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Capital concentration in frontier labs makes the first round harder for founders without a Silicon Valley network, but alternatives have multiplied: revenue-based financing for recurring ARR, improved venture debt after the SVB collapse, public grants like ENISA and CDTI Neotec, and AI-leveraged bootstrapping that shrinks the team you need.
After the 2021 historic peak and the 2022 correction, startup funding in 2023 has been redefined: Series A rounds dropping from $15M to $8-10M, due diligence extending to 14 weeks, and metrics like the real Rule of 40 and NRR above 110% as the new minimum.
The venture capital market in 2024 has partially recovered, but the improvement is uneven. Generative AI absorbs 35-40% of capital while consumer and DTC remain slow. Due diligence timelines have tripled, the burn multiple now dominates investor conversations, and a serious raise takes three to six months from first pitch to close.
