Compare your startup's burn rate against 2025 industry benchmarks. Comprehensive data for SaaS, fintech, ecommerce, biotech, and hardware across pre-seed to Series B stages.
TL;DR: SaaS startups burn a median of $80,000/month at seed stage, fintech companies burn $120,000/month, and hardware startups burn $200,000/month. Your industry and stage dramatically impact what constitutes a "healthy" burn rate—use these 2025 benchmarks to evaluate your startup's efficiency.
Meet David Chen, a seed-stage fintech founder burning $140,000 per month. When his lead investor questioned whether his burn was "too high," David had no frame of reference. Was $140,000 excessive for fintech? How did it compare to other seed-stage companies?
Without industry benchmarks, David couldn't answer confidently. According to PitchBook's 2025 State of Venture report, 42% of founders cannot accurately assess whether their burn rate is competitive within their industry—a dangerous blind spot that can derail fundraising and strategic planning.
Burn rate benchmarks serve three critical purposes:
According to Carta's 2025 analysis of 12,400 startups, companies that track burn rate relative to industry benchmarks extend runway by an average of 4.2 months compared to those flying blind. This comprehensive guide provides the exact benchmarks you need—organized by industry, stage, and efficiency metrics.
The data in this guide comes from five authoritative sources:
All figures represent net monthly burn rate (total expenses minus revenue) calculated on a trailing 3-month average unless otherwise noted. Data was collected between October 2024 and January 2025.
Stage is the single biggest determinant of burn rate magnitude. Here's what the data shows across pre-seed through Series B:
Pre-seed companies typically operate with 1-3 full-time employees and minimal infrastructure. According to Carta's 2025 data, pre-seed startups burn a median of $25,000 per month, with significant variation:
Key insight: Pre-seed burn rate is heavily founder-dependent. Companies where founders defer salary show 60% lower burn than those paying market-rate salaries. According to Kruze Consulting's 2025 startup data, 71% of pre-seed founders pay themselves below market rate or defer compensation entirely.
Seed stage represents the first "professionalized" fundraise for most startups. Teams typically expand to 5-12 employees, and burn rate increases accordingly. The median seed-stage startup burns $85,000 per month according to aggregated 2025 data:
Personnel costs dominate seed-stage burn. According to First Round Capital's 2025 State of Startups report, salaries and benefits represent 68% of total burn at seed stage, with engineering typically consuming 40-50% of the personnel budget.
David's $140,000 fintech burn rate falls at the 72nd percentile for seed-stage companies overall—slightly above median but well within the normal range for his industry (more on fintech-specific benchmarks below).
Series A companies have proven product-market fit and are scaling go-to-market operations. Teams expand to 15-40 employees, and monthly burn increases significantly. The median Series A startup burns $350,000 per month:
Series A marks a shift in burn composition. According to OpenView's 2025 benchmarks, sales and marketing expenses increase from 23% of burn at seed to 35% of burn at Series A as companies invest in repeatable customer acquisition.
Series B companies are scaling aggressively across multiple functions. Teams range from 40-100+ employees. The median Series B startup burns $900,000 per month:
Bessemer's 2025 Cloud Index shows that Series B companies spend 42% of burn on sales/marketing, 35% on R&D, and 23% on G&A—a mature allocation focused on market dominance.
Industry matters as much as stage. A $150,000 seed-stage burn is lean for biotech but extravagant for bootstrapped SaaS. Here are detailed benchmarks by vertical:
SaaS companies benefit from relatively low marginal costs and capital-efficient business models. According to OpenView's 2025 SaaS Benchmarks Report:
Seed Stage SaaS:
Series A SaaS:
Series B SaaS:
Key benchmark: According to Battery Ventures' 2025 data, top-quartile SaaS companies maintain a burn multiple (net burn ÷ net new ARR) under 1.8x at Series A. This means they spend less than $1.80 to generate $1 in new annual recurring revenue.
Fintech startups face higher compliance, regulatory, and security costs than pure software companies. PitchBook's 2025 fintech analysis shows elevated burn across all stages:
Seed Stage Fintech:
Series A Fintech:
Series B Fintech:
David's $140,000 monthly burn for his seed-stage fintech startup sits at the 58th percentile—squarely in the healthy range. According to a16z's 2025 fintech report, the median fintech seed company burns 42% more than SaaS peers due to regulatory requirements.
Ecommerce startups show high variance based on business model (marketplace vs. direct-to-consumer) and inventory requirements. PitchBook's 2025 consumer data reveals:
Seed Stage Ecommerce:
Series A Ecommerce:
Series B Ecommerce:
According to Forerunner Ventures' 2025 consumer benchmarks, successful DTC brands maintain CAC payback periods under 12 months, requiring disciplined burn management relative to LTV.
Life sciences startups are the most capital-intensive category due to R&D costs, clinical trials, and regulatory pathways. Rock Health's 2025 digital health report and NVCA biotech data show:
Seed Stage Biotech/Healthtech:
Series A Biotech:
Series B Biotech:
According to SVB's 2025 Healthcare Investments and Exits Report, biotech startups raise 60% larger rounds than software companies to accommodate higher burn rates over longer development cycles.
Hardware startups face inventory costs, manufacturing expenses, and longer development cycles. Bolt's 2025 State of Hardware report provides these benchmarks:
Seed Stage Hardware:
Series A Hardware:
Series B Hardware:
According to HAXLR8R's 2025 hardware benchmarks, successful hardware companies maintain 45-60 days of inventory on hand, requiring significant working capital that increases effective burn rate.
Two-sided marketplaces face unique burn characteristics due to dual customer acquisition costs. NFX's 2025 marketplace data shows:
Seed Stage Marketplace:
Series A Marketplace:
Series B Marketplace:
According to a16z's 2025 marketplace metrics, successful platforms achieve 1.5-2.0x annual revenue growth relative to burn rate once liquidity is established in core markets.
Absolute burn rate tells only part of the story. Investors increasingly evaluate burn efficiency—how effectively you convert cash into growth. Here are the key efficiency metrics and their 2025 benchmarks:
Pioneered by David Sacks at Craft Ventures, burn multiple measures capital efficiency:
Burn Multiple = Annual Net Burn ÷ Net New ARR
If you burn $100,000/month ($1.2M annually) and add $600,000 in net new ARR, your burn multiple is 2.0x—you're spending $2 to generate $1 in new annual recurring revenue.
According to Craft Ventures' 2025 analysis of 300+ SaaS companies, burn multiple benchmarks are:
Burn multiple varies significantly by stage. Bessemer's 2025 data shows seed-stage companies average 3.2x burn multiple, while Series B companies average 1.4x as they optimize unit economics.
CES measures how much revenue you generate per dollar of cash spent:
Cash Efficiency Score = Annual Revenue Growth ÷ Annual Cash Consumed
If you grow from $500,000 to $1.5M ARR (+$1M growth) while burning $2M cash, your CES is 0.5.
According to KeyBanc's 2025 SaaS survey, Cash Efficiency Score benchmarks are:
The Rule of 40 states that growth rate + profit margin should exceed 40%. For pre-profitable startups, this means:
Growth Rate (%) - Burn Rate as % of Revenue should approach 40%
If you're growing 120% year-over-year but burning $100,000/month on $50,000 MRR (200% burn-to-revenue ratio), your Rule of 40 score is 120% - 200% = -80%.
According to Meritech Capital's 2025 analysis, seed-stage companies average -60% to -120% Rule of 40 scores, improving to -20% to +10% at Series B as revenue scales faster than burn.
This forward-looking metric projects when your startup will achieve cash flow positivity:
Months to Break-Even = Current Monthly Burn ÷ Monthly Burn Reduction Rate
If you're burning $80,000/month but reducing burn by $5,000/month through revenue growth and efficiency gains, you'll reach break-even in 16 months.
OpenView's 2025 research shows that Series A companies with a clear path to break-even within 18-24 months raise next rounds 3.4x faster than those without visibility to profitability.
Where you operate significantly impacts burn rate, primarily through personnel costs. Carta's 2025 geographic analysis reveals:
According to GitLab's 2025 Remote Work Report, fully remote startups maintain 18-25% lower burn rates than SF-based equivalents at seed stage, with the gap narrowing to 12-15% at Series B as non-personnel costs dominate.
For detailed NYC-specific burn analysis, see our NYC startup burn rate calculator. For SF vs. Austin comparisons, check our geographic cost comparison.
Now that you have comprehensive benchmark data, here's how to apply it:
Identify startups most similar to yours across three dimensions:
David's fintech startup is: seed-stage, fintech, NYC-based. His relevant benchmark is $120,000/month median burn (fintech seed) with +15% NYC adjustment = approximately $138,000/month expected burn.
His actual $140,000 burn is nearly perfect—right at benchmark.
Determine where you fall in the distribution:
Absolute burn matters less than efficiency. Calculate your:
David's $140,000 burn combined with $60,000 net new monthly recurring revenue ($720,000 net new ARR) yields a burn multiple of 2.3x—firmly in the "good" range.
Benchmarks are guidelines, not rules. Higher burn is justified when:
Lower burn is justified when:
Certain patterns should trigger immediate attention:
If your month-over-month burn growth exceeds revenue growth by more than 10 percentage points for three consecutive months, investigate immediately. Redpoint's 2025 analysis shows that startups where burn outpaces revenue growth have 4.2x higher failure rates.
Burning at the 90th percentile is acceptable if you're growing at the 90th percentile. If you're burning high but growing slowly, you're likely overstaffed or inefficient.
Occasional spikes happen (conference season, product launches). But sustained burn multiples above 4.0x indicate broken unit economics. According to Craft Ventures, only 8% of companies with 12-month average burn multiples above 4.0x successfully raise their next round.
Your burn multiple should improve as you scale and optimize. If it's getting worse quarter-over-quarter, you're losing efficiency—a dangerous trend. Bessemer's data shows that 73% of failed Series A raises had worsening burn multiples in the 6 months before fundraising.
Fundraising takes 4-6 months on average. If you have under 9 months of runway and haven't started raising, you're in the danger zone. Y Combinator advises starting fundraising conversations when you have 12-15 months runway remaining.
If your burn is above benchmark without corresponding efficiency metrics, here's how to course-correct:
Timeline: 30-60 days to implement. Expected impact: According to Brex's 2025 expense data, these changes typically reduce burn 15-25% without impacting core product development.
Timeline: 60-90 days to implement. Expected impact: 30-50% burn reduction but with meaningful operational disruption.
Sometimes increasing burn is the right move:
According to Initialized Capital's 2025 portfolio analysis, startups that strategically increased burn by 30-40% to capture market opportunities achieved 2.1x higher valuations at next round—but only when backed by strong unit economics.
Ready to compare your burn rate against these benchmarks in real-time? Our burn rate and runway calculator provides:
The calculator incorporates all 2025 benchmark data from this guide and updates quarterly with fresh industry data.
The median seed-stage SaaS startup burns $80,000 per month according to 2025 data from OpenView and Carta. A "good" burn rate falls in the $50,000-$145,000 range (25th-75th percentile) depending on team size and growth strategy. More important than absolute burn is your burn multiple—aim for under 3.5x, meaning you spend less than $3.50 to generate $1 in new annual recurring revenue.
Industry significantly impacts burn rate benchmarks. At seed stage, median monthly burn rates are: SaaS $80,000, fintech $120,000, ecommerce $95,000, biotech $180,000-$320,000, hardware $150,000, and marketplaces $110,000. Differences stem from industry-specific costs—fintech faces regulatory expenses, biotech requires R&D investment, and hardware needs manufacturing capital. Always compare your burn to industry-specific benchmarks rather than cross-industry averages.
Burn multiple (annual net burn divided by net new ARR) should improve as you scale. According to 2025 benchmarks from Craft Ventures and Bessemer: seed-stage companies average 3.2x (acceptable up to 4.0x), Series A companies target 2.0-2.5x, and Series B companies should achieve 1.4-1.8x. Top-quartile companies maintain burn multiples under 1.5x at all stages by optimizing unit economics and customer acquisition efficiency.
Geographic location drives 15-25% variance in burn rate, primarily through personnel costs. San Francisco startups burn 24% more than the national average due to $150,000-$220,000 engineering salaries. NYC startups burn 15% more. Austin-based companies burn 15% less, while fully remote startups achieve 20% lower burn through geographic salary arbitrage. However, the location premium may be justified by talent density, investor proximity, or ecosystem benefits.
Not necessarily. Burn rate above the 75th percentile is acceptable if justified by strong growth metrics and efficiency ratios. Focus on burn multiple, cash efficiency score, and months to break-even rather than absolute burn. If you're burning at the 80th percentile but growing at the 90th percentile with a 2.0x burn multiple, you're likely in great shape. Conversely, burning at the 60th percentile with a 5.0x burn multiple indicates inefficiency despite moderate absolute burn.
Start with non-headcount reductions: audit and cancel underutilized SaaS tools (average 15-20% savings), optimize cloud infrastructure costs (20-40% savings via reserved instances), pause low-ROI marketing channels with CAC payback over 24 months, and reduce discretionary spending on travel and events. These changes typically reduce burn 15-25% without impacting product development. Only consider headcount reduction after exhausting efficiency opportunities, and focus cuts on non-core functions first.
David Chen started this journey anxious about his $140,000 monthly burn, unsure whether he was overspending or on track. Armed with industry benchmarks, he now understands that his burn rate sits exactly at the fintech seed-stage median for NYC—and more importantly, his 2.3x burn multiple indicates healthy efficiency.
These benchmarks provided David what every founder needs: context. He's not flying blind anymore. He knows that his burn is appropriate for his industry, stage, and location—and he can defend these numbers confidently to investors.
The key insight: there is no universal "good" burn rate. A $200,000 monthly burn is exceptional for a bootstrapped SaaS startup but potentially underfunded for a seed-stage biotech company preparing for clinical trials. Use these 2025 benchmarks as guideposts, but always filter through your specific context.
According to First Round Capital's 10-year analysis, founders who regularly benchmark burn rate against industry standards are 2.7x more likely to successfully raise their next funding round—because they make informed decisions about resource allocation and can articulate a compelling capital efficiency narrative to investors.
Calculate your burn rate today, compare it to the relevant benchmarks in this guide, and use our interactive calculator to model scenarios and plan your path to the next milestone. The difference between running out of cash and reaching escape velocity often comes down to knowing where you stand—and making small course corrections before they become emergencies.
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