Startupfundraising
Investors who have led or joined comparable rounds in the last two quarters and still have capital to deploy, matched to your round.
- 01Rounds
- Seed · Series A · Series B
- 02Investors
- Venture funds · Corporates · Family offices · Angels
- 03Evidence
- Comparable rounds and fresh fund closes
- 04Delivery
- Booked partner meetings
A $3–4m seed round can mean contacting more than 200 investors for one or two term sheets.
Seed capital across tracked US startups fell from $6.5bn to $3.8bn between the first halves of 2025 and 2026.
Investors contacted for a $3–4m seed round, for one or two viable term sheets
Median gap from seed to Series A, against 1.2 years in 2021
Of US venture deal value in 2026 went to AI companies
Seed capital across tracked startups in H1 2026, down from $6.5bn a year earlier
A seed round is a funnel, and most of it is wasted
A typical seed raise: more than 200 investors contacted, 60 first meetings, 20 to 30 follow-ups, five to seven in diligence, one or two term sheets.
Most of that waste is investors who were never going to invest: wrong stage, no capacity, a competing portfolio company. Removing them before the first email is the point of the list.
Who is writing cheques at your stage
The best predictor of who will invest in your round is who just invested in one like it and still has a fund with room in it. Funds near the end of their investment period, however active they look, are often reserving for follow-ons.
| Investor | Appetite | Typical cheque | Decision cycle | Where deployment shows first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed and Series A funds with fresh capitalFund closed in the last 24 months | High | $1–10m | 3–8 weeks | Form D fund closes, round announcements |
| Corporate venture armsStrategic investors | Selective | $1–15m | 1–3 months | Round announcements, partnership news |
| Angels and syndicatesOperators and founders | Active | $25k–500k | Days to weeks | Syndicate deal flow, Form D filings |
| Multi-stage fundsSeed programmes and Series A+ | Selective | $2–30m | 2–6 weeks | Round announcements |
| Family offices investing directSingle and multi | Selective | $500k–5m | Weeks to months | Co-investment and round announcements |
| Venture lendersNon-dilutive | Post-Series A | $2–25m | 4–8 weeks | Lending announcements, UCC filings |
Funds that just backed a company like yours, and can again
We read rounds announced and filed in your category over the last two quarters, the funds that led and joined them, and whether each fund has capital to deploy, then exclude any with a conflicting portfolio company.
The public record of allocation
- Rounds announced and filed (press, Form D)
- Fund closes and remaining capital
- Partner hires and published theses
- Portfolio additions in your category
Fit to the mandate
- Stage, sector and geography
- Cheque size against your round
- Lead or follow, and board appetite
- Conflicts with existing portfolio
Dated, per allocator
- Most recent comparable commitment
- Managers or companies backed this cycle
- Named decision-maker and route in
- The source, cited on the row
Booked, not broadcast
- Approach framed to the allocator's thesis
- Consent obtained before your calendar
- Materials sequenced to their process
- Follow-through into diligence
Led a seed round in freight-audit softwareCompany announcement
Led a seed round in warehouse labour planningCompany announcement; Form D
Closed Fund II above targetForm D; fund announcement
Illustrative record. Details are composite and do not describe a real fund.
Conflicts checked
Funds with a competing portfolio company are removed before outreach, not discovered in the meeting.
Fresh capital only
A fund's remaining capacity is checked against its vintage, so you are not pitching follow-on reserves.
What a founder is choosing between
Warm introductions are still the strongest route. The question is which investors to ask for, and in what order.
| QuantiverseEvidence-led, booked | Investor databasesSelf-serve lists | Fundraising advisersPlacement for companies | Warm introductionsYour network | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investors active in your category this cycle | Dated, cited | Filters, not timing | Partly | Partly |
| Fund capacity checked | Yes | No | Partly | No |
| Portfolio conflicts removed | Yes | No | Partly | No |
| Meetings booked | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
From founders
Specific to this raise. General questions are answered on the practice page.
01Is this an investor list?
It is a short, evidenced list and the meetings that follow from it. Every investor carries the comparable rounds and the fund capacity that put them there.
02Which stages do you cover?
Seed to Series B. Later rounds are better served by bankers and growth-equity advisers.
The investors who just funded a company like yours
- 01The roundSize, instrument, lead status and timing.
- 02The companyCategory, traction and what the round funds.
- 03The investorsWho you have met, and who passed.