Funding guide
What each round actually requires
Pre-seed through Series B: what investors expect, what they will diligence, and how much is actually being raised at each stage.
Pre-seed
Money to find out whether the thing works at all. You are buying time to reach a signal, not to scale.
Typical round
$50K – $500K
Buys you
3–6 months of runway bought
Who invests
Friends and family · Angels · Accelerators
What they expect
- 01A founding team that is actually committed
- 02A specific, falsifiable hypothesis
- 03A prototype or something a customer can react to
- 04Evidence you have talked to real buyers
What matters in practice
- Optimise for learning speed, not headcount
- Keep the cap table clean, because complexity is expensive later
- Do not raise on a valuation you cannot grow into
- Write down what would prove you wrong
Round size and pre-money figures: PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, Q2 2026 · As of June 30, 2026 · full benchmarks
Before you build a target list
There are far fewer funds than there were
Fund formation is a leading indicator of how much capital exists to deploy in two to three years, and it is contracting hard. The median fund is getting smaller while the average hits a record, which is concentration expressed in two numbers.
| US VC fundraising | Figure |
|---|---|
| Capital raised by VC funds, H1 2026 | $72.4B |
| Funds closed, H1 2026 | 405 |
| Median VC fund size, 2026 | $10.8M |
| Average VC fund size, 2026 | $188.1M |
| Raised by funds of $1B or more, H1 2026 | $49.5B |
| Share of all H1 2026 VC raised by three firms | 48.1% |
Fewer, larger funds concentrated in a handful of established managers. For a founder that means less capital available at the small end, and it is a leading indicator: fund formation today sets how much capital exists to deploy in two to three years.
PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor, Q2 2026, p.31 · As of June 30, 2026
Regardless of stage
Four things that change the outcome more than the deck does
Raise from strength
The best time to raise is when you do not need to. Start conversations 6–12 months out, with 12–18 months of runway still in the bank. Desperation is legible in a data room.
Create a process
A founder with three term sheets prices better than an identical company with one. Approach investors in parallel, on a deliberate timeline, not sequentially over nine months.
Know your own numbers
Not the vanity ones. Cohort retention, gross margin, payback period, and the honest reason each is where it is. Being able to explain a bad number builds more trust than hiding it.
Understand what you are selling
You are selling a share of a future outcome. Investors are underwriting the size of that outcome and the probability you reach it. Address both explicitly.
Considering a transaction?
Whether you are years out or fielding inbound interest, a sell-side advisor at FIH.com can tell you what a real process would look like for a company like yours.
Confidential
Your details are never shared, listed, or published.
Success-basis
No retainer and no fee unless a transaction closes.
A person, not a form
A sell-side advisor replies within one business day.
Want an answer this week instead?
$495Book a 60-minute session with a senior advisor: what the company is worth, who would buy it, and what to fix first. Credited in full against our fee if you engage us.
Book an advisory session