The contractual right (but not the obligation) for an investor to participate in future funding rounds at the new round's price — at enough size to maintain their current ownership percentage.
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Add my companyIf a seed investor owns 5% at the time of investment, they want the right to maintain that 5% through Series A, B, C. Without pro rata, their early bet gets diluted to a fraction of a percent by the time it actually matters. For Sequoia, Benchmark, etc., signing a seed deal WITHOUT pro rata is essentially unheard of.