. Quiet raises are missing, which lifts the medians, most of all at pre-seed.

Datahyena, "A Series A in India is a seed round in America", August 2026.

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