Best Business Valuation Services and Firms for Startups 2026

The best business valuation service for a startup depends on what the number is for. A 409A provider prices your stock options, a certified appraiser defends a value in front of the IRS or a court, an advisory firm builds the case for a raise or a sale, and a calculator gives you a sanity check. In 2026 the mistake we see most often is buying the wrong kind: a cheap compliance report waved at a lead investor as if it were a negotiating position.

Four kinds, and they don't substitute for each other. Stock options: a 409A specialist such as Carta, Eqvista or Aranca. Tax, legal or dispute work: a credentialed appraiser (ASA, CVA or ABV). A raise or a sale: an advisory firm such as Waveup or Houlihan Lokey. A sanity check: Equidam or a free calculator. In our work on 150+ valuations, purpose predicts the right provider better than price.

Full disclosure: Waveup values companies inside fundraising and M&A engagements through its business valuation services, so we're on this list. We don't issue 409A reports, tax appraisals or expert testimony, and we name the firms that do.

Which kind of business valuation service do you actually need?

Match the provider to the purpose. Stock options need a 409A safe-harbor report from an independent appraiser. Tax, divorce, partner disputes and SBA loans need a credentialed appraisal that survives review. A raise or a sale needs an advisory valuation built to negotiate. A calculator is fine for a first number, never for a filing. Buying the wrong kind is the expensive error, not overpaying for the right one.

The kinds don't substitute for each other because they answer different questions. A 409A values common stock after a discount for lack of marketability, so it lands well below the preferred price investors paid, and Carta's own guide calls that gap normal and expected (Carta). Hand that report to a lead investor and you've anchored your round to the wrong number.

Fundraising valuations run the other way. In our work we see 2–3× gaps between what founders expect and what the market supports, and the fix is a model and a comparable set investors can check, not a certificate. The methods themselves (DCF, comparables, the venture capital method) are covered in our startup valuation methods guide; this post is about who to hire.

Online business valuation calculators and automated tools

They're good at one job: a defensible-looking range, fast, so you know whether a conversation is worth having. Equidam runs 5 methods and exports a report; BizBuySell's BizWorth and Cayenne's estimator are free. None of them create IRS safe harbor, satisfy a lender or hold up in a dispute, and Cayenne says so on its own page. Use one before you pay anyone, not instead of paying.

1. Equidam

Equidam is the most complete self-serve valuation tool for startups: a five-method engine that blends two DCF variants with the scorecard, checklist and venture capital methods, benchmarked against Crunchbase funding rounds, for companies in 90 countries. The free tier shows a range on screen but exports nothing; paid access is sold by time window rather than subscription, with a 10-day refund. There's also an IRC 409A plan for US option pricing. Best for: founders who want a report to open a negotiation with, and who will adjust the assumptions rather than accept the defaults.

2. BizBuySell BizWorth and Valuation Report

BizBuySell is the marketplace tool for Main Street businesses rather than venture-backed startups. BizWorth gives a free instant estimate from location, industry and basic financials; the paid Valuation Report benchmarks against a database of 150,000+ for-sale and sold comps using three methods, and a partner service offers a one-on-one analysis for owners planning a sale. Best for: a cash-flowing business a broker could list, where sold comps matter more than growth projections. Wrong for: a pre-revenue software company, which has no comps in that database.

3. Cayenne Consulting's startup valuation estimator

Cayenne Consulting's estimator asks 25 multiple-choice questions about momentum, market, traction, team and intellectual property and returns a pre-money range, roughly the way an early-stage investor scores you qualitatively. It's free, and the firm labels it educational and entertainment, warning that no questionnaire can capture a business's unique attributes. Best for: a first-time founder who wants to learn which attributes move a seed valuation before talking to angels. Treat the output as a conversation starter.

Certified independent appraisers: what ASA, CVA and ABV actually mean

They're the 3 main business valuation credentials. ASA (Accredited Senior Appraiser) is from the American Society of Appraisers and needs 5 years of full-time appraisal work plus a graded report. CVA (Certified Valuation Analyst) is from NACVA and requires a CPA licence or business degree, a proctored exam and a case study. ABV (Accredited in Business Valuation) is AICPA-only. Hire one when a third party will judge the number.

Why the letters matter to you. Lenders check them first: an SBA loan above $250,000 needs an independent business valuation from a qualified source, which is why a national appraiser such as Peak Business Valuation produces them for more than 110 SBA lenders (Peak Business Valuation). For stock options, the IRS safe harbor asks for a qualified independent appraiser with at least 5 years of relevant experience (Carta). NACVA goes further and treats the ASA and CBA report requirement as proof of substantial experience, waiving its own case study for holders of those designations. The practical test is simple: if someone other than you or your investors will judge the number, a credentialed signature is worth paying for. If nobody will, it isn't.

4. Kroll

Kroll calls itself the largest independent provider of business valuation services and the leading global independent valuation firm, with practices in purchase price allocation, share-based compensation, tax valuation, goodwill impairment and fairness opinions, where it has rendered more than 1,500 opinions covering over $1 trillion of deal value. It's the name auditors and boards recognise. Pricing isn't published. Best for: a Series C-plus or PE-backed company that needs financial-reporting valuations for an audit or a fairness opinion for a board. Wrong for: a seed company that needs a first 409A; you'd be paying for a bench you don't need.

5. Willamette Management Associates

Willamette Management Associates, a Citizens company founded in 1969, is the specialist's specialist: valuation, forensic analysis and transaction opinions for taxation, transactions and litigation, serving substantial private companies through to Fortune 500 corporations from offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Portland and Boston. Its quarterly Perspectives journal is where practitioners argue about discounts, tax-affecting and the cost of capital. Pricing isn't published. Best for: estate and gift tax valuations, ESOPs, shareholder disputes and expert testimony, where opposing counsel will read every footnote.

6. Peak Business Valuation (a national appraiser with published prices)

Most credentialed appraisers quote on request, and Peak Business Valuation is the useful national exception: it publishes a fee range on its homepage, with SBA valuations at the low end and litigation work at the high end. Founded in 2018 and now part of Ampleo, it serves owner-operated businesses across the United States and works with more than 110 SBA lenders. Its team lists ABV, ASA, CVA and CBA holders, its founder holds the ABV, and it offers both a full appraisal with a summary report and a lighter calculation of value (Peak's team page). Price band, turnaround and focus are in the table. Best for: an owner-operated business that needs a number a bank, a judge or the IRS will accept, delivered in days rather than weeks.

409A valuation specialists: who prices your stock options?

For a seed company on a cap-table platform, the bundled route is cheapest: Eqvista from $990 a year with unlimited refreshes, or Carta's Grow plan. For a complex cap table, a consulting-led firm such as Aranca or Redwood Valuation, priced on request. Pulley is shutting down in December 2026, so don't start there. Whatever you pick, the report must come from an independent appraiser to earn safe harbor.

The rules, briefly. A 409A valuation sets the fair market value of common stock, which becomes the minimum strike price for options; an independent appraisal gives you safe-harbor status, shifts the burden of proof to the IRS, and stays valid for 12 months or until a material event such as a new round (Carta). Appraisers discount common stock for lack of marketability, typically by a quarter to a third, which is why the number sits far below your last round. Get it wrong and employees face immediate income tax plus an additional federal penalty. This is compliance, not a negotiating tool.

7. Carta

Carta is the default for US venture-backed companies: it says it delivers over 16,000 audit-defensible 409A valuations a year from an in-house team, and it bundles them into its Grow and Scale plans rather than selling them standalone (Carta's 409A guide). Launch is free below a stakeholder and funding threshold, but valuations start at Grow, priced per stakeholder with a minimum annual fee agreed on a sales call. Turnaround is quoted at one to three weeks for straightforward cases. Best for: a company whose law firm and investors already live on Carta and want the cap table, valuation and Form 3921 in one place.

8. Eqvista

Eqvista is the price leader and the only provider here that publishes a full 409A tariff by stage, from pre-revenue to Series A, with later stages on quote. The bundle includes its premium cap table, unlimited updates and renewals for the year, and add-ons for expedited processing, QSBS attestation and stock-compensation expense reporting, all priced on the page. It says 25,000+ companies use the platform and is running a migration offer for Pulley customers. Best for: seed and Series A companies that refresh often and want a fixed annual number; read the small print, because the tier can shift with revenue, stakeholder count and capital structure.

9. Pulley (closing in December 2026)

Pulley's pricing page now opens with a notice that the product is shutting down on 8 December 2026. Until then it lists a Growth tier that includes 409A valuations alongside the cap table, and an Enterprise tier on request. If you're on Pulley, the practical question is where your cap table and valuation history go: Eqvista is advertising a migration offer and Carta is the other obvious landing spot. Don't start a new valuation relationship with a provider that has announced its own end date.

10. Aranca

Aranca is the consulting-led option: it has issued 409A reports since the rule's first year, says it is valuation partner to over 2,000 companies, puts a minimum of 40 analyst hours into each report and promises lifetime audit support at no extra fee. Its senior team carries CFA and ASA credentials and it says its reports have withstood Big Four and SEC audits. Prices aren't published. Best for: companies with several preferred classes, cross-border entities or recent secondaries, where a templated model would misprice common stock and irritate your auditor.

11. Redwood Valuation

Redwood Valuation is a valuation-only boutique whose partners hold CPA, CFA and CVA credentials and which also handles purchase price allocation, portfolio valuation, IP, crypto and gift-and-estate work. A draft 409A takes three to four weeks, with expedited delivery in as little as a week. It doesn't publish a price list, but its own cost guide puts early-stage engagements in the low thousands and warns that expedited turnaround carries a premium (Redwood cost guide); the figures are in the table. Best for: Series A to C companies that want a human appraiser who will get on a call with their auditor.

At the other end of the price range, Transaction Capital advertises 409A reports from $500 in two to five business days, signed by a principal holding ABV, ASA and CVA credentials. Cheap is fine when the cap table is one share class and a SAFE; a report your investor's counsel rejects costs more than the saving.

Advisory firms that value your company as part of a raise or a sale

Advisory valuations are built to be argued, not filed. Waveup does them inside fundraising and M&A engagements, with the model and comparables investors can test. Houlihan Lokey runs one of the largest valuation practices in the world for boards and funds. Embarc Advisors and Burkland pair valuation with CFO and deal support for founders. None publish prices; we've seen the right one pay for itself in the first term sheet.

The difference from the other three kinds is the audience. A 409A or a tax appraisal is written for a regulator; an advisory valuation is written for the person across the table, so it arrives with the financial model, the comparable set and the narrative that justify the range. In our work, that package is what closes the 2–3× gap between founder expectations and market support. Fee models are covered in our M&A advisor fees guide; the firms are below.

12. Waveup

Waveup is a London and Kyiv advisory firm that values companies as part of a fundraising or M&A engagement rather than as a standalone certificate: the valuation comes with the financial model, the comparable set and the investor narrative, and the same team then runs the process. Igor Shaverskyi, ex-investment banking at ICU, leads modeling and valuation; Olena Petrosyuk (ex-Lazard, JP Morgan) leads fundraising and M&A. The firm has completed 150+ valuations across 600+ companies advised. Scope and price are set after a 30-minute diagnostic call. Best for: a priced round or a sale in the next year or two. Not for: 409A reports, tax appraisals or expert testimony.

13. Houlihan Lokey

Houlihan Lokey's Financial and Valuation Advisory business describes itself as one of the largest worldwide valuation practices, built over more than 50 years, with teams for portfolio valuation and fund advisory, transaction opinions, corporate valuation for tax and financial reporting, transaction advisory and dispute resolution. It serves boards, special committees, investors and business owners rather than seed founders. Fees aren't published. Best for: a growth-stage company with institutional investors that needs a fairness opinion, a fund-level portfolio valuation or a number the audit committee will sign off without a second meeting.

14. Embarc Advisors

Embarc Advisors sells M&A, capital raising, FP&A and CFO advisory and financial due diligence as one team, for companies it says range from pre-revenue to $500M in revenue, and it holds recent Inc. and Axial advisor rankings. Valuation sits inside its sell-side, buy-side and capital-raise work rather than being sold as a product. Fees aren't published. Best for: a US founder who wants one firm to build the model, set the range and run the raise or the sale, with a CFO bench behind it.

15. Burkland

Burkland is a fractional CFO firm for venture-backed startups whose M&A team does buy-side and sell-side advisory, preliminary valuation and deal structuring for acquirers, data-room preparation, financial due diligence, quality-of-earnings analysis, forecast modeling and cap-table analysis, then stays for post-close integration. It isn't a bank and won't market you to a hundred buyers. Fees aren't published. Best for: a VC-backed company with an inbound acquirer or acquihire that needs clean numbers and a defensible range in weeks.

One honest note. If all you need is a 409A or a tax appraisal, don't call us; the providers above do it cheaper and with the right letters after their names. Call an advisory firm when the number has to survive a negotiation. As of 2026, the founders who get the best price are the ones who bring their own valuation, model and comparables to the table and can explain every assumption in them.