A SAFE, short for Simple Agreement for Future Equity, is one of the most common ways early startups raise money. In plain terms: an investor gives the company cash now in exchange for the right to shares later, without either side having to agree on the company's value today.
Valuing a company that is a few months old is mostly guesswork, and haggling over it can burn weeks a young company does not have. A SAFE sidesteps that by postponing the valuation until the next priced round, when there is real information to price against. The SAFE investor's money converts into shares at that point, on terms set today.
Two terms do most of the work. A valuation cap sets the highest price at which the SAFE converts, rewarding the early investor if the company grows a lot before the next round. A discount lets the SAFE convert at a percentage below the next round's price. A SAFE may have a cap, a discount, both, or neither, and those choices materially affect how much of the company the early money ends up owning.
SAFEs feel simple, and that is the risk. Because they defer dilution to a later date, it is easy to stack several and lose track of how much of the company you have effectively promised away before the priced round even arrives. Model the conversion of every outstanding SAFE together, on a post-money basis, so the priced round does not deliver a surprise. This is general information, not legal or investment advice.
Money now, shares later, priced when there is something to price.