The venture capital dictionary

Understanding the vocabulary of venture capital

Gaspard de Monclin
Gaspard de Monclin
Mis à jour le
8/1/2025

VC: Venture Capital, investment activity in a technology company

LP: Limited Partner - Investor in an investment fund

GP: General Partner - Manager of an investment fund

TRI - Internal rate of return

AUM: Assets under management

EBITDA: Profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and depreciation

CAC: Customer acquisition cost

ARR: Recurring annual income

MRR: Recurrent monthly income

TAM - Addressable market

SAM - Addressable market for usable

SOM - Market share

MVP - Minimum viable product

ROI - Return on investment

ROAS - Feedback on advertising expenditure.

KPI - Key performance indicator.

NDA - Non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement.

LOI: Letter of intent, legal document by which a person manifests his intention to invest or acquire securities

Table Cap - Capitalization table, distribution of capital within a company.

Burn Rate - The rate at which a company spends its money.

Runway - Time available to a company until it runs out of cash

Pitch Deck - A visual presentation used to introduce a company to investors

Term Sheet - A non-binding agreement that describes the terms of an investment

Dilution - Reducing the percentage of an individual's ownership in a business

Valuation - The estimated value of a business

Exit - The process of selling a business or IPO

Funds - A pool of money used to invest

Trade Union - A group of investors investing together in a single company

Angel Investor - A person who invests his own money in startups

Venture Partner - A part-time or temporary investor who helps a venture capital company to assess potential investments

Strategic investor - An investor who provides financing to a company to obtain strategic benefits

Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) - A venture capital fund set up by a commercial company

Seed Stadium (seed) - The earliest stage in a company's development

Series A - The first round of financing for a company

Series B - The second round of financing for a company

Series C - The third cycle of financing for a company

Multiple exit - The amount by which an investor's initial investment is multiplied at the exit

Relay loan - A short-term loan used to cover a financing gap

Due Diligence - The process of evaluating a company before making an investment

Principal investor - The main investor in a financing cycle

Recovery - A provision in the contract of a fund that allows the return of funds previously distributed in certain circumstances

Waterfall - A method of distributing the returns of a fund to its investors

Distributions - Payments to investors from fund returns

Hurdle Rate - The minimum rate of return that a fund must reach before profits are shared with investors

Carry - The percentage of profits a PG receives from a fund's returns

Portfolio - All companies in which a venture capital company has invested

exit strategy - A plan on how a company will be sold or made public

Due diligence - Business Analysis Process

BSA Air - Share-based purchase vouchers offering the right to eventually acquire shares of the company at a decoy price

Convertible Obligation - A debt instrument that converts into shares in the future

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