In A Tepid Market, Extension Rounds Are On The Uptick

Early-stage investor: ‘We’re seeing a ton of extension rounds’ Extension rounds can buy a startup another four to six quarters to grow revenue and try to raise funds again. Large extension rounds in recent months include a $400 million Series D extension raised by Berlin-based business execution management platform Celonis at a valuation of $13 billion. In 2021, feeling like you might get interest at the 12-month mark or earlier was becoming a norm, said Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Guru Chahal, an investor in cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity at Lightspeed, was previously on the founder side of the table. “You do a plan for about 24-plus months with a plan to raise at about the 18 month mark,” he explained. . . .