How Long Does a Series A Actually Take? The Real Timeline from Strategy to Wire
The real timeline and conversion rates for closing a Series A fundraise, backed by data from an actual round.
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The Time-Saving Guide. Discover how to build a precise, actionable investor target list that actually converts.
Ariana Amirkhanian
Every fundraising guide tells you to "build a highly targeted investor list." But what they don't tell you is how many weeks you'll spend crawling LinkedIn, Crunchbase, and outdated spreadsheets trying to figure out who actually writes checks for Fintech companies at the Seed stage in your city.
Spoiler: That method is dead. You need an AI-powered investor database.
Here’s the direct answer on how to build a perfect target list and how Flowlie’s investor research tool does the heavy lifting so you can get back to building your company.
You spend 100 hours gathering 400 names. You filter them down using basic criteria: Stage, Sector, Geography. You end up with 70 investors who might be a fit.
This is where the process breaks.
The Problem: You matched the firm, but not the Partner. (A partner who invests in B2B SaaS will pass on your consumer fintech app.)
The Killer: You have no idea if they made their last investment three days ago or three years ago. You’re pitching dead money.
The Result: You waste weeks sending cold, untargeted emails, getting zero meetings, and wondering why your list, which you spent 80 hours curating, failed.
You don't need a bigger investor database. You need an investor research platform that can actually score investors based on fit and recent activity.
Stop relying on VCs' publicly available blog posts. Fundraising is a data problem, and Flowlie solves it with machine learning.
Here’s how Flowlie's AI Fit-Scoring Algorithm turns guesswork into a hyper-targeted, actionable list:
Forget filtering by just 'Fintech.' Flowlie's AI analyzes over 40 distinct criteria – far beyond stage and sector.
The Deep Dive: We look at the specific partner’s portfolio, their recent public statements, co-investor relationships, and actual check sizes.
The Result: If you're a Fintech founder raising a Seed round, Flowlie won't just show you "Index Ventures." It will show you Partner X at Index Ventures who led a Seed round in a payments company last quarter, giving you a 92% confidence score.
Getting a warm intro is table stakes. Flowlie eliminates the network blind spot by connecting your contacts to target investors.
Network Intelligence: Our algorithms map thousands of relationships to find hidden connection paths between you and your ideal targets.
AI Intro Scoring: We don't just find a connection; we score the social capital of that connection. An intro from a casual LinkedIn connection gets a low score; an intro from a mutual former founder with a board seat gets a high score.
This means you stop burning weak intros and focus only on the ones that actually convert into meetings.
Fundraising moves fast. Your investor platform needs to be current.
Flowlie's verified data quality ensures every investor profile is meticulously checked and updated. You save 15+ hours of tedious work per fundraise because you're not checking three different sources to see if a partner is still at the firm or if their fund is still active.
In Short: Your spreadsheet is a historical document. Flowlie is a predictive model.
If you're looking for the perfect Fintech investors, you need a tool that lets you filter beyond the basics:
| Criteria Your Spreadsheet Uses | Criteria Flowlie's Platform Uses |
| Industry: Fintech | Micro-Vertical: Embedded Finance, DeFi, or B2B Payments |
| Stage: Seed | Check Size: $1M - $3M AND Time to Invest: Must have made an investment in the last 24 months |
| Location: London | Geography: Invests in EMEA BUT specifically HQ is in London |
| "Warm Intro": Yes/No | Flowlie Intro Score: (1-100) and Best Path: (Name of the connection who knows the partner best) |
By leveraging this level of detail, Flowlie delivers a curated, prioritized list of partners who are actually writing checks for companies just like yours. Stop wasting time on partners who are a "nice-to-have" fit.
You are a founder. Your time is best spent on product, not on being a full-time investor research platform analyst.
Let Flowlie handle the heavy lifting. Identify the right investors, find warm introductions, and accelerate your close time.
Join thousands of founders using our technology to find the right investors and close rounds faster than ever before.
The real timeline and conversion rates for closing a Series A fundraise, backed by data from an actual round.
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