A median round size depends on which 2024 you mean

The record

Carta published three separate looks at 2024 round sizes over the course of the year, and each states a different median. Its Q1 2024 data release, dated 17 April 2024, reported preliminary medians of $3.5 million at seed, $9.3 million at Series A, $21 million at Series B and $23 million at Series C, each stage up from the prior quarter. A second post, published 2 November 2024 from 2,340 primary US rounds, put the medians at $3.6 million at seed and $10.6 million at Series A, explicitly excluding bridge rounds. Carta's full-year review, published 12 February 2025, added that the median seed pre-money valuation reached $16 million in the fourth quarter, the highest quarterly figure the firm had recorded since at least 2016.

What the sources establish

All three documents measure primary financings on Carta's own platform, not the venture market as a whole, and each states its own sample and cutoff. The Q1 release is a preliminary read on one quarter; the November post pools primary rounds under a stated $2 million seed floor with bridge rounds excluded; the February 2025 review is the closed annual figure. None of the three is wrong, but none is interchangeable with another: a Series C median of $23 million in the Q1 release and $35.7 million in the November post describe different windows and different round populations, not a market that tripled in months.

Scope and revision

The February review makes the distinction Venture Trace exists to preserve explicit on its own: 2024's average round size rose to $15.5 million from $12.1 million the year before, a figure the report itself says is "not indicative of a typical round size" at any one stage. A median describes the middle deal; an average is pulled upward by a small number of large ones, including the AI financings that grew more common through the year. Carta's data also covers only companies using its own platform, so its medians are a large, consistent sample rather than a census of every US financing.

The decision in front of you

A founder or analyst quoting "the 2024 median Series A" should always ask which release, which quarter cutoff, and which round-size floor produced it. Editorially: treat a quarterly figure as preliminary until a full-year revision confirms it, and never compare a median from one release to an average from another without checking which statistic each one is.

• Does the cited figure cover a full year, a single quarter, or a rolling window?
• Is it a median, an average, or a total, and does the source say so?
• Does the provider's definition of the stage include or exclude bridge and SAFE rounds?

Three dated releases from a single provider, describing overlapping periods, produced three different numbers for what looks like the same question. That is not inconsistency; it is what happens when a market is measured continuously and revised as more of the year closes.