Practical advice for B2B startups raising a Series A

Greg Waisman is co-founder and COO at the global payments infrastructure platform Mercuryo. Mr. Waisman is an accomplished entrepreneur and business leader with deep roots in the technology market. He has a wealth of experience in full-cycle business management, establishing fintech-related startups and developing them from the ground up.

As the fintech market is gradually recovering from the turmoil of 2022, funding is expected to increase. Moreover, projects peg the fintech industry to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, so the market saturation will only keep growing, leading to heightened competition for investor attention.

In conditions where many companies struggle to establish themselves amid limited funding opportunities, completing even a Series A round is a powerful symbol of your fintech project’s promise.

As a founder of a global B2B payment infrastructure company that raised funds in different market periods and successfully endured the previous year’s challenges, I want to share some of the techniques that helped us in our efforts to secure funding and stay afloat.

To succeed, you must present a reason to buy it

Preliminary research needs to be as thorough as possible. You must understand the exact manner of products you create, what market niche you are attempting to cover, who your key clients are, and how to reach them. When you have a tangible understanding of product-market fit, you can define what differentiates you from competitors and what value the product offers to potential investors.

Transparency is critical when preparing for fundraising — investors should be able to readily access all the pertinent information regarding your business.

Not only that, but you also need to showcase sensible traction, with clear indicators of the startup’s growth so far and how securing new funding would influence its development in the future. Growth tendencies should show the revenue output increasing at least twice a year. Present a specific request when attempting to raise funds through a round. The amount and the goals should be straightforward to the investors. Cohesively explain why you need $10 million (as an example), how long, and how you’ll achieve results during the indicated period. A concrete plan of action serves to inspire confidence.

Business budgeting is essential. It is always better to showcase a growth forecast with a graph that goes up sustainably from quarter to quarter. If the growth line is jagged, this risks might scare off investors, who will likely think your project is too unstable for investment. Make sure the predictions are precise and not artificially bloated to look good. Doing anything less would undermine the trust of your investors.