How Long Does Fundraising Take?

During our first meeting with founders, we always ask when they expect to close their round. Invariably, the response is “as fast as possible”. In order to provide guidance on realistic expectations of closing timelines, I looked at data from ten companies we invested in over the past year. The following table shows how long it took to get to a commitment and to the closing.

Keep in mind that many things impact these timelines, with the most significant being the amount of interest from other investors.

Both our fund and angel network invest in pre-seed and seed stage rounds of $1 to $3M with valuations no greater than $12M. From this data, we see that our fund commits in ~3 weeks, and our network of angels commits in ~6 weeks. Then it usually takes another 3 to 4 weeks from commitment to deal closing, as the founders manage document prep and any final legal diligence.

Based on what I hear from other venture firms, these timelines are fairly common. While some deals move extremely quickly, with commitments occurring within a week, this tends to be rare. Most VCs will want to do at least a few weeks of due diligence and have multiple conversations with a team. And sometimes it can take several months after meeting a company for a commitment and round to come together.

In summary, I advise founders that the fundraising process can take up to 4 months. That timeline is often expedited, especially for deals with a lot of VC interest. But having realistic expectations at the onset of a raise can be helpful in early conversations with investors.