A ranked investor-type map
4-5 investor groups matched to your stage, check size, sector and region — prioritized as main focus, secondary and opportunistic, so you know where the first 20 hours go.
Tool task
Investor Pipeline Planner
Searching how to find investors usually returns two dead ends: generic listicles and paywalled databases. Most founders don't fail at pitching — they fail at aiming. Instead of scrolling a venture capital database blind and cold-emailing every fund on it, map which investor types actually match your stage, check size, sector and capital route, learn why the rest would waste your time, and get an outreach plan you can start today.
Stop guessing which investors to chase
Fill in your brand, stage, raise target and capital route — rough is fine. You get a ranked investor-type map, concrete candidate institutions to verify, contact paths, fund-type trade-offs and an outreach playbook you can run this week. One click copies the whole plan as Markdown to hand to your co-founder, advisor or CRM.
Free, no sign-up
How to find investors with this planner: what you get
Why they fit — and why they don't
Every group comes with case-specific fit reasons plus the rejection triggers and mandate mismatches that mean you should skip them. Fewer dead-end conversations.
The right venture capital database per group
Each group points to the venture capital database or startup investor directory where it actually lives — OpenVC, VC Sheet, Crunchbase, LinkedIn filters, IT桔子 and more — with search hints.
Candidate institutions and contact paths
For every priority direction, the result now drafts candidate institutions to verify, recent signals to check, contact routes, X/Twitter or LinkedIn search paths, and the outreach angle to use.
Fund types explained for your case
RMB vs USD structure, angels vs institutions, CVC strings attached, guidance-fund requirements — decoded against your actual brand instead of a generic glossary.
An outreach playbook
Ordered actions for this week: material prep, list building, warm-intro mapping, cold email structure and follow-up cadence — matched to whether you have intros or are starting cold.
Fund types in plain language
The capital world sorts into a few archetypes. Knowing which game each one plays is half of targeting.
RMB funds
Raise and invest in RMB, prefer China-registered structures, clearer paths to domestic exits. Often tied to LPs with policy or industry agendas — decisive if your market and revenue are in China.
USD funds
Invest via offshore structures (Cayman/BVI + VIE or ODI), target global markets and overseas listings. Fit if your users, revenue or team are international — but expect structure work before money moves.
Angels & angel syndicates
Individuals writing small, fast checks on founder conviction. The realistic first money at idea/prototype stage — usually reached through people, products and communities, not cold databases.
CVC / strategic investors
Corporate money with a strategic agenda: ecosystem, supply chain or product synergy. Can bring channels and credibility — and strings: exclusivity asks, information rights, slower process.
Government guidance funds
Policy-driven capital, usually via sub-funds, with localization expectations: registration, jobs or industry fit in the region. Cheap-looking money with real geographic commitments.
Accelerators & family offices
Accelerators trade small checks for structure, demo days and networks — great when you lack access. Family offices write flexible checks but are private and referral-driven by nature.
How the matching logic works
- Stage and check size first: a $500k raise doesn't belong at funds writing $5M checks, and revenue-stage companies waste time with idea-stage angels.
- Capital route second: your market, revenue currency and exit path decide RMB vs USD vs mixed — this cut alone removes half the map.
- Sector and thesis fit: investors buy into theses; the plan matches your tags against the investor types that actively look for them.
- Traction reality check: what you can prove today decides who takes the meeting — the plan is honest when your stage and target don't line up.
- Network-aware routing: with warm intros available the plan leads with mapping them; starting cold it leads with communities, content and structured cold outreach.
How to find venture capitalists and angels: outreach paths ranked by reply rate
- Warm intros beat everything: an introduction from someone the investor trusts multiplies reply rates — map second-degree connections before writing any cold email.
- Portfolio founders are the underrated path: founders an investor already backed can refer you in, and they answer DMs more often than partners do.
- Cold email works when it's specific: reference why THIS fund (thesis, portfolio, recent posts), pitch in 3 sentences, ask for 20 minutes — then follow up twice, spaced days apart.
- LinkedIn and X are for warming, not closing: engage with an investor's content before the ask so your name isn't cold when the email lands.
- Events and demo days compress trust-building — one good in-person conversation can replace weeks of email threads.
- Track everything in a simple pipeline: who, group, path, last touch, next action. Fundraising is a sales process, and untracked pipelines leak.
When to use this planner
- You're preparing a pre-seed, seed or Series A raise and don't know which investors to shortlist first.
- You're stuck between RMB funds, USD funds, angels and strategic money and need the trade-offs explained against your own case.
- You have a deck ready but no idea who to send it to — or how to reach them without spamming.
- You've been cold-emailing broadly with no replies and suspect a targeting problem, not a pitch problem.
- You want a structured plan to hand your co-founder or advisor before spending money on databases or an FA.
What this tool won't pretend to do
- It is not a live investor database: it gives you candidate institutions, contact paths and verification searches, but you still verify the actual data before outreach.
- It never presents specific funds or partners as vetted matches — every institution target is a lead to check, not a guaranteed fit.
- It does not promise replies, meetings or funding probability; no honest tool can.
- It is not legal, tax or structuring advice — RMB/USD structure decisions ultimately need professional counsel.
- If your inputs are too thin to plan against, the report says what's missing instead of inventing a story.
FAQ
Will it give me actual institutions and contact paths?
Yes, but as candidate leads to verify. The result includes institution names, why each may fit, recent signals to check, official/contact-page routes, LinkedIn or X/Twitter search paths, portfolio-founder referral angles and copy-paste verification searches. It does not claim those contacts are current or guaranteed to reply.
How do I choose between RMB and USD funds?
The short version: where are your market, revenue currency and exit? China-market, RMB-revenue businesses usually route RMB; global products with overseas users lean USD (with offshore structure work). The report makes this call explicitly for your case and explains the structural consequences — and flags when you should keep both routes open.
How do I find investors when I have no connections?
Cold start is normal — the plan routes around it. Priorities shift toward angels and accelerators reachable through products and communities, portfolio-founder referrals, and specific cold-email structure: why this fund, three sentences, one small ask, two follow-ups. Tell the form you're starting cold and the playbook adapts.
How do I find angel investors specifically?
Angels rarely sit in databases waiting for cold email — they invest through people and products. The highest-yield places: founder communities and accelerator demo days, AngelList and OpenVC angel filters, operators at companies your product serves, and founders who recently exited in your sector. If angels rank high in your plan, the playbook lists which of these to work first.
How do I find venture capitalists, not just angels?
How to get venture capital starts with qualifying yourself honestly: most VC funds need a scalable market, evidence of repeatable growth and a check size that fits their fund math. The report tells you whether VC firms belong in your current plan at all — and if yes, which thesis-matched subset to filter for in OpenVC, VC Sheet or Crunchbase, instead of the whole list of vc firms.
Can this replace an FA or fundraising advisor?
For early rounds it replaces the first thing you'd pay them for: knowing who to target and how to reach out. It doesn't negotiate terms, run your process, or make introductions. Copy the plan as Markdown to decide whether you still need an FA at all — or to brief one efficiently.
What if I'm not sure about my stage or capital route?
Pick "not sure" — that's what it's for. The report reads your traction and raise target, makes the stage and route call for you with reasoning, and tells you when your target amount doesn't match what you can currently prove.
Is my brand information stored or shared?
Your inputs are sent to the model once to generate this report and are not published anywhere. Still, avoid pasting unreleased financials or secrets you wouldn't put in a first email to an investor.
Once your targeting plan is ready, tighten your one-liner and brand story before the first outreach — Tomako's naming and slogan tools cover that next step.