Series A
Carta's median Series A dilution was 17.9% in Q1 2025, down from 20.9% a year earlier. The AI split is the number that should change how you build a comp set. The Q2 2026 Venture Monitor, the last edition to print both legs, put the median pre-money at $83.0M for AI companies and $44.0M for everyone else as of 30 June, against a $64.0M blend. The Q3 edition charts the split without printing it; its AI-only median through 30 September is $78.0M, against a $60.3M blend. If you are not an AI company, the non-AI figure is your benchmark, not the headline you will be quoted.
The split that matters more than the median
The median above blends AI and non-AI deals, and at series a those two cohorts price very differently. The last Venture Monitor to print both legs, Q2 2026 (as of 30 June 2026), put the median pre-money at $83.0M for AI companies and $44.0M for everyone else, against a blended $64.0M. If you are not an AI company, the non-AI figure is your benchmark, and that quarter's blend overstated it by 45%. The Q3 edition charts the split without printing the non-AI value; its AI-only median through 30 September is $78.0M. Walking into a negotiation anchored on the blend is how founders end up arguing for a price their own comp set cannot support.
The option pool
The median series a round in 2026 is $17.4M (Venture Monitor Q3 2026). An option pool created or topped up inside the pre-money comes out of the existing holders, not the incoming investor, so every point of pool you agree to is a point of your own dilution that funds nothing operational. Put the pool size you are being asked for into the calculator on the home page and watch the required pre-money move.
Practical consequence: strip AI deals out of your comparable set before you run any comp-based method on them, and report the two medians separately when a VC asks for your benchmark. A comp set that mixes the cohorts produces an anchor neither side can defend. See the AI premium deep-dive for the full per-stage split and how to classify an ambiguous deal.
Source
↗ https://nvca.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Q3-2026-PitchBook-NVCA-Venture-Monitor.pdfSource: PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor Q3 2026, as of 30 September 2026 (p11, p16); AI and non-AI split from the Q2 2026 edition, as of 30 June 2026 (p14); dilution from Carta State of Private Markets Q1 2025 · Verified 2026-10-17.