Investors break down how founders can raise a Series A today
- ID
- 38324
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 22 Oct 2026, 11:15 PM
- Fetched
- 23 Oct 2026, 12:17 AM
- Provider
- TechCrunch
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/22/investors-break-down-how-founders-can-raise-a-series-a-today/
- Source URL
- https://techcrunch.com/feed/
Summary
- Score
- 6.0
- Created
- 23 Oct 2026, 12:18 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- foundersvibe_coders
What happened
At TechCrunch Disrupt, three investors — Shailendra Singh (Peak XV), Jahanvi Sardana (Index Ventures) and Jenelle Teng Wade (Bessemer) — described a Series A market Singh called 'never... as dysfunctional as it is now,' with a correction possibly arriving as soon as 2027. Concrete symptoms they named: startups closing a single round at as many as three different prices at once, and rounds split into tranches, which Sardana dubbed 'tranchopalooza.' Teng Wade said capital is flowing into defense, robotics and AI infrastructure, with foundation-model companies vertically integrating but room remaining for 'neo-clouds' renting out AI compute and 'neo-labs' doing AI research; the excerpt cuts off mid-sentence on metrics.
Why it matters
If you plan to raise within the next year, price your round for tranching: the panel says multiple prices per round are now normal, so decide in advance whether you'll accept a lower first-tranche valuation with milestone-linked follow-on, and how a possible 2027 correction affects your runway plan before you sign. It also tells you which pitch framing these firms currently fund — AI compute/neo-cloud and neo-lab positioning — versus generic SaaS. The piece gives no revenue multiples, check sizes or Malaysia/Southeast Asia-specific data, so it can't be used to benchmark a local raise.
Discussion angle
Would you take a tranched term sheet with a lower first-tranche price and milestone-based follow-on, or walk and raise a smaller clean round? Talk through what milestones you'd accept and what happens if the 2027 correction lands mid-tranche.