The seed-stage venture risk premium arbitrage has disappeared, making $50–100M seed funds the worst-performing segment of the market.
The case
Seed investors' effective entry price has doubled from 2x to 4x their nominal entry price due to dilution.
“When I started, my model was I'm actually paying twice my entry price. Okay, that's how I model. Now it's 4x.”Harry Stebbings · 13 Aug 2026
The risk premium arbitrage at the seed stage has completely disappeared.
“There was a real arbitrage because the risk premium at the seed stage was way overstated. That has changed completely.”David Frankel · 8 Aug 2026
Topics
Signal Headquarters · compiled from attributed public discussion. Last updated 2026-08-13.