Frequently Asked Questions

OpenVC is a great fit if you're a tech or tech-enabled company raising funds from idea stage to IPO, anywhere in the world. Software, biotech, ecommerce, FMCG, gaming, web3, and more… are all relevant.

By contrast, OpenVC is not the right fit if you're in the following categories:

Also, please note that OpenVC doesn't help with finding a cofounder and finding a job in general.

Basically, we focus on helping VC-fundable businesses get funding.

If you want to raise for different ideas or companies, please create a different OpenVC account for each company. You will need a different email address for each account.

If you haven't received your activation email, please complete the following steps:

If you still don't find your activation email, them email [email protected] and we'll help you resolve the issue quickly.

At sign up, we ask for the LinkedIn URL of your Company page.

Please note that a Company page is not the same as a Personal LinkedIn profile. A company page URL should contain “https://www.linkedin.com/company/”. If you don't have a Company page, you can create one for free on Linkedin on this link.

Please note that this field is optional - you can leave it empty and complete your OpenVC signup regardless.

To use the feature "Send email" with your Gmail account, please follow the instructions at https://docs.openvc.app/en/articles/13227834-set-up-your-email-client .

To use the feature "Intro Finder" with your Gmail account, please follow the instructions at https://docs.openvc.app/en/articles/13228401-set-up-the-intro-finder .

No, at the moment, OpenVC doesn't offer a data room feature.

Our OpenVC Decks feature allows you to host your “intro deck” which will be used to get in touch with investors and secure the first meeting.

Once the first meeting is successful, investors will ask you to share a data room. At this point, you will need to use a different solution, such as Google Drive, DocSend or other.

No, at the moment, OpenVC doesn't offer an API. Maybe we will in the future.

Feel free to email us at [email protected] and tell us more about your use case, we're always happy to explore partnerships!

No, you don't need a company to use OpenVC.

At sign up, when asked for company information, just enter dummy data. You will be able to edit it later, once your company is incorporated.

However, keep in mind that you're expected to have an incorporated company before reaching out to investors.

No, this is not possible.

As a general rule, investors take one look at your deck and make a decision. There's no point pinging them 1 week later because you've slightly updated your deck. This won't change their decision.

However, if your company has gone through significant changes after a few months, it makes sense to reach out again to the same investors.

In that case, just create a new submission in OpenVC.

Browsing the investor list is completely free on OpenVC.

Please go to OpenVC.app/search, enter your filters, and see for yourself how many investors we have for you in our database.

If you or someone in your team cannot find your company in the search bar, please email [email protected] and we'll investigate the issue.

To remove a team member from your startup, please go to openvc.app/settings/team, find the team member in the list and click “Remove”.

Please note that at the moment, it is not possible to remove pending invitations.

If your submission was rejected, the 72 hour deadline is suspended and you can take your time to send a better submission. This isn't shown in the app, which can be confusing. We will improve that soon.

If you're new to fundraising and asking basic questions like “How to get funding for my startup”, we strongly recommend reading this post: https://www.openvc.app/blog/how-to-raise-money-for-a-startup . It contains all the basics you need to get started.

Fundraising is hard, so don't rush to contact investors.

First, make sure that you understand the game you're playing, otherwise you'll make rookie mistakes without even understanding why.

We don't offer a free trial period for OpenVC Premium. However, we offer a very generous Free Forever version.

Please try the Free version first. If you like it, you'll love the Premium version!

You have a product or service and you'd like to offer it to our community? That's great, we'd love to! Please send an email at [email protected] and we'll get you on the Perks space. We won't charge you, but we will ask that you provide a discount to our community, so it's a win-win.

Investor profiles marked as “Verified” signed up to OpenVC. The investors created an account on our platform and actively agreed to receive deal flow from us.

Investor profiles marked as Non-Verified were sourced from public sources and didn't take active steps to create an account and receive OpenVC deal flow.

When you sign up to OpenVC, you are asked to provide a scheduling link that allows investors to book a meeting with you.

Popular scheduling links include Calendly, Hubspot, Cal.com, Vimcal, and more. All these tools have a free version and make the fundraising process smoother for both sides. That's why we recommend using one.

However, this is not mandatory. You can complete signup and use OpenVC without providing a scheduling link.

To update your round size (= "target"), go to your Startup settings and update the field "Round size".

To update the committed amount, go to your OpenVC CRM and update the investors in the “Committed” column to reflect the current state of your raise.

OpenVC Premium members can access our Perks catalogue. It contains discounts on many software and tools such as Hubspot, Airtable, Intercom and more.

Each Perk is subject to specific requirements. For example, some may only apply if you have raised funding, while others may exclude non-US companies.

The Perks page allows you to review the requirements of each Perk before upgrading to Premium. That way, you can make sure this will work for you before committing.

No. OpenVC pitch decks don't support audio or video.

We recommend avoiding rich media in decks - no videos, audio, or animations. You want a deck that loads fast, can be read on mobile, and works anywhere (in a subway, in the backseat of an Uber) and in any environment (like an office without earphones or speakers).

Investors want instant access to the information to decide within 2 minutes whether they want a call. Images and text are the safe bet for an intro deck.

This error message appears when you are trying to reach out to an investor that you've already contacted. Check your OpenVC CRM and make sure there's no duplicate.

This is a rare front-end bug. Please refresh the page to solve the issue.