What kind of finances does a startup need to raise a seed round?

The last fiscal year-end, or the most recent quarter or month-end before the raise.

Everything booked for the chosen period and the period properly closed.

Be able to explain what your largest balances represent. Questions on big ones might come.

Be able to explain your largest cost and revenue categories.

Describe, at a high level, how finance runs today and who is responsible.

A clean, current cap table (shareholders, ownership percentages, options, convertibles).

Identify the handful of assumptions that move the outcome, like growth, pricing, conversion, churn.

Tie the model to a hiring plan and the main cost drivers.

Make runway visible, when cash hits zero on the current plan.

A current figure for cash on hand across all accounts.

What you spend each month net of revenue, and whether it is rising.

Cash and burn translated into a simple runway figure.

Why you are raising and what the money funds. Which hires, milestones, how far it gets you.

How finance and accounting will be organised once you grow. What you will build, hire, or outsource.

What you use today (accounting, payroll, invoicing) and where it needs to go as you scale.