[For pre-revenue startup valuation, go here.] 

In my 2021 startup valuation post during the height of the pandemic, my analysis had led to the below summary of valuation multiples based on revenue growth:

How has the valuation multiple landscape changed for startups in 2024?

Startup Valuation Multiples in 2024

This year’s analysis is not the same based on revenue growth as I couldn’t get my hands on the same data.

From analysis conducted on Crunchbase of 189 startups that raised money in 2024 with available data, the following are the summary stats based on funding stage and revenue size.

I also don’t think the data above for the revenue size is all accurate from Cruchbase’s database. Thus, I wouldn’t rely all of the data in the table.

Rather, my key takeaways are as follows:

• For the seed funding round, the average revenue multiple is 1.5x unless the startup has well-known investors and is regarded as a potential unicorn. At the seed stage, the company has barely generated revenue and is at the slow revenue growth stage, so this data is consistent with the 1x – 2x revenue multiple from the previous 2021 analysis.
• During the early stage venture, the startup has a sales strategy is trying to reach breakeven. They’re trying to grow revenue as fast as they can. Unless they are a potential unicorn, they are most likely achieving high and super high revenue growth. This would be in the 5x – 15x revenue growth according to past data analysis. For our 2024 analysis, I would focus on the 17x median revenue growth as it has the most data points. The 2024 analysis shows a higher revenue multiple than in the past. One reason may be that out of 43 startups in that row, 22 were AI startups, which commanded higher valuation multiple, which is what may have driven up the median valuation multiple over the last year.
•  Late stage venture startups are focused on growth and expansion and we would expect to see the revenue growth stabilize from high growth. The revenue multiple in the 2024 analysis suggests anywhere from 11x – 85x. This subset again may be attributed to AI companies valued much higher than all other industries.

Crunchbase noted similar findings from their analysis. Overall in 2024, the funding sizes for startups have rebounded from 2023 and have re-emerged upward in 2024.

And similar to my individual analysis, Crunchbase has also observed that AI startups have been getting disproportionately high valuation in 2024. This will no doubt continue to be a trend in 2025.