A post-money SAFE is the updated Y Combinator SAFE in which the valuation cap is defined on a post-money basis — counting all SAFEs and convertibles but before the new priced round. This lets an investor calculate their exact ownership percentage at signing, unlike the older pre-money SAFE.

The trade-off is that post-money SAFEs do not dilute each other: every additional SAFE the company issues dilutes the founders, not the earlier SAFE holders. Founders stacking multiple post-money SAFEs can therefore give away more ownership than they expect, so tracking cumulative SAFE dilution is essential.

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