Founders get asked what stage they are at almost as often as they get asked how it is going. The answer matters more than it sounds, because what good looks like at pre-seed is not what good looks like at Series A.
Pixie uses three stages. They are Pixie's working definitions, not market statistics, and real businesses often sit between them.
Pre-seed is the idea or prototype stage: typically under $500K raised, with the team still forming. Seed means a first working version of the product is live, early signs of product-market fit are showing (customers who want what you have built) and a seed round of $500K to $3M is raised or under way. Post-seed covers businesses that are growing or ready for Series A, with meaningful recurring revenue and an organisation that is itself starting to scale.
Series A is typically the first major institutional funding round, raised once a business shows product-market fit signals and real revenue. It also matters to how Pixie defines a scaleup. Pixie counts a company as a scaleup if it has reached a valuation of $50M or more, or has completed a Series A, whatever the amount raised.
That is Pixie's own definition, not the standard one. The OECD and Eurostat define a scaleup by sustained growth: commonly above 20% a year for three years, from a base of at least ten employees. We would rather say so than borrow their authority.
Why it matters for your score: a benchmark that is essential at Series A can be beside the point at pre-seed, and the other way round. Pixie weights its benchmarks for your stage, so you are not marked down for lacking what a Series A company has.