How do I find investors who actually invest in my space?
Short answer
Pull each fund's last 30 checks. That's their real thesis. Filter to ones that match your sector, stage, and check size. Throw out anyone who hasn't deployed in 12+ months. What's left is your list. Stated thesis is marketing. Observed thesis is signal.
VC websites lie by omission.
"We invest in great founders across every sector." "Sector-agnostic, stage-agnostic." "Generalist by design."
This is marketing. Funds publish broad mandates because they don't want to filter great founders out at the door. The problem: founders read those pages and assume the fund is open. The check data says otherwise.
Stated thesis is what they say. Observed thesis is what they fund. When the two disagree — and they usually do — observed wins. Cap tables don't lie.
The four filters that matter
Run your raise through these in order. If a fund fails any of them, it's off the list.
1. Active in the last 12-18 months
Most VC websites haven't been updated in a year. Funds wind down, pause between vintages, or quietly stop deploying — and never tell you.
Cleanest signal: last SEC Form D filing. Every priced round files one within 15 days. If the fund's most recent filing is 6+ months old, they're slowing. 12+ months, they're paused. 18+ months, they're done. We cover how to check this fund-by-fund in Who is actually writing checks right now.
The "we'd love to invest in you" partner at a fund that hasn't written a check in 18 months is selling you nothing.
2. Observed sector fit, not stated
Pull the fund's last 30 portfolio additions. What sector do they cluster in? If your company doesn't look like 5 of them, you're a stretch — no matter what their site claims.
The fund that says "we invest in everything" and whose last 30 checks are all consumer marketplaces is a consumer marketplace fund. Treat them that way.
3. Check size band
Funds have a sweet spot, not a stated range. A fund that says "$250K-$5M" probably writes 80% of checks in a narrower band — usually around their median. Find the median of their last 10 rounds. Be within 2x of it.
You're raising $200K, their median is $1.5M? You're below their reaction threshold. Move on.
4. Geographic fit (the one they lie about most)
"We're global" on a VC website means "we're North America with a few exceptions." Check the founding team locations on recent portfolio companies. That's the real geographic range.
Same for operational fit: solo vs cofounder, technical vs non-technical, first-time vs repeat. Funds say they're open. The portfolio says what they actually back.
The shortcut
The above is 6-8 hours of manual work to build a list of 50 well-filtered candidates. We did it for you.
We index 17,000+ investors. We've classified 4,331 of them against a 5-dimensional ontology — industry, modality, technology, audience, business model. 892 have observed thesis pulled from real check data, not what they claim on their site.
You answer a 5-minute intake. raise(fn) returns a ranked list of investors whose actual check behavior matches your raise.
What to skip
- The famous funds at pre-seed. Sequoia, a16z, Founders Fund. They see thousands of pre-seed deals, write almost none, and never lead at that stage. Bad odds. Save them for if you have a warm intro. Before you open any conversations, run yourself through the Raise Readiness Framework — premature outreach burns the best investors first.
- Curated "best AI investors" lists. They were curated for a different cycle. Most of those funds aren't deploying right now.
- Geographic filtering first. Pitching "investors in my city" before "investors in my sector" is local-optimum thinking. Sector fit at global beats geographic fit at local.
- The 200-name spray-and-pray list. If it's not filtered to ~50 well-fitting candidates, you'll burn the best investors first while you're still figuring out your pitch.
FAQ
What's the difference between stated and observed thesis?
Stated is what the fund publishes. Observed is what they fund. Cap tables don't lie.
How many investors should be on my list?
50-80 well-filtered. Less than 30, you'll run out. More than 100, you can't run quality conversations in parallel.
Should I look at partners or funds?
Fund first to filter. Partner second to pitch. A good fund with the wrong partner for your space is a pass.
How do I know if a fund is active?
SEC Form D filing in the last 6 months. Or a publicly reported round. If neither, treat as cold.
What if there are only 5 obvious investors in my niche?
You're looking at stated thesis only. Expand the search to observed — funds that have written 3+ checks into your space without advertising it. The data is wider than the marketing.
Related research
Who is actually writing checks right now?
Half the VCs on your list aren't deploying. Their websites haven't caught up. Here's how to tell who's actually writing checks in 2026 versus who's quietly paused — in 30 seconds per fund.
How do I write a cold email to a VC that actually works?
Skip the personalization. VCs pattern-match on the deal, not on whether you complimented their portfolio. Here's what actually moves the reply rate: subject line, four sentences, one specific ask, one-page brief.
Am I ready to raise — or should I wait?
Most founders raise too early because waiting feels worse. Some wait too long because they want one more quarter of metrics. Here's the Raise Readiness Framework: six signals that tell you which mistake you're about to make.
Open raise(fn) — get matched with investors who fund your space.
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