> Or is just the capital availability pushing down the yield price on seed rounds?
This is almost certainly the case - I recall valuations in 2009 / 2010 vs now, and the gap is absolutely crazy. A lot of that has to do with the deluge of angel money floating around partially as an offshoot of the big-name IPO's like Facebook, but more broadly, we are in a financial world that is desperately chasing yield anyway it can get it - and a seed round is the lowest level commitment of it (that and the high end rounds). The rub, as it lies, is the middle tier.
This is almost certainly the case - I recall valuations in 2009 / 2010 vs now, and the gap is absolutely crazy. A lot of that has to do with the deluge of angel money floating around partially as an offshoot of the big-name IPO's like Facebook, but more broadly, we are in a financial world that is desperately chasing yield anyway it can get it - and a seed round is the lowest level commitment of it (that and the high end rounds). The rub, as it lies, is the middle tier.