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Brought to you by Harmonic — The Complete Startup Database

Market maps finally work in venture software. Scout — the AI agent made for VCs allows you market map with ease. Simply describe what you’re looking for, or look up the competitive landscape for a particular company.

Scout handles the rest, scouring the internet as well as Harmonic’s private database trusted by thousands of investors from leading firms like GV and Insight.

Early-stage founders often default to raising venture capital, but giving away a slice of your company isn’t the only way to fund growth with external capital.

In today’s market, more founders are exploring non-dilutive financing – capital that doesn’t require selling equity – to extend their runway while retaining full ownership.

From revenue-based financing and venture debt to government grants, these options can be powerful tools if used wisely. Today’s deep dive compares key non-dilutive funding options for pre-seed to Series A startups (especially in tech/SaaS), and weighs their real costs versus traditional VC funding.

Let’s dive in! 👇

Revenue-Based Financing (RBF): Basically “Cash Now, Pay as You Grow“. RBF provides upfront capital to startups in exchange for a percentage of future revenues (often until a fixed payback amount is reached). It’s like selling a share of your future income instead of your company’s equity. This has become popular with SaaS and subscription businesses that have predictable recurring revenue (a16z, 2025).

Platforms like Pipe, Capchase, and Clearco can advance cash (sometimes within 24 hours) based on your monthly recurring revenue (a16z, 2025). For example, a startup might sell $5 million of future monthly revenues for $4.5 million today, getting cash now and repaying over time from revenue (a16z, 2025). The big appeal: It’s fast, requires no personal collateral or lengthy diligence, and doesn’t dilute your cap table (a16z, 2025).

However, the convenience comes at a cost. RBF providers charge a flat fee or take a revenue cut that often equates to a high effective interest rate. For instance, a 10% fee on an advance repaid over 12 months actually works out closer to a 20% annualized cost of capital (since you’re paying it back as revenue comes in) (a16z, 2025). In other words, RBF can be more expensive than bank loans, but potentially cheaper than giving up a huge equity stake if your company’s value skyrockets later.

The RBF market is still relatively small (around $5.8 B in funding in 2024, globally), but it’s growing at an explosive ~70% annual rate as more founders learn about this option (absrbd, 2025). It’s best suited for startups with at least several months of revenue history and healthy gross margins – think of it as fuel for scaling marketing or inventory when you’re confident those dollars will generate future revenue to repay the advance.

Venture Debt: Loans with a Startup Twist.