Deal Terms
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Quick Answer
An aggressive anti-dilution mechanism that resets an investor's conversion price to the lower of the original price or any subsequent lower price — also called full ratchet.
A ratchet (or full ratchet anti-dilution) is the most aggressive form of anti-dilution protection. If a company issues a single share at a lower price than the investor paid, the ratchet resets the investor's entire conversion price to that lower price — regardless of how many shares were issued at the lower price. This is extremely punitive for founders: if one share is sold in a down round at a 90% discount, all of the investor's preferred converts at 10% of the original price. Full ratchets were common in the dot-com era and resurface in severe down rounds where investors have maximum leverage. They're considered a highly unfavorable, founder-hostile term. Weighted average anti-dilution is the fair market alternative.
In Practice
Venture Capital Partners invests $5M in TechCorp at $2.00 per share ($20M pre-money valuation). The investment includes full ratchet anti-dilution protection. Six months later, TechCorp struggles and raises a down round at $0.50 per share. Under the full ratchet provision, Venture Capital Partners' conversion price automatically resets from $2.00 to $0.50 per share. This means their original $5M investment now converts to 10 million shares instead of 2.5 million shares, dramatically increasing their ownership percentage at the expense of founders and employees who don't have ratchet protection.
Why It Matters
Full ratchets can devastate founder and employee equity stakes in down rounds, sometimes reducing their ownership to single digits. For investors, while ratchets provide downside protection, they can demotivate management teams and make future fundraising extremely difficult. Companies with ratchet provisions often struggle to attract new investors who don't want to trigger the harsh reset mechanism. Understanding ratchets is crucial for founders to avoid signing terms that could eliminate their upside in challenging scenarios.
VC Beast Take
Full ratchets are the nuclear option of anti-dilution protection — they're designed to punish rather than protect. Most sophisticated VCs avoid them because they recognize that completely destroying management incentives usually destroys company value too. We typically see ratchets from inexperienced investors or in hostile situations. Weighted average anti-dilution is almost always the better choice for everyone involved, maintaining alignment while still providing reasonable downside protection.
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A ratchet (or full ratchet anti-dilution) is the most aggressive form of anti-dilution protection. If a company issues a single share at a lower price than the investor paid, the ratchet resets the investor's entire conversion price to that lower price — regardless of how many shares were issued at...
Understanding Ratchet is critical for founders navigating the fundraising process. It directly impacts deal terms, valuation, and the relationship between founders and investors.
Ratchet falls under the deal-terms category in venture capital. This area covers concepts related to the financial and legal terms that define investment agreements.
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