Key takeaways
- The short answer: a capital raise is a company selling shares or taking on debt to fund a plan. You set the amount, build a list of investors whose cheque and stage fit, pitch them in one tight window and close with a lead investor.
- Who has money: Private Equity List recorded 777 new private equity and venture capital funds launched between 1 January and 8 November 2026. The typical new fund is $200M.
- Early stage: 446 of those funds back seed rounds and 278 back pre-seed, so the earliest rounds have the most new funds to pitch.
- Round sizes: the median seed round on Carta raised $4.1M at a $24.3M valuation; the median Series A raised $14.4M at $80M.
- Fewer deals: startups on Carta raised $49.3B in Q3 2026, but round count fell 21% year over year. More money is going to fewer companies.
- Match the cheque: 2,440 investors in Private Equity List write $1–5M cheques, the range most seed rounds need.
 United States | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
 India | |
 Germany | |
 Singapore | |
 France |
Source: Private Equity List database
What is a capital raise: equity, debt or both
Capital raise: a company sells part of itself (equity) or borrows (debt) to pay for a plan it cannot fund from revenue. Startups raise rounds; established businesses raise growth equity, buyout money or loans.
Equity: venture capital firms, angels, family offices and private equity funds buy shares. You give up ownership and usually a board seat, but repay nothing.
Debt: lenders such as venture debt lenders and private credit funds and firms lend against growth or cash flow. You keep ownership but pay interest and repay on a schedule.
Hybrid: SAFEs and convertible notes are cash now that turns into shares at the next priced round. Mezzanine lenders sit between senior debt and equity for larger companies.
| Route | Who provides it | Typical size | What you give up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed and seed round | Angels, pre-seed and seed funds | Median seed $4.1M on Carta | About 18% of the company at the median seed |
| Series A and B | Venture capital firms | Median Series A $14.4M, Series B $25M | 18% at Series A, 12% at Series B |
| Growth equity | Growth and private equity funds | $10–250M cheques among the funds below | Minority stake, board seat, investor rights |
| Buyout | Private equity funds | Majority or full purchase | Control of the company |
| Venture or growth debt | Venture debt and private credit funds | Often sized against the last equity round | Interest, covenants, sometimes warrants |
| Crowdfunding (US) | The public, through a registered portal | Up to $5M in 12 months | Equity or debt to many small investors |
Sources: round sizes and the share sold are Carta's benchmarks from over 1,000 software rounds raised in the six months to July 2026. The crowdfunding limit is from the SEC's guide to exempt offerings.
How much to raise and from whom: round sizes by stage
Raise for a milestone: size the round to reach the proof the next investor will ask for, plus a buffer for a slow market. Use the medians above as a range check.
Match the stage: a fund that backs Series B will not lead a pre-seed round, however good the deck. The table shows how many investors and new funds sit at each stage.
Match the cheque: a $4M seed round needs leads that write $1–5M cheques; a fund that writes $250K can only follow. Check each investor's cheque size before the first email.
Model the dilution: run the round through the equity dilution calculator and record it in a cap table template before you agree a price.
| Stage | Median round on Carta | Investors in Private Equity List | New funds in 2026 | Typical new fund |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed | — | 2,186 | 278 | $78M |
| Seed | $4.1M | 5,584 | 446 | $100M |
| Series A | $14.4M | 4,363 | 252 | $150M |
| Series B | $25M | 4,829 | 190 | $350M |
| Series C and later | Nearly $40M (Series C) | 2,974 | 272 | $567M |
Small cheques: 1,348 investors write cheques under $1M, mostly angels, pre-seed funds and small seed funds.
The seed band: 2,440 write $1–5M. That is where most seed leads sit.
Growth and buyout: 2,684 write $10–50M. Most are private equity firms: 1,555 of the 3,543 private equity firms in Private Equity List are in that band.
The capital raise process in 7 steps
1. Set the amount and the use of funds: what the money buys, in months of runway and in milestones. Investors ask for this in the first meeting.
2. Prepare the materials: a short deck, a financial model, a cap table and a data room with contracts, accounts and key metrics. Larger companies add a confidential information memorandum and a short teaser, laid out in our CIM template.
3. Build the investor list: every investor whose stage, sector, region and cheque size fit, with a named partner for each. Start with firms that just raised a fund: they have years of investing ahead.
4. Sort it into tiers: tier 1 are the leads you want most, tier 2 likely followers, tier 3 practice meetings. Pitch tier 3 first, so the deck is sharp when tier 1 sees it.
5. Reach out in one window: warm introductions where you have them, short cold emails where you do not. Our investor outreach email templates cover first emails, follow-ups and updates.
6. Meetings and diligence: first meeting, partner meeting, then diligence on the data room, customers and team. Keep every investor moving at the same pace, so offers land close together.
7. Term sheet and close: agree price and terms with the lead, then fill the round with followers. Legal work and the money transfer follow the signed term sheet.
| Weeks | What happens | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Amount, use of funds, deck, model, data room | A partner outside the company has read the deck and asked no basic questions |
| 3 | Investor list built and sorted into tiers | Every investor has a cheque size, a stage and a named partner |
| 4–5 | Tier 3 and tier 2 meetings, deck revised | The same objections stop coming up |
| 6–8 | Tier 1 outreach and first meetings | Partner meetings booked with at least three leads |
| 9–10 | Partner meetings and diligence | Every data room question answered |
| 11–12 | Term sheet, followers, legal close | Money in the bank |
Illustrative plan, not data: a 12-week plan for a seed or Series A round. Rounds with a warm lead close faster; rounds in a slow market take longer.
Fundraising strategy for startups: when to raise and who to pitch first
| 38 | 43 | 71 | 87 | 119 | 86 | 73 | 73 | 85 | −1.2% on Sep84 |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct |
|---|
Source: Private Equity List database
Raise from strength: start when the numbers support the next milestone and there is enough cash left to walk away from a bad offer. When cash is nearly gone, investors set the terms.
Follow the new funds: a fund in its first two years is putting money to work. New funds in Private Equity List rose from 38 in January to a peak of 119 in May and held at 84–85 a month in September and October.
Lead first: followers wait for a lead to set the price. Put most of the effort into tier 1 leads; followers come faster once a term sheet exists.
Run it in parallel: meet every investor in the same few weeks. Offers that arrive together give you a choice; offers that arrive one by one give the first investor the leverage.
Keep the list tight: stage, sector and cheque size cut most names before the first email. Spend the time on the investors who are left. Where to get their contacts, and what each source costs, is in our investor email list guide.
Expect fewer yeses: startups on Carta raised $49.3B across 1,179 rounds in Q3 2026, and round count was down 21% year over year. Capital is concentrating, so a long list of the right investors matters more than it did.
Funds with new money to pitch: September–November 2026
 Bessemer Venture Partners | |
|---|---|
 Siguler Guff | |
 Spectrum Equity | |
 Bain Capital Ventures | |
 Churchill Asset Management | |
 Morgan Stanley Investment Management | |
 Sheridan Capital Partners | |
 Creandum |
Source: Private Equity List database
These 19 funds were announced between 1 September and 8 November 2026. Each one links to its announcement; the full list is in the new funds tracker.
Pre-seed and seed funds
Pear VC closed Fund V at $333M in October. It leads pre-seed and seed rounds in AI, fintech and SaaS, with cheques of $250K–3M.- Crane raised $484M across four funds, Crane III among them. The London firm backs AI and enterprise software companies from inception through seed.
Inspired Capital Partners closed Fund IV at $450M. Cheques run from $1M to $15M, pre-seed to Series B, mostly in the US.- Creandum closed Fund VIII at $750M in November. The Stockholm generalist commits from pre-seed to Series A.
Seed Capital raised €130M for Fund V to back Nordic founders. Tickets are €2–4M, usually at late seed.
DIG Ventures closed its third fund at $120M. Former B2B software operators run it, and it aims to lead pre-seed and seed rounds in European technical startups.
Series A and B funds
- Bessemer Venture Partners raised $5.75B for early and growth stage investments. Cheques range from $500K to $100M, seed to growth.
- Bain Capital Ventures raised about $1.6B for its Life After AGI fund. It writes $1–100M cheques from seed to growth, in AI, fintech and security.
Square Peg raised $696M for Fund 6, part of over $1B across two new funds. Seed to Series B in Asia-Pacific; Canva and Airwallex are in its portfolio.
Inovia Capital held a $200M first close on AI-Native Fund VI, which targets $325M. The Montreal firm backs AI-native and frontier tech, from cybersecurity to quantum.- AP Ventures closed a $300M third fund for industrial and energy tech. Seed and Series A, with hydrogen and carbon capture as themes.
Growth equity and buyout funds
- Siguler Guff raised a record $3B for Small Buyout Opportunities Fund VI, aimed at founder-owned US businesses.
- Spectrum Equity closed an oversubscribed $2.5B Fund XI. It puts $25–250M into software, AI and data services companies in North America and Europe.
- Sheridan Capital Partners closed Fund IV at $1.1B. Healthcare is the whole focus, with $10–50M investments.
- Transformation Capital closed Fund IV at $850M. It backs commercial-stage digital health companies with $10–50M.
- Morgan Stanley Investment Management closed its first growth equity fund at $1.3B, the North Haven Growth & Innovation Fund.
Debt funds
- Churchill Asset Management closed a $1.54B Junior Capital Opportunities Fund III. It lends to private equity-backed US middle-market companies.
Claret Capital Partners raised a €575M fund for European growth companies. Growth debt for tech, life sciences and impact companies that want to limit dilution.- Neo Alternative Asset Managers raised $654M for its second private credit fund. Deals run $20–65M, all in India.
Fundraising tracker template: the investor pipeline
A tracker is one row per investor, one column per fact you need, and a status that only moves forward. The table below is the pipeline; use the CSV button to download it as a starting sheet for Excel or Google Sheets.
| Status | What it means | What to record | Move on when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Researched | Fits stage, sector, region and cheque | Profile link, cheque size, latest fund and its date | A named partner is found |
| 2. Prioritised | Sorted into tier 1, 2 or 3 | Tier, lead or follower, why they fit | The outreach window opens |
| 3. Contacted | Intro or cold email sent | Date, channel, who made the intro | They reply |
| 4. First meeting | Call with a partner or associate | Questions asked, objections, next step | A second meeting is booked |
| 5. Partner meeting | The decision makers have seen the pitch | Who attended, open questions | They ask for data room access |
| 6. Diligence | They are checking the data room and customers | Requests and the date each was answered | A term sheet arrives |
| 7. Term sheet | Written offer on price and terms | Amount, valuation, key terms, expiry date | Signed |
| 8. Closed | Money received | Amount, date, shares or note issued | Add to the cap table |
| Passed | Said no | The reason, in their words | Revisit at the next round |
Columns to keep: investor, profile link, type, stage, cheque size, latest fund and date, partner, intro path, tier, status, last contact, next step.
One owner: one person updates the tracker after every call.
Record the reasons: the reasons in the Passed row tell you what to fix before the next round.
Fill it from data: Private Equity List profiles carry type, stages, cheque size, funds and partners, and the search exports them to CSV on the Pro+ plan.
Capital raise rules in the US: Reg D, Reg CF and Reg A
Most private rounds in the US use an exemption from SEC registration. The choice decides who can invest and whether you can advertise the round.
| Exemption | How much in 12 months | Who can invest | Can you advertise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rule 506(b) | No cap | Accredited investors plus up to 35 non-accredited in any 90 days | No |
| Rule 506(c) | No cap | Accredited investors only, with status checked | Yes |
| Regulation Crowdfunding | Up to $5M | The public, through a registered broker-dealer or funding portal | Through the portal |
| Regulation A | Up to $75M | The public | Yes |
Form D: under Regulation D, the company files Form D within 15 days of the first sale. Limits and filing rules are from the SEC's guide to exempt offerings; securities lawyers handle the details.
Equity vs debt: which capital to raise
| Equity | Debt | |
|---|---|---|
| What you give up | A share of the company and some control | Nothing in ownership; sometimes warrants |
| Cost | The investors' share of every future exit | Interest and fees |
| Repayment | None | On a schedule, whatever the results |
| Who provides it | Angels, venture capital, family offices, private equity | Banks, venture debt funds, private credit and mezzanine funds |
| Fits when | Growth is uncertain and cash flow is thin | Revenue or cash flow can carry the payments |
Startups: equity first; venture debt usually comes after a priced round, to stretch runway. See venture debt lenders.
Profitable businesses: debt is often cheaper than selling shares. See private equity lenders for unitranche and senior loans, and mezzanine lenders for junior debt.
Owners who want to sell: a sale is a different process. Start with private equity buyers.
Price of equity: the cost of equity calculator works out the return investors require from your shares.
How to find investors for a capital raise
Startups: filter the seed investors, pre-seed investors and Series A investors lists by country and sector. The biggest names are in our guide to top seed and pre-seed investors.
Growing businesses: the private equity firms and family offices lists hold growth and minority investors; the debt funds list holds lenders.
Who just raised: the new funds tracker lists each fund as it is announced, with the firm's profile.
Comparing data sources: see investor databases compared for PitchBook, Crunchbase, Preqin and Private Equity List side by side, and the pricing page for plans.
Fund managers: raising a fund rather than a round is a capital raise from limited partners; the LP database guide covers who they are.
First-time founders: our older guide on how to get funding for a startup covers bootstrapping, angels and grants.
Data and methodology
New funds: 777 private equity and venture capital funds in Private Equity List with a launch date between 1 January and 8 November 2026, from managers with a published profile, as of 9 November 2026. Duplicate and excluded records are left out; typical sizes are medians of 635 funds with a known size.
Stages and cheques: stages, headquarters and cheque sizes come from fund records and firm profiles. One firm or fund can back several stages, so stage counts add up to more than the total.
Funds with new money: 19 funds announced from 1 September to 8 November 2026, picked by hand from verified tracker announcements, each linked to its source.
External figures: round sizes and dilution are from Carta, quarterly deal counts from Carta's State of Private Markets Q3 2026, and offering rules from the SEC, all linked above.
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