Private company benchmarks are reference points built from real operating data, used to compare a startup’s performance with similar companies by stage, sector, and revenue scale. They matter because VCs, LPs, and portfolio companies need timely context to make calls on hiring, spend, follow-on investments, valuation, and exit readiness. The public markets offer abundant, uniform data. The private markets do not. That gap makes it easy to misread trends or rely on stale heuristics.

Standard Metrics fills that gap with aggregated, anonymized data from thousands of startups, updated on a continuous basis, so firms and founders can see where they stand today and over time.

What are private company benchmarks?

In venture and private equity, private company benchmarks help you compare a portfolio company’s KPIs to peers. Core categories include revenue, revenue growth, burn rate, runway, headcount, ARR, gross margin, and operating margin. They differ from public benchmarks because private companies do not report uniformly, formats vary, and time lags are common.

Standard Metrics’ Global Benchmarking aggregates anonymized metrics across 9,000+ companies, with peer filtering by sector and revenue scale.

Why private company benchmarks are hard to find

Private companies have no broad disclosure rules. Internal firm data sits in scattered spreadsheets, emails, and bespoke dashboards across funds, geographies, and sectors. External data can be outdated, biased, hard-to-find and incomplete. External data narrowed down to relevant company stage and sectors can be even more difficult to find.

Standard Metrics allows its more than 9000+ companies to decide to anonymously share their data, centralizes this collection in one platform, standardizes the data model, and refreshes it continuously, which reduces fragmentation and staleness.

The strategic value of accurate benchmarks

Private company benchmarks can help across all parties involved in an investment:

• Investors: Better screening and diligence, clearer portfolio reviews, stronger board prep, and more credible exit planning when trends show sustained improvements or risks.
• Founders and operators: Realistic goals, calibrated burn and headcount plans, a tighter pitch with concrete peer context, and earlier course corrections if metrics drift from norms.
• LPs: A cleaner view of GP performance relative to the broader market, not just within a single fund’s cohort.

How Standard Metrics provides reliable private company benchmarks

Here’s how we do it.

• Automated data collection. Standard Metrics pulls company updates and financials through a founder‑friendly workflow of uploads and integrations, which cuts manual chases and improves completeness.
• Standardized reporting. Data is structured into an apples‑to‑apples schema, so your comparisons are consistent across companies and quarters.
• Companies choose to share their data. Companies don’t have to share their data via Global Benchmarking and any data shared is anonymized and aggregated.
• Real‑time and historical views. “Trends” lets you compare performance over time against peers in the same sector and revenue band, which helps separate a one‑off spike from a real shift.

How you could make benchmark‑driven decisions with Standard Metrics

Wondering how you could use this tool?

An investor example is a firm comparing a SaaS company’s headcount and revenue growth to peers in the $20–100M band. The company’s team size is consistently above median while growth lags peers, prompting a targeted plan on hiring pace and go‑to‑market focus.

For a Series B portfolio company founder, for example, benchmarking could help prepare for a fundraise by showing strong revenue growth and burn versus sector peers for the past 6 quarters, backed by benchmarking data. The peer context supports a valuation ask grounded in current private market trends.

Other use cases are highlighted in our quarterly benchmarking reports see our most recent: “Q1 2025 Startup Benchmarking Report: How a Tough Q1, AI Growth, and More are Affecting Startups,” “Q4 2024 Startup Benchmarking Report: How Late-Stage Startups Flipped from Hemorrhaging Cash to Turning a Profit,” and “Q3 2024 Startup Benchmarking Report: AI Companies Are Breaking Out (& More)!”

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What’s the difference between private and public company benchmarks?

Public companies report broadly and uniformly. Private benchmarks require structured collection and careful normalization. Standard Metrics provides that standardization and an anonymized peer set across 9,000+ startups.

How often are benchmarks updated in Standard Metrics?

They refresh as portfolio companies submit new data, and “Trends” lets you see shifts over time, not just a single quarter.

What industries does Standard Metrics cover?

Coverage spans AI, consumer, SaaS, hardware, software, health, and other innovation sectors, with filtering by sector and revenue band across thousands of companies on the platform.

Can LPs access these benchmarks directly?

LPs benefit through fund reporting and aggregated portfolio views shared by firms. Firms use Standard Metrics as a system of record and can incorporate benchmarking into LP updates.

Is the data anonymized?

Yes. Company data used for benchmarks is aggregated and anonymized, and companies control participation and can opt out.

Learn more about private company benchmarks

Private company benchmarks are essential and, historically, hard to obtain with confidence. Standard Metrics solves the collection, standardization, and comparability gaps, and adds time‑series context so you can tell trend from noise.

Book a demo below to gain an edge in private market investing.