Every company that raises venture capital in the United States must file a Form D with the SEC within 15 days of the first sale of securities. This is a public filing — anyone can read it on the SEC's EDGAR database. For employees, it's one of the few official sources of information about your company's financing.
What Form D tells you
Form D is a notice of exempt offering. The useful fields for employees are:
- Date of first sale — when the round actually closed (not when it was announced)
- Amount sold in this offering — the capital raised in this specific close
- Total offering amount — the full authorized round size (may be larger than what's closed)
- Number of already-invested investors — how many new investors participated
- Type of securities — equity, debt, or a hybrid like a SAFE or convertible note
- Revenue range — a rough revenue tier disclosed in some filings
What Form D does NOT tell you
This is the critical limitation: Form D does not include the post-money valuation, the per-share price, or the preference stack. If you want to know what investors paid per share, you need secondary market data (Hiive, Forge) or a source who has seen the actual term sheet.
How to find your company's Form D
- Go to SEC EDGAR: https://efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index?q=%22company+name%22&dateRange=custom&startdt=2024-01-01
- Search for your company name
- Filter by filing type: 'D' or 'D/A' (amendment)
- Click the most recent filing
- Read the XML or HTML version for the structured data
How PrivatePulse uses Form D data
PrivatePulse's pipeline polls the SEC EDGAR database every 4 hours for new Form D filings from the companies it covers. When a new filing appears, it triggers a valuation update. The Form D date is used to timestamp the primary round, and the amount raised is used to calibrate the company's funding progression model.
Form D is a leading indicator, not a valuation source. When your company files a new Form D, it means a round is closing — but the valuation comes from secondary market data, analyst estimates, and the round terms (which are disclosed separately, if at all).