How Many Investors Should I Contact When Fundraising?

50–100+ investors, depending on your stage and target round.

Fundraising is fundamentally a numbers game, but it's a strategic numbers game. The reality that most first-time founders underestimate is just how many conversations it takes to close a round. Understanding the math behind investor outreach can transform your fundraising from a frustrating guessing game into a data-driven operation.

The Real Numbers Behind Successful Raises

Industry research consistently shows that raising a round requires far more outreach than most founders anticipate:

Pre-Seed Stage: According to DocSend's startup fundraising research, founders raising pre-seed rounds contact an average of 58–71 investors and secure approximately 30–46 meetings. This represents roughly a 50–65% meeting conversion rate, meaning even with targeted outreach, nearly half of your efforts won't result in a conversation.

Seed Stage: Experienced fundraisers suggest starting with a list of 200–300 potential investors at the top of your funnel. After filtering for stage fit, sector focus, and check size, this typically narrows to 100–150 qualified targets for active outreach.

Conversion Reality: The typical conversion rate from pitch to check is approximately 5–6%. One founder who raised seed capital reported meeting with over 200 investors and ultimately closing with one seed fund and ten angels. That's the norm, not the exception.

Why So Many? Understanding the Fundraising Funnel

Think of fundraising like a B2B sales pipeline:

• Top of Funnel (200–300 investors): Your initial research list

• Qualified Prospects (100–150 investors): Filtered for sector, stage, and geography

• Meetings Secured (30–50 meetings): Investors who respond and take a call

• Term Sheets (1–3 offers): Investors who actually commit

The math is unforgiving: if you need 2–3 term sheets to have negotiating leverage and your conversion rate is 5%, you need meaningful conversations with at least 40–60 investors minimum.

Quality vs. Quantity: The Strategic Balance

Here's what separates founders who raise efficiently from those who burn out: targeting matters more than volume.

Research shows there's only a weak correlation between the number of investors contacted and the amount of funding raised. Reaching out to the right VCs, rather than simply more VCs, ensures you work smarter during your raise.

What makes an investor "right"?

1. Stage Fit: Match your round size to their typical check size

2. Sector Alignment: Look for investors who've backed companies in your precise niche

3. Recent Fund Activity: Target funds that just raised fresh capital, VCs without new funds in 2–3 years aren't doing many new deals

4. Portfolio Conflict: Avoid investors who've backed direct competitors

The Timeline Factor

Fundraising takes longer than you think:

• Average pre-seed fundraise: 13–15 weeks

• Average seed fundraise: 3–6 months (sometimes up to 8 months)

• Success rate within 6 weeks: Only about 25–36%

The founders who raise quickly have typically spent 6–12 months beforehand building relationships and developing traction. Speed during fundraising comes from preparation before fundraising.

The SheetVenture Advantage: Smarter Targeting, Faster Raises

This is exactly why we built SheetVenture.

Traditional investor databases give you historical data and static lists filled with inactive profiles. You're left sifting through "ghost investors", VCs and angels who haven't written a check in years but still appear in searches.

SheetVenture transforms this process:

• Real-time activity tracking: We monitor over 30,000 investors who have actually written checks in the last 18 months

• AI-powered matching: Our scoring model ranks investors by capital velocity, sector fit, and recent activity, helping you prioritize the investors most likely to say yes

• Spreadsheet exports with live intelligence: Download hyper-targeted lists filtered by your exact criteria. No CRM lock-in, no complex workflows

Instead of spending hours researching each investor manually, SheetVenture lets you export a qualified, scored list of actively investing VCs in minutes.

The Bottom Line

If you're raising a pre-seed or seed round, plan to contact 50–100+ investors as a baseline. Expect a 5–10% conversion rate from outreach to check. Budget 3–6 months for the full process.

But with the right tools and targeting, you can dramatically improve your odds. Founders who focus on investor-startup fit and maintain momentum consistently outperform those who spray and pray.

SheetVenture exists to turn fundraising from a frustrating numbers game into a strategic, data-driven operation. Instead of months of manual research, you get instant access to who's actively investing right now, so every email and meeting counts.

Ready to stop guessing and start closing? Try SheetVenture today.

SheetVenture is the AI-powered live intelligence platform that helps startup founders access real-time VC and PE data. We track 30,000+ active investors and deliver actionable lists that help you raise faster.