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Start-up Equity Dilution Calculator | Xumane

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  • Harvey John Xumane
    Written by the seasoned analysts at Xumane with over two decades of experience navigating global markets. Their philosophy:
Updated: 12 January, 2024
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Editor's Note:-What will happen to our current equity structure if we raise this funding?” “How much equity will the new investors get after this round?” If these questions are on your mind, you're not alone. Use our equity dilution calculator to stop the guesswork. Just put in the numbers and get clear answers instantly.

Start-up Equity Dilution Calculator

Raising funds for your startup? Guessing how to calculate share dilution?

Well, use our equity calculator and put an end to the guesswork!

This startup equity dilution calculator tool shows how much a founder's equity is diluted when they take on new capital or/round.


Number of shares before the funding round
#

Capital to be invested in the round
$

Ownership target where you want to be after the funding round
%
Calculate
Here's your Equity Dilution Breakdown Result:
  • New shares issued: -
  • Total shares after the funding round: -
  • Pre-money valuation: -
  • Post-money valuation: -
  • Price of issued shares: -

You have a grand vision and an idea for a company but are waiting for the right fuel for your business, for which you are in talk with investors. You need to figure out the right balance between shares issued and equity diluted to ensure your stake in ownership. Understanding the numbers is key to maintaining control and setting your venture on the path to success.

What is Equity Dilution? Meaning & Example?

Equity dilution in start-ups refers to the decrease in ownership percentage experienced by existing shareholders when new shares are issued. This typically happens during funding rounds, where investors receive shares in exchange for their investment.

It’s like giving a small piece of your pie in exchange for some dough, you can make more pie with the dough and the investors get the pie.

Let's walk through an example to understand it better:

Imagine a start-up with:

  • 100,000 shares outstanding, divided equally between two founders (50,000 shares each).
  • Each founder owns 50% of the company.

The company decides to raise $1 million in a seed funding round: Investors invest $1 million in exchange for 20,000 new shares.

  • After the funding round: The total number of shares outstanding increases to 120,000 (100,000 + 20,000).
  • Each founder still holds 50,000 shares, but their ownership percentage has decreased to 41.67%:
  • (50,000 shares / 120,000 shares) * 100% = 41.67%
  • Therefore, the founders have each experienced an 8.33% dilution in their ownership

How to Calculate Share Dilution?

There are many ways to calculate equity dilution based on the input parameters provided. Let’s discuss one of the ways (which was used in the calculator above too). We’ll touch up upon another way at the end. Before we go into the calculations here are three golden numbers needed:

  • Target Ownership: The percentage of the company you want to hold (as ownership) after the new shares are issued.
  • Current Shares Outstanding: This is the total number of shares already in existence before the funding round.
  • Capital invested: This is the amount of funds you are trying to raise as a part of funding.

Other calculations can be extrapolated from these golden numbers.

The number of shares to be issued is calculated based on how much ownership you want to retain, and the change in ownership can be calculated based on the total shares post money and pre-money. Let’s dive into the calculations.

How does the Equity Calculator Work?

Once you input these three data points, you can see the output in the form of:

Output
Definition
Formula for calculation
Number of Shares to be Issued
Number of new shares to be issued for the investor/partner to get the investment
(Target Ownership / (1 - Target Ownership)) * Current Shares Outstanding
Total shares after funding
Total shares after transaction is completed
Outstanding shares + New shares issued
Pre-money valuation
Valuation of the company before completing the funding round
Number of shares issued pre-money x price of issued shares
Post-money valuation
Valuation of the company after completing the funding round
Pre-money valuation + Funding received

This calculator can help you identify the pre and post money valuations and the final shares after the funding round.

Eager to dive into how to value ESOP? Hop on to this blog after you finish reading up this one!

Why is understanding Equity dilution important?

Understanding all these values is especially vital for startups and founders for their strategic decision-making to ensure that their ownership lies within the threshold they want and they aren’t losing their key rights. Some other factors include:

  • Ability to negotiate funding terms more effectively
  • Planning the amount of capital required
  • To manage dilution efficiently and communicate transparently
  • Ensuring compliance to regulations and norms
  • Aligning with business goals

Overall, a deep understanding of these financial metrics is vital for effective corporate governance, investor relations, and long-term business success.

Other Parameters to Consider while Dealing with Equity Dilution

This calculator takes into consideration some key parameters like target ownership and capital, but in reality, with a greater number of investors, it gets more complicated to maintain them. Therefore, it makes it more essential to have a working, real-time Capitalization table or a Cap table to ensure visibility and transparency at all times.

Still, if you looking for some of the other parameters to maintain in your spreadsheets, then those include:

  • Shifts in valuations
  • Types of shares issued
  • Conversions of convertible notes with warrants, valuation caps, and/or discounts
  • ESOP Pool considerations
  • Need for anti-dilution measures
  • Number of investors etc.
Equity Dilution on Xumane

Get the overview of the Cap Table and the changes done after each round with ease. View your equity shares by ownership, shares, securities, series, and more.

Equity Dilution on Xumane

Reach out to us for a free consultation today!

Frequently Asked Questions

Equity dilution occurs when a startup issues new shares. This reduces the ownership percentages of existing shareholders. Here, using an equity dilution calculator helps founders estimate how much of their stake will decrease and plan accordingly.

To use a startup equity dilution calculator, you need to feed in your current number of shares, the capital that you aim to raise, and your desired ownership after the funding round. The calculator will give you accurate ownership percentages within seconds.

To calculate share dilution manually, first note the existing number of shares. Add the new share number to this to get the total and then divide your shares by this new total. You will arrive at your updated ownership percentage.

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