Cross the finish line of your fundraise

Fundraising Lab is a three-week virtual program designed to help founders easily navigate their first fundraise. Apply by August 26, 2024.
fundraising lab program structure

Fundraise like an expert the first time

Learn how to network, pitch, and navigate the fundraising process via live virtual lessons and office hours hosted by experts and investors.

Stack your learnings each week

  • September 17: Perfect your pitch
  • September 25: Expand your investor pipeline
  • October 1: Close your round
  • October 15: Demo Day
weekly sessions overview

Tactical learnings to equip you
for a successful fundraise

perfect your pitch

Week 1: Perfect your pitch

Refine your story and craft a visually engaging deck to captivate potential investors.

Applications are open until August 26, 2024

Apply faster than you can send one cold email

It takes less than 10 minutes to apply — you’ll hear back from us by the first week of September.

application process

Your questions, answered.

We currently accept founders based in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom to take part in Fundraising Lab.

Applications will be reviewed by our panel of judges — composed of top VCs and angel investors — on a rolling basis. Final selections will be announced by the first week of September.If you’re selected, we’ll follow up with more info to get started and invites to the sessions.

If your application is selected, we’ll follow up with more info on session dates and office hours. You’ll also have the opportunity to pitch investors during our virtual Demo Day, and be included in an exclusive Investor Connect drop following the program.

Fundraising Lab is not an accelerator, and no investment will be made by Mercury in selected companies. Fundraising Lab is a 3-week program to prepare founders who are actively fundraising for the first time to close their rounds.

Fundraising Lab is designed to support pre-seed and seed-stage founders with closing their fundraising process. The program is open to founders based in the U.S., Canada, and United Kingdom. You’re welcome to apply if you’re pre-product or pre-revenue. There is no cap on valuation size, and we’re open to considering startups of all sectors and business models. You don’t need to be a Mercury customer in order to apply (although we hope you’ll become one, one day).

Fundraising Lab sessions and office hours will feature top investors, former founders, and legal experts to help support you. Past events have included experts and investors from firms like Susa Ventures, Pear, a16z, Orrick, and more. 

Attending Demo Day is optional, as is participating in our exclusive Investor Connect drop following the program.

We’ll invite investors from our Investor Connect pool to join demo day, along with other approved investors outside of the community.

Due to the program’s concise timeline, we believe the content will best support founders who are actively fundraising. We hope to run a program to support founders planning to fundraise soon. In the meantime, you can find resources to prepare for your fundraise in our Slack community, or by browsing our published content on our blog. 

Rise to the occasion with your first fundraise

Disclaimers and footnotes

    Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust ®, Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank.