Despite some of the doomsday commentary about both the NZ economy and VC investing habits in 2024 compared to 2021, there is plenty of capital looking for high-quality investment opportunities.

At Icehouse Ventures, we invested $100M in 2024—tied for the most capital we’ve ever deployed in a single year—backing companies like Timescapes, Extraordinary, Watchful, Basis, New+Improved, and many more.

In 2025, we expect to do the same. We also anticipate more exits than we've seen before as capital markets respond to decreasing interest rates worldwide.

If you're a founder looking to raise capital to fund growth plans, what's the best approach to maximise the chances of success?

There are three parts to a successful capital raise in my view. The best way to think about capital raising is the same way you'd think about an enterprise sale:

1. Choose Your Investor Pipeline Carefully

First, think of the investor as your customer. When you're raising capital, the investor is your high-value customer. In sales, you consider the needs and interests of your customers—what problem are they trying to solve, and how does your value proposition help solve it?

Similarly, it's important to profile the types of investors that best fit your opportunity. Consider factors like their fund size, portfolio size, investment ticket, geography, market segment focus etc. These are all important considerations when choosing the investors to include on your lead list.

Quality is more important than quantity. You don't need to speak to 100 investors—you need to speak to the 10 who are most likely to invest in your company.

2. Build Relationships

Once you have your list of highly qualified sales prospects (investors) for your capital-raising process, the next step is to start building relationships.

A venture investment is a long-term partnership—often a 10-year journey from the time of investment. Few investors will back founders they haven't built a relationship with over an extended period. So you want to start connecting and building rapport long before you need funding.

There's a saying in venture: “If you ask for capital, you'll get advice. If you ask for advice, you'll get capital.”

The best thing you can do is ask for advice.

The advice you ask for should be something along the lines of:

"Hi X, I am the founder of a company with a mission to XYZ. I know you've invested in companies like X and Y, and I think our story could be of interest to you. We are working on our plans for the next 12 months and expect to raise capital in late 2025 or early 2026. I'd love to bounce our plans off you and hear what you think would be important for us to demonstrate before we raise our next round. Would you be open to having a call or coffee?"

3. Create Momentum

Momentum closes deals; a lack of it kills them.

When you start your 'real' capital raise campaign, aim for it to be as short and sharp as possible.

Think about the raise as a campaign—it should run for 4-6 weeks (though it will likely take longer, aim for it to be punchy).

If you've nurtured a list of highly qualified investors, when you send them the deck for the round, they shouldn't be surprised by the contents.

Speak to all of your target investors at the same time. Make them aware of the fact you are speaking with other investors concurrently.

Ask the investors about their Investment Committee process—what steps are required to get in front of the committee, and what information would they need to be able to reach a decision at their Investment Committee?

Once you've got a term sheet agreed and signed, circle back around with all the same investors to mop up any co-investment needed to close the round.

During this time, the CEO's sole focus should be fundraising. It should be an intense and focused period of time.

In some cases, I've seen founders use the tactic of telling investors they aren't officially raising capital yet but wanted to give them a first look at the deck—even when the campaign has actually begun. This can be a way to buy more time without making the process feel like it's dragging on longer than it should.

Extra Points: How Does the Investor Make Decisions?

Most venture capital businesses work something like this: There is a partner or a principal who is the deal lead (the person you interact with the most). They are your supporter and advocate within the firm. However, most decisions in a venture firm are made by a majority of the investment committee (IC) voting in favour of the deal.

You should aim to understand the IC dynamics. The partner (deal lead) writes an investment memo outlining the opportunity and the risks. The rest of the IC typically pokes holes in the thesis and scrutinises it until the IC either decide to pass or agrees to go ahead.

While it’s the partner’s job to go into an IC meeting ready to be your best advocate, they’ve had hours and potentially numerous meetings with you to understand your company and the size of the potential opportunity. The IC hasn’t.

You can help a partner by presenting your information in a way that makes it easy for them to incorporate it into an investment memo.

• Provide clear, structured responses so key information is readily available.
• Answer questions in a way that would be easy to share with the IC and/or include in the memo.

These small tweaks make it much more likely to get through the investment process unscathed by information just not being in the right place at the right time.

The partner will likely spend 30-60 minutes being interrogated by the rest of their IC on various aspects of your company during their IC meeting. If they can easily and confidently answer questions, they’re much more likely to build confidence with their IC. Conversely, if the partner gets stumped by a question they don't have the answer to, it can kill a deal (for the wrong reasons!).

Think about it from the perspective of the investment process inside the firm.

Understand the philosophy of the investors you’re speaking with. What do they value? How do they like to work? Talk to current portfolio companies and ask them questions about their experience.

Takeaways

Successful fundraising in 2025 requires a strategic approach that mirrors enterprise sales. Focus on three key elements: carefully selecting and qualifying your investor pipeline, building meaningful relationships well before you need capital, and maintaining strong momentum during your raise.

Remember that quality outweighs quantity in investor outreach, and understanding the internal workings of venture capital firms can significantly improve your chances of success. By treating investors as high-value customers, nurturing relationships through seeking advice, and running a focused, well-organised fundraising campaign, founders can maximise their chances of securing investment even in a more selective market.

The key is preparation: know your investors, understand their decision-making process, and make it easy for them to champion your company within their firm. With the right approach and execution, raising capital in 2025 is very achievable for companies that can demonstrate strong fundamentals and growth potential.

Connect with Barnaby, here.