Post-Money Valuation
The company's value immediately after new investment capital is added, equal to pre-money plus the new round.
Post-money valuation is what a company is worth the moment a financing closes, including the fresh capital just raised. It's the denominator used to calculate every investor's ownership percentage in that round.
Because post-money SAFEs now dominate seed financing, founders increasingly negotiate valuation caps in post-money terms directly, which makes dilution math simpler but means each new SAFE cap already accounts for prior SAFEs — stacking several post-money SAFEs at different caps can silently push founder ownership down faster than founders expect until they model it explicitly.
Investor ownership % = amount invested / post-money valuationA $2M seed round closes at a $10M post-money valuation. The new investors collectively own $2M / $10M = 20% of the company immediately after closing.
When comparing term sheets, always normalize to post-money ownership percentage rather than headline valuation — a higher pre-money number with a bigger option pool requirement can leave founders with less ownership than a lower headline offer.
Why do post-money SAFEs matter for dilution?
Because the cap is set after the round, each SAFE's ownership percentage is fixed and doesn't get further diluted by other SAFEs in the same round, so founders can precisely calculate cumulative dilution before signing anything.
Related terms
Run the numbers yourself: dilution, SAFE conversion, and fund-returner calculators.