The Series A Metric Guide for Seed-Stage Founders
What exactly do Series A investors need to see in 2026? We break down the required metrics across SaaS, Marketplaces, and DeepTech.
The bar for Series A has fundamentally shifted. The "growth at all costs" era is over, replaced by a demand for efficient scaling and proven unit economics.
Here is what we, and our peers, are looking for right now:
B2B SaaS Metrics - ARR: £1.5M - £2M - YoY Growth: 3x - Net Revenue Retention (NRR): 110%+ - LTV:CAC: >3:1 - Burn Multiple: < 1.5x
Marketplaces - GMV: £10M+ annualized run rate - Take Rate: 15%+ (or demonstrating strong pricing power) - Cohort Retention: Month 6 retention > 40% - Liquidity Quality: High supplier utilization rates
DeepTech DeepTech is judged less on revenue and more on technical de-risking: - Commercial Validation: Minimum 3 paid pilots converting to multi-year contracts. - Technology Readiness Level (TRL): Level 7 or 8. - IP Defensibility: Granted patents or massive proprietary data moats.
*Note: These are benchmarks, not hard rules. Exceptional founder-market fit can offset metric deficiencies.*
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