Carta’s 2025 AI Funding & Equity Insights | Peter Walker

About this episode

Peter Walker discusses insights on funding and equity in early-stage AI startups.

Everyone has opinions about founder equity, funding timelines, and valuations—but Peter Walker holds the data. In this special live Agentic session, I sat down with Peter, Head of Insights at Carta, to unpack what’s actually happening beneath the surface in early-stage AI startups. Peter’s team has a privileged vantage point—cap tables, valuations, and hiring data across 45,000 startups and 83% of U.S. unicorns. We explore:a common equity mistake that’s quietly killing fundraising chanceswhy AI founders are raising bigger rounds… and keeping more of their companieshow lean teams are pushing out serious ARR—and what that means for hiringthe valuation delta between AI and non-AI startups—and why that window may be closingIf you’re raising, hiring, or advising an AI startup in this market, this one’s for you.If you’re in the early innings of building something in AI, especially if you’re figuring things out from first principles—let’s chat. Connect with us here:Peter Walker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterjameswalker/George Bandarian: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgebandarian/⁠Untapped Ventures:⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/company/untappedventures00:00 Trailer01:26…

People in this episode

Host: George Bandarian

Guest: Peter Walker

Topics covered

• AI startups
• funding
• equity
• valuations
• hiring
• venture capital

Keywords

• founder equity
• funding timelines
• valuations
• AI founders
• ARR
• unicorns

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Carta, Untapped Ventures

Places: U.S.

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