Hamza Shad
Hamza Shad is an insights manager at Carta, where he analyzes data on the venture capital and startup ecosystem and leads the company's quarterly State of Pre-Seed report on early-stage companies. He previously conducted research on entrepreneurship in emerging markets at Endeavor. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of Chicago and a master's in international development from the University of Oxford.
- 💥Why LPs Pass, Where to Make Money in AI, New Fund Performance Data, VC Tool Budgets & More
- 💥Fundraising Tips in a Consensus Market, Where to Invest in AI, Business Models Replacing SaaS, Fund Concentration Math & More
- 💥VC Ranking Flaws, Borderless Founders, Tender Offers on the Rise, VC Network Atrophy & More
“Carta's Hamza Shad shared the latest fund performance data”
Source→“The 90th percentile of seed post-money valuations for US companies on Carta reached $99.8M in Q2 2026, up from $20.0M in Q1 2018, a roughly 5x increase over the period.”
Source→“Shad argues VCs are competing fiercely for the top 10% of early-stage deals tied to AI infrastructure, specialized hardware, and frontier tech, even where funds can't hit their normal ownership targets.”
Source→“Carta administered 71 tender offers in H1 2026, up 34% from the 53 tenders administered in H1 2025. Total transacted volume reached $3 billion, three times the $1.0 billion moved in H1 2025.”
Source→“More than 90% of the shares buyers sought to purchase were successfully sold.”
Source→AI-extracted from podcast / newsletter / paper summaries. May contain errors.