VC Fundraising 2026: What You Need to Know

Introduction

In 2024, European VC funds invested around €48 billion in startups from pre-seed to late stage. But only a small percentagefoundersknew how to effectively prepare for this process. The rest? They wasted months on chaotic emails to the wrong funds, presented pitch decks without specifics and they got lost in the pipeline.

The venture capital market in 2025 is a world of increasing selectivity, where funds require hard traction data, evidence of product-market fit, and a clear plan for scaling. If you don't have a structured CRM, an MRR dashboard, and up-to-date pipeline customers - you most likely won't get any further than the intro call.

This article shows,What really matters when securing financing in 2025 from a market snapshot to the specific steps you need to take before sending your first email to an investor.

The VC Market in 2025 - Hard Data and Trends

Let's start with the facts. The European venture capital market showed stabilization in 2024 after the sharp declines of 2022-2023. The total value of VC investments in Europe (including the UK) reached approximately 48 billion euros The UK remains the dominant player, accounting for almost 40% of total capital (approx. EUR 19.2 billion).

Seed and Series A round sizes in 2024/2025:

Seed:

• Average round size in Europe: 2 -3 million euros (source: Dealroom)
• Median: approximately 2 - 3 million euros
• In Poland and CEE: on average 0,5 - 1.6 million euros(with an upward trend) (source: PFR Ventures)

Series A:

• Average round size in Europe: 10 - 20 million euros (source: Dealroom)
• Median: 10 - 15 million euros
• In Poland and CEE: on average 3.5 million euros (source: PFR Ventures)

The number of seed stage transactions remains dominant -estimated over 1000 round seeds across Europe in 2024. However, the number of Series A rounds is significantly lower and more selective. In Poland, there has been a 70% decline in Series A rounds year-over-year, which shows how demanding this stage has become.

Top 3 European countries by VC investment volume:

1. Great Britain - 19.2 billion euros (40% of the European market)
2. Germany- significant share in the top three
3. Nordic countries - 1.18 billion euros, stable growth in tech-heavy sectors

Poland and CEE countries as a region collected a total of approximately 2.3 billion euros, with Poland and Estonia as leaders.

Sectors that will dominate in 2025:

• AI and AI infrastructure -the hottest segment, attracting megadeals
• ClimateTech i Energy Transition - the largest VC-funded sector in Europe (27–30% of capital)
• SaaS and B2B software - accounts for 83% of all financing rounds
• MedTech, HealthTech, TechBio - growing interest after the pandemic
• DeepTech i DefenseTech - new emerging sectors in Europe

Examples of large transactions:

• Poland: ICEYE - 90 mln euro (Series E), ElevenLabs - 80 mln euro (Series B)

Sources: Dealroom, PitchBook, PFR Ventures, KPMG Venture Pulse 2024, EIF VC Survey 2024

What VCs Check Before Signing a Term Sheet

A venture capital investment decision rests on three pillars. If any of them is weak, the chances of securing financing decrease dramatically.

Traction and Data - Hard Evidence of Growth

VC funds don't invest in ideas. They invest in evidence that your product works and has the potential to scale quickly. Expectations are lower at the seed stage, but at Series A, it's a must-have.

Key metrics you need to know:

• MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) - repeatable,predictable income
• Retention rate - how many clients stay with you after 3, 6, 12 months
• CAC/LTV ratio - customer acquisition cost vs customer lifetime (ideally 1:3 or better)
• Growth rate - MRR growth rate month-on-month (min. 10–20% m/m per seed)
• Burn rate and runway- how much capital do you burn per month and how many months will it last?

Without this data, you will not get further than 15 minutes of conversation.

Team & Execution - people who deliver results

Venture capital is a business built on trust. Funds invest in teams that have a track record, the ability to learn quickly and the ability to pivot when something isn't working.

What they check:

• Does the team have industry experience or previous successes (exit, startup growth)?
• Can the founder sell? (VCs know that in the first few years the founder is the main salesperson)
• Is the team delivering on its promises? (If you said you would do X in Q1, did you do it?)

Startup operating system - not just a product, but a business infrastructure

This is an aspect most often overlooked by founders. Funds don't just invest in the product, but in an organization capable of scaling.

Specifically, they check:

• CRM with an up-to-date customer pipeline - do you know how many leads you have, how much they are worth, what is your conversion rate?
• Financial dashboard - do you have real-time insight into MRR, burn rate, cash flow?
• Sales process - is it repeatable, documented, scalable?
• Product Velocity - how quickly you release new functionalities and iterate based on customer feedback?

If you want to check how to build a GTM strategy in your startup - check out this article.

Mini-checklist: Are you ready for a VC interview?

• Pitch deck with a clearly shown growth moment (not just slides, but history)
• CRM with an up-to-date customer pipeline (Pipedrive, HubSpot, Salesforce- whatever, but it has to be)
• Dashboard MRR i burn rate (e.g. Baremetrics, ChartMogul, own Excel sheet)
• Data room version- folder with financial documents, contracts, metrics
• List of customer references- case studies, testimonials, customer ROI

If you have everything checked, it means you are on the right track to starting talks with Investment Funds.

How to choose a VC fund for your stage and segment

Not every fund is right for every startup. The difference between pre-seed and Series A isn't just the size of the check, but above all, a completely different investment philosophy.

Pre-seed / Seed - investing in people and potential

At this stage, funds are mainly looking at team, vision and early tractionYou don't have to have millions in MRR, but you do need to show that:

• You understand the problem and have a unique way to solve it
• You have the first one product-market fit signals (e.g. paying customers, waitlist, pilots)
• Your team is capable of iterating quickly

Examples of seed funds in Poland and CEE:

• Dragon VC - focus na early-stage SaaS i tech
• bValue- seed and pre-seed, portfolio of Polish startups
• Sunfish Partners - seed, DeepTech, Defence
• PFR Ventures - a state fund supporting Polish startups(ticket size varies)

Series A - scaling and repeat revenue

Funds are awaiting Series A fundingproven product-market fitand a clear plan for scaling.a stage where numbers speak louder than vision.

What they expect:

• MRR min. 50–100k euros (depending on the segment)
• Repeatable sales process
• A clear go-to-market strategy and expansion plan (e.g.new markets, new customer segments)

Examples of Series A funds in Poland and Europe:

• Inovo VC - seed do Series A, focus na SaaS i AI, ticket 0,5–3 mln euro
• OTB Ventures - Series A w DeepTech, ticket 2–7 mln euro
• Speedinvest - early-stage do Series A, Pan-European, silny w B2B SaaS
• Northzone - Series A+, Nordic i European tech
• Accel - early stage, ticket average USD 20 million for 30 startups (USD 650 million fund)

How to prepare for fundraising step by step

Fundraising is a marathon. The average time from the first conversation to the signing of the term sheet is from 3 to 6 months. Good preparation can help you minimize this time.

Step 1: Build a list of 30-50 funds that match your stage

Don't send pitchdecks"blindly" into all funds. It's a waste of time not only for you, but also for investors.

How to build a list:

• Use databases
• Check the funds' portfolio - do they invest in startups similar to yours?
• Analyze recent transactions - is the fund active inYourssegment?
• Verify ticket size - does it match what you are looking for?

Step 2: Prepare a personalized pitch deck (PL/EN)

A standard pitch deck is 10-12 slides. But that's not enough. Every deck you send to a fund should be slightly personalized. e.g., add a "Why you?" slide showing why this particular fund is a good fit for your company.

Must-have slides:

1. Problem
2. Solution
3. Traction (metrics!)
4. Business model
5. Market size (THERE, ALONE, I AM)
6. Competitive landscape
7. Team
8. Financials & Ask
   

Step 3: Build a conversation pipeline in CRM

Treat fundraising like a sales process. You need a CRM to manage contacts, follow-ups, and call statuses.

Tools:

• Attio (modern CRM, popular among founders)
• Pipedrive
• Airtable (simple and flexible)
• HubSpot (if you have the budget)

What do we have to track?

• Name of the fund
• Contact person (partner, principal, analyst)
• Status (cold outreach, intro call, pitch, due diligence, term sheet, closed)
• Date of last contact
• Next step

Step 4: Plan follow-ups and don't let up

Most funds won't respond to the first email. That doesn't mean they're not interested. They just receive dozens of emails a week.

Best practices:

• Follow-up after 5 - 7 days
• Add value in follow-up (e.g. new milestone, new customer)
• Use "soft touch" - e.g. send an article related to their latest investment

Step 5: Prepare data room materials

When a fund wants to dig deeper (due diligence), it will need access to documents. Prepare this in advance.

What should be in the data room:

• Legal documents (foundation agreements, IP, contracts with key clients)
• Finances (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, burn rate)
• Product metrics (dashboard with MRR, churn, CAC/LTV)
• Presentations and reports (pitch deck, investment memo, market research)

The fundraiser mindset is not a sprint for money

Fundraising is the process of building long-term relationships with partners who are going to help you grow 10x in the next 3-5 years.

The best founders treat fundraising like an enterprise sales process - you don't sell a product, you sell a business.The future of your company and just like in B2B sales, you don't sell to just anyone. You choose clients (in this case, investors) who best fit your vision, stage, and culture.

Good preparation not only increases your chances of raising capital - it shortens the time from the first conversation to the term sheet and gives you a stronger negotiating position. Funds see that you're not a desperate seeker of help, but a founder who knows what he's doing and where he's going.

Summary: Ready for fundraising?

• You know the market: you know what the average round sizes are, which funds are active and in which segments
• You have hard data: MRR, retention, CAC/LTV, growth rate - all organized in dashboards
• You have a system: CRM, conversation pipeline, data room, follow-up process
• You choose funds strategically: you don't send a pitch deck blindly, only to 30 - 50 precisely selected investors

If you check all the boxes, you are in the top percentile of founders applying for capital.