Mercury Raise Series A:
a resource for founders raising in uncertain times

It’s a challenging time to be thinking about fundraising, but we believe it’s always a good time for a great idea — especially when you have some help along the way. At Mercury, we don’t just support founders by offering thoughtful products; one of our main goals as a company is to surround founders with the community and resources they need to bring their ideas to life.

This is why we created Mercury Raise, a program designed to help founders learn the strategies and build the connections they need to successfully raise capital for their startups. Whether you’re at the idea stage or are seeking product-market fit, we’ve built a Raise program to suit your needs.

Our Raise Series A program — coming up next on October 12, 2022 — is geared toward founders preparing to raise their Series A within six months. It’s designed specifically around education and networking, and provides finalists with in-person guidance from the industry’s top investors, founders, and experts on how to pitch, raise, and scale.

With Raise Series A, the goal isn’t necessarily to help founders close out a round as soon as possible — it’s about providing founders with the tools, knowledge, and relationships that can help them make the most of the fundraising process. It’s about instilling best practices and giving your startup the greatest shot at success.

Because Raise Series A centers so heavily on building relationships with mentors, investors, and other founders, we designed it as an in-person event — and this is part of what makes it so beneficial. Attendees can expect 1-1 mentoring, informal networking with accomplished founders and VCs at tier-1 funds, and insightful panels featuring VCs and founders alike.

Featured panels will include:

• “Find your footing: what to consider before you raise.” Mercury CEO, Immad Akhund, will be joined by an experienced operator to discuss when you should raise your Series A and from whom.
• “Raising your Series A: the VC perspective.” Hear from investors like Miles Grimshaw from Benchmark, Ansaf Kareem from LVSP, and Christina Melas-Kyriazi from Bain Capital and learn how to make your pitch stand out.
• “Long-term relationships: navigating the VC-founder connection.” VCs — including Anna Khan from CRV — will share best practices for making the most of these unique, long-term partnerships with your investors.
• “Raising a Series A, unfiltered.” Go behind the scenes on raising a Series A with founders that have successfully raised one: Pilot co-founder and CEO, Waseem Daher, and Lithic co-founder and CEO, Bo Jiang.

Here’s how Raise Series A works:

• Apply here by September 25, 2022.
• Our selection board will choose the startups best prepared to raise venture capital. We usually admit around 30 companies.
• Join us on October 12, 2022 in San Francisco for mentorship and feedback on every aspect of raising a Series A from top investors, founders, and domain experts.

What are we looking for in Raise Series A applicants?

• Companies built on great ideas with correlated traction
• Great product-market fit
• Founder ambition
• Companies that have already raised a Seed round — and that are gearing up to raise a Series A within six months

Why apply?

Past Raise Series A participants have gone on to raise rounds from investors such as Insight, Craft, SoftBank, Union Square Ventures, CRV, Sequoia India, and Tiger Global.

“Mercury Raise was amazing at getting a group of founders & investors together and helping me prep for my fundraising.”

— Kevin Gibbon, Airhouse (raised $11M Series A from DNX Ventures in March 2022)

“Mercury Raise was like a Founders' campfire for closing your Series A from Tier 1 investors. Bar none, best time investment in fundraising prep with notes I still reference."

— Grace Chang, Kintsugi (raised $20M Series A from Insight in Feb 2022)

We look forward to welcoming our next cohort to San Francisco in just a few weeks.