Series B is where you prove you can scale. You've got product-market fit from Series A. Now investors want to see you can grow efficiently without breaking unit economics. Series B investors write $20M-$50M checks and expect $10M+ ARR with a clear path to profitability. They'll dig into your burn multiple and net revenue retention harder than any previous round.
Quick list
Insight Partners: Led Vanta's $150M Series B at $1.6B valuation in 2024, focused on high-growth enterprise SaaS
Accel: Backed Webflow's $120M Series B at $4B valuation, targets product-led growth companies
Index Ventures: Led Wiz's $250M Series B at $6B valuation in 2024, aggressive on security and infrastructure
Bessemer Venture Partners: Series B investor in Toast and Shopify, writes $25M-$50M checks for SaaS scale-ups
Lightspeed Venture Partners: Led Rippling's $145M Series B, focuses on vertical SaaS with strong retention
General Catalyst: Backed Commure's $100M Series B, targets healthcare and fintech infrastructure
Battery Ventures: Series B lead for Amplitude at $100M, focuses on software with usage-based pricing
Spark Capital: Led Cruise's $90M Series B before GM acquisition, backs mobility and consumer tech
NEA (New Enterprise Associates): Series B investor in Databricks and Cloudflare, writes large growth checks
Redpoint Ventures: Led Kustomer's $60M Series B, focuses on customer experience platforms
GGV Capital: Series B investor in Airwallex and Wish, strong cross-border growth capabilities
Sapphire Ventures: Backed Socure's $100M Series B, targets B2B software with enterprise adoption
B Capital Group: Led Icertis's $115M Series B, focuses on enterprise software with global expansion
Summit Partners: Series B investor in Recorded Future, writes $30M-$60M growth checks
Thrive Capital: Led Plaid's $250M Series B at $2.7B valuation, backs fintech infrastructure
Picking the right Series B investor
Check size: Most Series B funds write $20M-$50M checks with some going up to $100M for hot deals. You need investors with enough dry powder to lead and protect their ownership in your Series C. Enterprises integrated with professional services often project greater financial stability, appealing to investor risk assessments.
Lead vs. follow: Series B investors almost always lead rounds or don't participate. They're building positions for potential $100M+ Series C and D follow-ons. Funds that only follow at this stage won't help you when things get tough.
Speed: Expect 8-16 weeks from first meeting to signed term sheet. Series B diligence includes customer reference calls, financial model review, and market analysis. Fast deals happen when you have multiple term sheets.
Follow-on reserves: Check if they reserve 2-3x their initial check for Series C and beyond. A fund that can't follow on will dilute out and stop caring about your board seat. Ask about their fund size and deployment timeline.
Communication: Use Ellty to share your deck with trackable links. Series B investors spend time on your unit economics and cohort retention slides. You'll see if they're actually reviewing your CAC payback period or just skimming the executive summary.
Value beyond money: Most Series B investors say they help with recruiting and partnerships. Ask their portfolio companies directly. The ones who actually deliver will have 5-10 portfolio CEOs who'll take your call. Generic board meeting attendance isn't hands-on support.
How to approach Series B investors
Research stage fit: Look for funds that write $20M-$50M checks and have 3-5 active Series B companies in their current portfolio. Funds that haven't done a Series B in 18 months are either selective or struggling to deploy.
Build your narrative: Series B investors want to see $10M-$25M ARR with 100%+ net revenue retention. Your pitch should focus on scaling sales and marketing efficiency, not just growth rate. They've seen your market category mature.
Share your pitch deck: Upload to Ellty and send trackable links. Monitor which pages investors spend time on. Series B investors focus on slides showing customer acquisition costs, sales team productivity, and burn multiple. If they skip your go-to-market slides, they're not serious.
Get warm introductions: Your Series A investors should introduce you to Series B funds. If your existing investors won't make intros, that's a signal. Board members and executive team hires from portfolio companies work well too.
Target the right partners: Email the partner who led similar deals in your category. Don't send to general firm emails. Check Crunchbase or PitchBook for recent Series B deals and find the partner's LinkedIn. Cold emails to the wrong partner get ignored.
Time your outreach: Start conversations 6-9 months before you need capital. Series B investors move slower than Series A. They'll want to see 2-3 quarters of financial performance before committing. Don't wait until you have 6 months of runway.
Prepare your data room: Set up an Ellty data room before investor meetings. Series B investors will ask for 24 months of financials, cohort analysis, and customer concentration data within 48 hours of a good first meeting. Have your cap table, customer references, and sales pipeline ready.
Structure initial conversations: Lead with how you'll use $30M-$40M to reach profitability or $50M ARR. Series B investors don't want to fund another round 18 months later. Show them the path to becoming default alive or reaching Series C metrics.
Why Series B funding matters in 2026
Series B rounds got tighter in 2024-2025. Median valuations dropped from 15-20x ARR to 8-12x ARR for most SaaS companies. Investors want to see profitability paths, not just growth at all costs. The 2021 playbook of raising every 12-18 months doesn't work anymore.
Series B investors in 2026 expect $15M+ ARR with improving unit economics and 18-24 months of runway at close. Companies that raised Series A at $30M+ valuations in 2021-2022 are raising flat or down rounds now. The funds still writing $40M+ checks want to see net revenue retention above 110% and sales efficiency improving quarter over quarter.
15 top Series B investors
1. Insight Partners
Insight leads large Series B rounds for enterprise SaaS companies with strong product-market fit and expansion revenue.
- Recent Deals: Vanta $150M Series B at $1.6B (2024), Armis $200M Series B at $3.4B (2023), Recorded Future $250M Series B
- LinkedIn: Jeff Horing, Deven Parekh
- Check Size: $25M-$100M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: New York, USA
- Website: insightpartners.com
2. Accel
Accel backs product-led growth companies scaling from $10M to $50M ARR with strong user engagement and viral adoption.
- Recent Deals: Webflow $120M Series B at $4B (2024), Vercel $150M Series B at $2.5B (2023), UiPath $225M Series B
- LinkedIn: Andrew Braccia, Vas Natarajan
- Check Size: $20M-$60M
- Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
- Location: Palo Alto, USA
- Website: accel.com
3. Index Ventures
Index writes large Series B checks for infrastructure and security companies with fast enterprise adoption and technical moats.
- Recent Deals: Wiz $250M Series B at $6B (2024), Cohere $270M Series B, Scale AI $325M Series B at $7.3B
- LinkedIn: Mike Volpi, Danny Rimer
- Check Size: $30M-$100M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: San Francisco, USA / London, UK
- Website: indexventures.com
4. Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer focuses on cloud infrastructure and vertical SaaS companies with proven expansion revenue and improving unit economics.
- Recent Deals: Toast $115M Series B (pre-IPO), Twilio $130M Series B, PagerDuty $90M Series B
- LinkedIn: Byron Deeter, Mary D'Onofrio
- Check Size: $25M-$50M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: Menlo Park, USA
- Website: bvp.com
5. Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed leads Series B rounds for vertical SaaS and fintech companies with strong net revenue retention and sales efficiency.
- Recent Deals: Rippling $145M Series B at $1.35B (2023), Affirm $200M Series B, Nutanix $140M Series B
- LinkedIn: Arif Janmohamed, Hemant Taneja
- Check Size: $25M-$60M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: Menlo Park, USA
- Website: lsvp.com
6. General Catalyst
General Catalyst backs healthcare and fintech infrastructure companies scaling from $15M to $40M ARR with regulatory advantages.
- Recent Deals: Commure $100M Series B (2024), Livongo $105M Series B, Samsara $150M Series B at $3.6B
- LinkedIn: Hemant Taneja, Niko Bonatsos
- Check Size: $20M-$50M
- Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
- Location: Cambridge, USA
- Website: generalcatalyst.com
7. Battery Ventures
Battery focuses on usage-based and consumption pricing models with strong gross retention and predictable expansion revenue.
- Recent Deals: Amplitude $100M Series B (2024), Elastic $70M Series B, Wayfair $165M Series B
- LinkedIn: Neeraj Agrawal, Roger Lee
- Check Size: $20M-$50M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: Boston, USA
- Website: battery.com
8. Spark Capital
Spark backs consumer tech and mobility companies with strong user engagement and clear paths to profitability at scale.
- Recent Deals: Cruise $90M Series B (pre-GM), Discord $100M Series B at $7B, Coinbase $75M Series B
- LinkedIn: Megan Quinn, Will Reed
- Check Size: $25M-$60M
- Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
- Location: San Francisco, USA
- Website: sparkcapital.com
9. NEA (New Enterprise Associates)
NEA writes large Series B checks for infrastructure and data platforms with technical moats and enterprise customer concentration.
- Recent Deals: Databricks $400M Series B, Cloudflare $110M Series B, Salesforce $60M Series B (historical)
- LinkedIn: Forest Baskett, Rick Yang
- Check Size: $30M-$80M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: Menlo Park, USA
- Website: nea.com
10. Redpoint Ventures
Redpoint focuses on customer experience platforms and workflow automation with high NPS scores and product-led expansion.
- Recent Deals: Kustomer $60M Series B (2023), Looker $81.5M Series B, Twilio $70M Series B
- LinkedIn: Tomasz Tunguz, Logan Bartlett
- Check Size: $20M-$50M
- Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
- Location: Menlo Park, USA
- Website: redpoint.com
11. GGV Capital
GGV backs cross-border SaaS and fintech companies expanding from Asia to US or US to Asia with strong international growth.
- Recent Deals: Airwallex $100M Series B at $1B (2023), Wish $500M Series B (historical), Affirm $200M Series B
- LinkedIn: Jeff Richards, Hans Tung
- Check Size: $25M-$60M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: Menlo Park, USA / Shanghai, China
- Website: ggvc.com
12. Sapphire Ventures
Sapphire focuses on B2B software with enterprise customer adoption and strong sales team productivity metrics.
- Recent Deals: Socure $100M Series B (2024), Convoy $185M Series B, Icertis $115M Series B
- LinkedIn: Jai Das, Rajeev Dham
- Check Size: $25M-$60M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: Palo Alto, USA
- Website: sapphireventures.com
13. B Capital Group
B Capital backs enterprise software with global expansion opportunities and strong international customer traction.
- Recent Deals: Icertis $115M Series B at $2.8B (2024), Brightwheel $100M Series B, Ninja Van $279M Series B
- LinkedIn: Kabir Misra, Howard Morgan
- Check Size: $30M-$70M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth
- Location: San Francisco, USA
- Website: bcapgroup.com
14. Summit Partners
Summit writes large growth checks for companies approaching profitability with proven sales models and predictable revenue.
- Recent Deals: Recorded Future $80M Series B, Allbirds $50M Series B, SurveyMonkey $250M Series B
- LinkedIn: Michael Medici, Bruce Evans
- Check Size: $30M-$60M
- Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Growth, Pre-IPO
- Location: Boston, USA
- Website: summitpartners.com
15. Thrive Capital
Thrive backs fintech infrastructure and developer tools with strong API adoption and usage-based revenue models.
- Recent Deals: Plaid $250M Series B at $2.7B (2023), Airtable $185M Series B, Oscar Health $165M Series B
- LinkedIn: Joshua Kushner, Gaurav Jain
- Check Size: $25M-$80M
- Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
- Location: New York, USA
- Website: thrivecap.com
How Ellty helps with Series B rounds
These 15 investors closed Series B deals from 2024 to 2026. Most want to see $15M+ ARR and a clear path to profitability before taking first meetings.
Upload your deck to Ellty and create unique links for each investor. Series B investors typically spend 8-12 minutes reviewing your deck initially. You'll see which partners actually read your unit economics slides versus just the executive summary. Track engagement across multiple partners at the same firm to identify your champion.
When you reach diligence, share an Ellty data room with 24 months of financials, cohort retention analysis, and customer references. Series B diligence moves faster than Series A if you have everything organized. You'll know exactly when they review your cap table and which documents they forward to other partners. It's cleaner than email threads and you maintain control of sensitive financial data.
Common questions
What ARR do I need for Series B?
Most Series B investors want $10M-$25M ARR with improving unit economics. Some will go lower to $7M-$8M if you have exceptional net revenue retention above 120% and a path to $50M ARR within 24 months.
How much dilution is normal at Series B?
Expect 15-25% dilution in a Series B round. If you're taking more than 25%, you're either raising too much or your valuation is too low. Save room in your cap table for Series C and employee equity.
Can Series A investors lead my Series B?
Rarely. Most Series A funds don't have enough capital to lead Series B rounds at $20M-$50M check sizes. They'll participate in their pro-rata allocation but you need a new lead investor.
What's a typical Series B valuation in 2026?
8-12x ARR for most B2B SaaS companies with $15M+ revenue. High-growth companies with 150%+ growth rates might get 15x ARR. Enterprise software with long sales cycles trades lower at 6-8x ARR.
How long does Series B fundraising take?
Plan for 3-6 months from first conversations to closed round. Diligence takes 6-10 weeks once you have a term sheet. Companies with multiple interested investors can close faster in 8-12 weeks.
Should I raise from crossover funds or traditional VCs?
Traditional VCs are more active at Series B in 2026. Crossover funds pulled back after 2021-2022. If you have strong metrics, crossover funds write bigger checks but expect faster growth to IPO.
