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Startup Valuation: Meebo.com

... continued from "Milk Money for Meebo.com"

I’d put the percentage equity that the VCs took for their $3.5 million at Meebo at a lot closer to 20% pre-money given how hot Meebo was (again, based on all the buzz about them on Sand Hill Road).

Still, let’s assume 25% pre-money.

That makes the pre-money valuation of the company 3.5 * 4 = $14M.

In other words, Sequoia put in $3.5 million and got 25% of Meebo, putting the company’s value at $14M pre-money.

After the investment, Meebo’s post-money valuation is $17.5M (i.e. 14 + 3.5, the value of the company + the cash). That means, Sequoia now owns 20% of Meebo, post-money. Like I said, that’s about the minimum any self-respecting VC firm in the Valley would like to hold in a startup after Series-A financing. And Sequoia is right up there with Kleiner-Perkins at the top of the VC hierarchy in the Valley.
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Note that at the other extreme of 40% post-money, Meebo’s post-money valuation $8.75M. That puts the pre-money valuation at $5.25M for an absurdly high 66.7% ownership stake. We can readily discard this scenario.
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