What is a priced round?

A priced round is an equity financing in which the company and investors agree on an explicit valuation and sell newly issued preferred stock at a per-share price derived from it. This contrasts with SAFEs and convertible notes, which postpone pricing to a later round.

Priced rounds involve real securities documents — a stock purchase agreement, amended charter, investor rights — and therefore more legal cost and time, which is why most companies first raise on SAFEs and 'price' the company at their seed or Series A. The valuation set in a priced round also converts any outstanding SAFEs and notes.