All Collections
Glossary of Terms
Get to know the Venture Capital and Private Equity industries' investment terms.
Capital call / Drawdown
Carried Interest
Cash-adjusted or Roll-forward Valuation
Commitment / Committed capital
Distribution
Distributions to paid-in capital (DPI)
Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”)
Final Closing and First Closing
Fund formation documents
Fund Leverage
General Partner/GP/Manager
Investor/Limited Partner/LP
NAV
Total original cost
Paid-in capital
Paid-in capital to commitment (PiCC)
Recallable distributions
Residual Value
Residual value to paid-in capital (RVPI)
Total Value to Paid-in Capital (TVPI)
Unfunded commitment
Vintage year
Investment amount
Realized amount
Number of Shares owned by the fund after the investment
Fair Value
Total number of shares in the company after the investment
Post money valuation
Total note amount (principal + interest)
Accumulated Interest
Amount Converted to Equity
Write Off Amount
Extended Amount
Maturity Date
Interest Rate
Compounded
Warrants & Covenants
Original Note date
Additional Notes
Lead Investor
Ticker
Number of Payments
Payment date
Total Invested
Gross IRR (%)
Multiple
ROI (%)
Initial Investment Date
Exited Amount
Realized Amount
Invested Amount
Ownership
Payment amount
Shares in the Company
Price per Share
Shares Owned Total
Earn-outs
Balanced VC fund
Buyout/later stage PE fund
Calendar year
Convertible equity
Corporate investor
Distressed debt fund
Divestment
Early-stage VC fund
Fiscal year/financial year
Fund-of-funds
Funds under management
Generalist fund
GP Commitments
Growth/expansion PE fund
Initial public offering (IPO)
Investment
Later stage VC fund
Management buy-in (MBI)
Management buy-out (MBO)
Mezzanine Fund or Mezzanine financing
Private Equity (PE) firm
Proceeds
Public-to-private
Refinancing bank debt
Repayment of preference shares/loans
Sale of quoted equity post-flotation
Sale to another PE firm
Sale to management
Secondary fund or secondary purchase/replacement capital
Secured debt
Sovereign funds
Start-up
Trade sale
Unsecured debt
Venture Capital
Write-off
Accelerator
Advisory Board
Amortization
Angel Financing
Angel Investor (Business Angel)
Anti-Dilution Provisions
Articles of Incorporation (Articles of Association)
Assets
Balance Sheet
Bankruptcy
Benchmark
Board
Bonds
Business Plan
Business to Business (B-to-B/B2B)
Business to Consumer (B-to-C/B2C)
Buyback
Call Option
Capital
Capital Under Management
Capitalization Table
Cliff
Closing
Co-investment
Collateral
Conversion Ratio
Convertible Bond
Convertible Loan
Convertible Preferred Stock
Convertibles
Corporate Venture Capital
Covenant
Crowdfunding
Deal Lead
Deal Structure
Debt Financing
Deck (aka Pitch Deck)
Dilution
Discounted Convertible Loan
Diversification
Double Bottom Line
Down-round
Drip Feed
Dry Powder
Due diligence
Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA)
Economies of Scale
Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP)
Equity Financing
Executive Summary
Exit
Expansion Stage
Expenses
First-round Financing
Flat Round
Flip
Founders’ Agreement
Friends & Family Round
Golden Handcuffs
Golden Parachute
Hockey Stick
Holding Company
Hurdle Rate (preferred return)
Illiquid investment
Income Statement
Information Rights
Institutional Investors
Intellectual Property
Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Investment Round
J-curve
Key Employees
Leverage
Leveraged buyout (LBO)
Liquidation
Liquidation Preference
Liquidation Waterfall
Liquidity Event
Lock-up Period
Management Fee
Management Team
Valuation
Market Capitalization
Minimum Viable Product
Net Income
No Shop, No Solicitation Clauses
Non-Compete Agreement
Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
Non-Solicitation Agreement
Operating Budget
Option (option agreement)
Pari Passu
Pipeline
Pivot
Portfolio
Portfolio companies
Post-money Cap Table
Post-money Valuation
Pre-emptive Right
Preferred Dividend
Private Company
Private Equity
Private Placement
Private Placement Memorandum
Pro rata
Proof of concept
Representations and Warranties
Retained Earnings
Return on Investment (ROI)
Reverse Vesting
Scalability
Secondary Sale
Securities
Seed Capital
Seed Round
Seed Stage
Series A Round
Series B, C, D... rounds
Shareholders Agreement
Shares (Common Stock)
Preferred stock
Share premium
Dividend
Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE)
Soft Landing
Spray and Pray
Stock Option Pool
Stock Options
Sweat Equity
Syndication
Tag Along/Drag Along
Term sheet
Trademark
Unicorn
Up-round
Valley of Death
Valuation Cap
Venture Capital Financing
Venture Capital Fund
Vesting
Vesting Schedule