What Is Series B Funding?

A Series B funding round is the second round of funding a business. It follows a Series A and precedes a Series C funding round. The money raised in a Series B funding round comes mostly from venture capitalists and private equity investors. It follows the achievement of major milestones.

How Does Series B Funding Work?

A Series B company tends to have a valuation between $30 million and $60 million and has an established business to back up its capital needs. The funding often includes investors from previous round, like Series A. The round is led by a key investor banging the proverbial drum for the company to draw in other investors. However, in contrast to a Series A, a Series B also attracts new venture capitalists that specialize in funding later-stage companies. 

What’s the Difference Between Series A and Series B Funding?

A Series A company develops a unique product or service. Its product-market fit has been validated, and the company is in its growth stage and focuses on marketing and advertising. Investors in a Series A look for a startup with a strategic growth plan. These are typically early-stage venture capital or private equity firms helping the company to acquire inventory and staff.

On the other hand, a Series B company already has a significant user base and focuses on growing its business through additional capital, sales, business development and customer service. Consequently, Series B investors is focused on helping the company to scale its established business. 

Series B investors pay a higher share price for the equity they acquire since the later stage the company is at translates into a lower risk of ruin. If a company raises a Series B through equity, investors may prefer convertible preferred stock over common stock in order to prevent the dilution of their shares. 

Alternatively, a Series B can be raised through fundraising from private equity investors, venture capitalists or credit investments. A company can also turn to crowdfunding from the general public. 

Why Is It Difficult to Get Series B Funding?

The company's business life cycle can be a challenging aspect of this funding round. Investors will check how previous assumptions have held up to real-world scrutiny and assess investment viability accordingly. They may also ask for sources of revenue or a revenue plan that indicates the company is generating or planning to generate profits.  

How to Raise Series B Funding?

A Series B round includes different aspects for the raising company.

Finance Projections

A company at this stage needs to have achieved several milestones, often relating to key performance indicators or revenue targets. However, investors may ask for projections of future revenue plans to assess the company’s health.

Commercialization Progress

Investors look to minimize their market risk at this stage, meaning a Series B company needs to have a solid grip on the niche it is operating in. Thus, the company has to show how it will commercialize its dominance in the market to successfully raise the round. 

Relationship Building

A Series B raise will typically include several investors that have participated in previous funding rounds. For a raising company, it is, therefore, paramount to maintain good relations with its original investors since those can procure new relationships and potential sources of funding for a Series B.

Growth Focus

Since Series B focuses on scaling a company’s existing business, the raising company needs to show a capacity for profitable growth. Roughly speaking, a company has to demonstrate that it can scale its business and maintain or even increase its profitability in the process.

Pitch Attractiveness

Finally, a Series B raise has to tell a compelling story to potential investors. The communication of a plan matters as much as the data underpinning how the company aspires to achieve its goals. 

How Long Does Series B Funding Last?

There is no typical time frame as to how long a Series B funding round lasts. The round is used to improve a company’s operations and further its growth plans. If further funding is needed after this round, the company may turn to a Series C round. 

What Are Crypto Series B funding Rounds?

Several cryptocurrency companies and startups have successfully raised Series B rounds. Below is a selection of several crypto Series B rounds.

Yellow Card

Yellow Card is a pan-African crypto exchange and announced a $40 million Series B funding round in October 2022. The round was led by Polychain Capital.

Uniswap

Uniswap (UNI) is a DeFi protocol and announced a $165 million Series B funding round led by Polychain Capital. The funding round values the company at $1.66 billion.

Messari

Messari is a crypto data and analytics firm that closed a $35 million Series B round in September 2022 led by Brevan Howard Digital. 

Pintu

Pintu is an Indonesian cryptocurrency trading app that raised a $113 million Series B round in February 2022. The round was led by Pantera Capital.

FTX

FTX (FTT) is a major centralized exchange that raised a Series B-1 of $420 million at a $25 billion valuation in October 2021. It had previously closed a $1 billion Series B round with the participation of over 70 investors.