Series C+
Treat this row as Series C. The Venture Monitor reports C and D+ separately and they have come apart: through 30 September the median Series C pre-money is $500.0M and D+ is $1,723.7M, more than double the 2025 D+ median of $831.9M. At 30 June the Series C split was AI $648.0M against non-AI $397.6M, about 1.6x, and the Q3 AI-only Series C median is $694.5M. A handful of very large AI rounds set the D+ figure, so it is not a price a normal company is being offered.
The split that matters more than the median
The median above blends AI and non-AI deals, and at series c+ 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 $648.0M for AI companies and $397.6M for everyone else, against a blended $546.0M. If you are not an AI company, the non-AI figure is your benchmark, and that quarter's blend overstated it by 37%. The Q3 edition charts the split without printing the non-AI value; its AI-only median through 30 September is $694.5M. 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 c+ round in 2026 is $77.0M (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, Series C figures (p11, p16); AI and non-AI split from the Q2 2026 edition, as of 30 June 2026 (p14). Series D+ is reported separately and far higher; see notes. · Verified 2026-10-17.