Definition of dilution

Definition

Companies add (or β€œissue”) shares during fundraising, which can be exchanged for cash from investors. As the number of outstanding shares goes up, the percentage ownership of each shareholder goes down. This is called dilution.

Related terms

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Startups and Growth β€Ί Fundraising, Growth, and Dilution

​confusion​ Dilution doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re losing anything as a shareholder. As a company issues stock and raises money, the smaller percentage of the company you do have could be worth more. The size of your slice gets relatively smaller, but, if the company is growing, the size of the cake gets bigger. For example, a typical startup might have three rounds of funding, with each round of funding issuing 20% more shares. At the end of the three rounds, there are more outstanding sharesβ€”roughly 73% more in this case, since 120%Γ—120%Γ—120% is 173%β€”and each shareholder owns proportionally less of the company.