using 3-year moving averages to smooth out quarterly fluctuations. What this chart shows is that, whilst smaller ecosystems see wide swings, larger ecosystems are relatively stable, with the ratio staying between 60% to 70% most of the time (and averaging ~64% over the long term). The dip in the ratio in late 2021 was due to the rapid growth in Series A funding which was seen in many Western ecosystems during the chaotic Covid pandemic:
Fig 5. Seed to Series A Funding Amount Ratio for Various Ecosystems (3-year moving Average)
Generally speaking, this quantifies that mature North American startup ecosystems have an average Seed:Series A ratio of about 64% (with London, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin being at around 63%). Less mature ecosystems seem to have a higher ratio of Seed:Series A (with higher swings), which aligns with the fact that they have a steeper attrition funnel – a lower proportion of firms will raise Series A. So how does Canada compare? The chart below compares Canadian Tier 1 ecosystems with US Tier 1. Whilst we might expect the Seed:Series A ratio for Canada to be slightly higher than the US – on account of the ecosystems being slightly smaller or less mature – the chart shows that, in fact, the ratio is typically lower (with the brief exception of the 2021 US Series A over-investment during
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