Early stage funnel for 2018 cohort of companies, Europe vs United States Europe United States 20 15 ) 0 0 0 ' ( s p u 10 t r a t s f o # 5 0 Notes: Startups +1 Year +3 Years +5 Years Data as of 20 September 2023. formed Based on historical analysis of # of startups funded (years post funding) conversion rates: 15% of Seed stage companies convert to Series A on average and 33% of Series A convert to Series B (for the majority of those converting, it takes place within 2 years); these Sources: Powered by rates have been applied to the current cohort of Seed and Early stage companies for illustrative purposes. Founders are looking for alignment on vision When asked the same simple question - what do founders really want from their VCs - there is a surprising divergence in responses depending on whether you ask this of the founders themselves, or whether you put it to VCs. While VC respondents are most likely to cite the importance of building a relationship with founders early (the top ranked answer selected by 29% of VC respondents), this features way down the list of priorities for found- ers (13% of founder respondents). For founders, however, what truly matters is 昀椀nding a VC that truly ‘gets them’, highlighted by the fact that a shared alignment of vision/purpose is by far the most cited response (36%) selected by founder respondents. This desire to 昀椀nd an investor with a strong connection to their company is also indicated by the high share of | 58