valhaQ2 clears the Series A bar
Q2 closed at $1.9M ARR, growing 18% quarter over quarter with net revenue retention at 118% and the burn multiple down to 1.4. Every metric a Series A partner screens on now clears the bar. The constraint has moved from proof to speed, and this update ends with an ask, not a status.
Source 1billing export (Stripe), 2026-06-30Source 2operating model v12, revenue tab
Six quarters, one shape
ARR has grown every quarter, and from Q4 the enterprise band widens faster than the other two. The stack reads the strategy back to you: the paid tiers are where the onboarding work went, and the self-serve band flattening in Q2 is a decision, not a leak.
ARR by segment at quarter end, $M
View source data
| q | Enterprise | Mid-market | SMB self-serve |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 '25 | 0.42 | 0.38 | 0.36 |
| Q2 '25 | 0.49 | 0.43 | 0.39 |
| Q3 '25 | 0.56 | 0.48 | 0.41 |
| Q4 '25 | 0.61 | 0.52 | 0.42 |
| Q1 '26 | 0.68 | 0.56 | 0.44 |
| Q2 '26 | 0.82 | 0.64 | 0.44 |
Retention is compounding, not holding
Each cohort retains better than the one before it. Q2 signups keep 93% of revenue in month one where Q3 of last year kept 84%. This is the onboarding rebuild paying out: the curve is not just flattening, it is flattening earlier every quarter. NRR above 115% with improving cohorts is the single strongest slide in the deck.
net revenue retained by signup cohort, share of M0
| Cohort | M0 | M1 | M2 | M3 | M4 | M5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 '25 | 100% | 84% | 79% | 77% | 76% | 75% |
| Q4 '25 | 100% | 86% | 82% | 80% | 79% | |
| Q1 '26 | 100% | 89% | 86% | 85% | ||
| Q2 '26 | 100% | 93% | 91% |
Where the growth actually comes from
Enterprise and mid-market carry the quarter; the SMB self-serve book is flat by design since April, when we pointed the onboarding work at the paid tiers. The trend column is the argument: two compounding lines, one deliberately parked.
| Segment | ARR | QoQ growth | 6-mo trend | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | $820k | 31% | healthy | |
| Mid-market | $640k | 22% | healthy | |
| SMB self-serve | $440k | 6% | degraded |
What the market is telling us
The pattern across Q2 win interviews: buyers do not compare us to the incumbent, they compare us to not solving the problem. That is category language, and it changed how the enterprise deck opens.
We did not evaluate alternatives. The team was already doing this by hand every week. Your product just made the cost of that visible. The build-vs-buy meeting took eleven minutes.— VP Data Platforms, Fortune 500 logo, June win interview
Against the plan we shipped in January
Two of the three H1 commitments are done. SOC 2 landed in May and gated two enterprise closes, and the onboarding rebuild is behind the retention curve above. Hiring is the one behind plan: the platform lead search restarted in June after the first offer fell through.
Appendix
Everything referenced above, one click deep. The operating model is live: assumptions are editable, not baked into slides.
The ask: open the Series A now
The metrics clear the bar today and the two compounding curves (cohort retention and enterprise ARR) are at their most presentable. Waiting two quarters buys marginally better numbers and materially worse leverage: the hiring plan is already gated on the raise, and the enterprise pipeline will outgrow our delivery capacity by Q4. We want to run the process in September with warm introductions lined up in July.
- July: each board member sends two partner introductions from the target list (circulated with this update).
- August: data room final. The appendix above is 80% of it already.
- September: first partner meetings, targeting a term sheet before Thanksgiving.
Sources
- 1billing export (Stripe), 2026-06-30
https://dashboard.stripe.com
cited in Six quarters, one shape · Retention is compounding, not holding · Where the growth actually comes from
- 2operating model v12, revenue tab
https://docs.example.com/model-v12
cited in Against the plan we shipped in January · Appendix · The ask: open the Series A now
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