Data desk
Round Success
Benchmarks
Based on data across thousands of raise processes tracked on Metal — success rates, time-to-close, and the process factors that separate closers from the rest.
Based on data tracked on Metal, 1 in 7 startups that start a raise process are able to successfully close a round.
Across thousands of data points, our platform observes a 14% success rate (across all sectors, stages and geographies over the past 24 months).
Our benchmark may skew slightly higher than the global average due to a platform selection bias into high-intent and data-driven founders. The below data breaks down the success rate across multiple dimensions to surface insights that are specific and actionable.
Success Rates by Stage and Sector
How close rates vary across stages and sectors
Across sectors, Healthcare and AI/ML lead on close rates — 23% and 21% respectively — while Consumer and B2B Software sit lower in the 11-13% range.
At Pre-seed, success rates are often the most modest, typically hovering around IO-15%. A lot of founders are raising in an experimental manner, and are not necessarily as committed to the raise as counterparts at Seed and Series A. The variance by sector is the widest here — Healthcare holds at 18.2% while B2B Software drops to 6.7%.
At Series A, success rates are often the highest, typically hovering around 20%. At Series A, there is a strong selection bias in play whereby founders that go out to raise are typically ones that meet the right traction and growth benchmarks. Healthcare and AI/ML reflect this most clearly, with close rates in the 40-50% range.
Time to Close
How long rounds take from start to term sheet signed
The median round takes 148 days to close from active fundraising to confirmed close.
Stage has a modest effect on time to close — Seed rounds take slightly longer at a median of 170 days, while Pre-Seed rounds close fastest at 135 days.
Sector drives more meaningful variation. AI/ML rounds close fastest, with a median Of 112 days. Consumer rounds take considerably longer at 211 days — nearly twice as long. For founders in those sectors, runway planning should be calibrated to sector-specific timelines.
Count of Investor Meetings
The biggest distinction between successful and unsuccessful raises
Across large data sets, the count of investor meetings remains the most distinctive factor across successful and unsuccessful raises.
Founders that close rounds successfully land a median of 57 meetings with investors on the path to close (while unsuccessful raises show a median of 14).
With unsuccessful rounds, the most typical pattern was one where founders never ran the full process.
Across all instances where founders conducted 30+ meetings within a 90-day period, 87% successfully closed rounds.
Platform research indicates that success rates are highest when two conditions are met: (1) Founders are consistently landing meetings with investors, (2) Conversion from 1st to 2nd calls remains healthy.
Across all the variables in this dataset, process discipline remains the most consistent differentiator.
