How the Investor Check works
Type the name of an investor or a firm, one line about your startup, and your stage. The Investor Check looks the investor up in the Signal Raise network of 54,000 investors and scores the fit from 0 to 100.
The score is the same kind of scoring Signal Raise runs on founders’ full pipelines. It weighs what the investor says they back, the stages they invest at, the check sizes they write and the pattern in their portfolio, against the company you described. If you type a firm name, the firm is scored as one entity, using what its partners focus on, and the result names the partners it looked at.
You get a plain verdict: yes, worth the email; maybe, with the right angle; or probably not. Three short reasons explain it. A “no” leads with the concerns, a “yes” with the strengths. Every check also shows three investors from the network who fit what you described more closely, one per firm.
You can run three checks a day without an account. Create a free account and the investor you checked, plus any investors who fit better, are saved in your pipeline, scored against your real company profile. Nothing is sent until you move them into outreach and approve it.
What investors expect before you email them
Investors get far more cold emails than they can answer. The ones that get read usually show the founder did the basic work: this investor backs this kind of company, at this stage, at this check size. A great company sent to the wrong investor is still a no.
Before you write, make sure you can answer these:
- Sector: do they invest in your space, or in something close to it?
- Stage: do they lead or join rounds at the stage you are raising now, not the stage you hope to reach?
- Check size: does what they typically write fit inside [your round size]?
- Portfolio: have they backed a direct competitor? Many investors avoid that conflict.
- Timing: are they actively investing? A firm late in its fund may be slower to write new checks.
- A real reason: one specific line on why you picked them, drawn from their focus or a past investment.
Investor fit by stage
The same investor can be a strong fit at one stage and a poor fit at another. Here is what to look for at each.
Pre-seed
Look for angels, pre-seed funds and operators who write small, early checks and are comfortable backing a team before there is much traction. Partners at large funds may still take a call, but a firm that leads later rounds is often a “maybe” at best. A one-liner like “Scheduling software for independent dental clinics, [number] pilots, raising pre-seed” gives the check enough to score on.
Seed
Seed investors want early proof. Focus on funds that lead or join seed rounds in your sector and whose check sizes fit your round. Include a traction signal in your one line, such as [MRR] or [paying customers], so the description reflects where you really are. Use the investors who fit better to build a list of firms you hadn’t considered.
Series A
At Series A the bar is sector depth and the ability to lead. Check whether the firm leads at your round size and has backed companies at a similar point. A firm that invests across many sectors may score lower than a focused one, even with a famous name. Run the firms on your shortlist and compare the reasons side by side.
Reading the result
A “yes” means the signals line up. It is not a promise of a meeting. Still write a specific email and lead with your strongest evidence.
A “maybe” usually means one thing fits and another doesn’t, such as the right sector at the wrong stage. Read the reasons. If the gap is something you can address in your email, it may still be worth sending.
A “probably not” saves you an afternoon. Look at the investors who fit better instead.
The score depends on the line you typed. If the result looks off, make the description more specific, such as naming your buyer and adding a traction signal, and check again. Scores reflect the public signals on file for each investor, so treat them as a guide, not a final word.
Questions founders ask
- How do I know if an investor is a good fit for my startup?
- Check four things: they invest in your sector, at your stage, at a check size that fits your round, and they haven’t backed a direct competitor. The Investor Check scores those signals and explains the result in three reasons.
- Is the Investor Check free?
- Yes. You get three checks a day without an account. A free account saves the investors you checked into a pipeline and scores the wider network against your company.
- Can I check a whole firm instead of one person?
- Yes. Type the firm name and it is scored as one entity, using its partners’ focus areas and stages. The result names the partners it looked at.
- Does it show investor email addresses?
- No. The check shows names, firms, focus and stages only. Contact details are not part of the public result.
- What should I write in the one-line description?
- What you do, for whom, and one sign of progress. For example: “Payments infrastructure for independent restaurants, [MRR], raising a seed.” Plain words work better than buzzwords.
- What do I do after I find the right investors?
- Write each one a short, specific email. If you want help running that, Signal Raise’s investor outreach drafts an email per investor, sends from your own inbox and handles the follow-ups.