At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Shailendra Singh of Peak XV, Jahanvi Sardana of Index Ventures and Janelle Teng Wade of Bessemer described a Series A market with no single defining metric.

Singh said he has never seen seed and venture as dysfunctional as they are now and called this one of the hardest markets he has seen for raising. He said closing a round at up to three prices at once is “a crazy sign of market froth,” and he predicted a correction as early as 2027, warning that some AI revenue figures are inflated. Sardana named the practice of splitting rounds into tranches “tranchopalooza.” Teng Wade said capital is flowing into defense, robotics and AI infrastructure.

Singh’s red flag for founders is a chart of cumulative revenue or ARR, because “cumulative data is a big lie.” Sardana urged founders to learn to pitch but not to decide what to build based on what is getting funded. Teng Wade, who used to advise conservative projections, now says to “just be audacious in your ask” and adjust to the market’s response.

The article, from TechCrunch’s Disrupt coverage, gives no specific ARR thresholds, round sizes or valuation benchmarks for a Series A.

Sources

Image: TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 D1 Industry Stage-Space Space Investing-9 (54101467148).jpg by TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative photo; it does not show the events described.