A seed round is typically the first official round of institutional funding a startup raises, usually happening after friends-and-family money and before a Series A, aimed at getting the company to a point where it can prove out its core assumptions.
Seed rounds increasingly get raised using SAFEs or convertible notes rather than a priced round, partly because the company is often too early to agree on a defensible valuation and partly because it's faster and cheaper to close. Round sizes vary enormously by industry and geography, but the common thread is that the money is meant to fund a specific set of milestones, not just general operations indefinitely.
What a seed round is expected to prove, before a Series A, has shifted over time: investors increasingly want to see real revenue or usage traction at the seed stage, not just a strong team and an idea. Worth planning backward from what the next round's investors will want to see, starting the day the seed closes rather than a year later.
Add your revenue and website for a full diligence brief, reviewed by a CPA who ran EY's West Coast R&D Tax Credit practice for 13 years.