[ay1n]

I'm curious how much equity founders have after such investment with so many investors? I know there's no standard rule here, but I don't know anything about investors, raising money etc., could someone give me few examples with real life numbers?

[grinich]

Planet Labs has raised a total of $160.1 million in funding across 4 disclosed rounds.[1] I'm going to assume there was also an angel round. Here is some (super) rough math:

    | Round     | $ in MM  |  post-$  | non-VC % |
    |-----------|----------|----------|----------|
    | Founding  |    -     |    -     |    100   |
    | Angel     |   1      |    10    |      90  |
    | Series A  |   13.1   |    50    |      75  |
    | Series B  |   52     |    225   |      58  |
    | Series C  |   118    |    550   |      45  |

Note this announcement is the "second closing" of the 95MM Series C from January[2], which means the terms are very likely identical. The WSJ reported the Series C valuation as "materially above" 500 million.[3]

I picked these valuations out of thin air. The only "standard" thing I've seen is that most VC funds are structured for 20% minimum stake in Series A rounds. Later-stage rounds often target less ownership.

The above calculation doesn't take into account any stock for employees. With that, I'd estimate the founders still collectively own about 30-35% of the company.

This could also be totally wrong, since I have no idea what the real numbers are. But as an exercise, you get the idea. :)

[1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/planet-labs

[2] http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/20/planet-labs-95m/

[3] http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2015/01/23/data-collecti...

[nedwin]

If we forget about the percentages they own and focus on the value of their stock we see that their stock goes likes this: $0 $9m $37.5m $130.5m $247.5m

I suspect that the founder ownership percentages are actually lower than you've suggested and that right now they own somewhere around 20 to 30% which is still valued at $110m to $165m.

[grinich]

Sure, share price is what you use to calculate the dollar value of the stock. But percentage is more useful for determine voting power.

Is there a specific valuation here you think is too high an estimate?

[nedwin]

Maybe percentage determines voting power but there are plenty of mechanisms that can and are used to retain control at the equity percentages we are talking about.