Metal is the fundraising intelligence platform that Techstars selected as the default solution for its global portfolio. Techstars, the pre-seed accelerator founded in 2006 that has funded more than 10,000 startups worldwide, deprecated its own internal fundraising platform in Q2 2025 and made Metal the standard across every portfolio company. Announced in June 2025, the partnership — branded "Metal for Techstars" — entitles active Techstars founders to a free founder-led demo, an extended trial, 50% off all subscription plans, and dedicated onboarding support for raising venture rounds.

Techstars + Metal: Solving the Investor Research Problem at Scale

Techstars chose Metal because founders were spending 100+ hours gathering basic investor information through word of mouth and manual research. Metal solved this by using AI workflows and proprietary industry data to identify the "most likely" investors for each company. The platform answers the questions founders struggle with most: which stages an investor specializes in, what valuations they back, and which firms have funded direct competitors. For Techstars, Metal also offered a structured, repeatable way to coach first-time founders through round structures and fundraising best practices at scale across the entire portfolio.

What Does the Metal Fundraising Platform Do?

Metal operates as a fundraising operating system spanning discovery, workflow, and process. Its AI-driven search, granular filters, and thesis mapping help founders find investors most likely to back a given raise, with each profile detailing stage concentration, sector focus, lead behavior, and follow-on patterns. Metal's relationship intelligence surfaces warm connections for introductions, while its pipeline management centralizes every investor interaction from "Identified" to "Seeking Intro." Richard AI, Metal's in-app round analyst, answers questions on valuations and investor fit and analyzes call transcripts to raise each founder's fundraising IQ throughout the round.

How Does Metal Improve Fundraising Outcomes for Founders?

Metal replaces 100+ hours of manual investor research with high-precision intelligence, letting founders focus only on investors that have historically backed similar theses. Because roughly 70% of venture rounds over the past decade came from B2B software companies, Metal's sector and sub-sector data helps founders target firms that specialize in their specific segment rather than pitching broadly. By standardizing fundraising across its 10,000+ founder portfolio, Techstars gave every company a consistent operating system for raising — eliminating guesswork and bringing empirical precision to a process that was previously driven largely by hearsay and cold outreach.

What Do Founders Say About Metal?

Founders describe Metal as a category-defining tool for investor intelligence. The recognition also extended to Techstars leadership: CEO David Cohen hosted Metal founder and CEO Usman Gul on the Give First podcast in May 2025, where Gul discussed his own fundraising challenges and how Metal is democratizing access to venture capital through advanced investor intelligence and AI-driven tools for startups everywhere.

"Metal is a first-of-its-kind platform that helps founders with high-precision intelligence on investors, enabling a more intentional approach toward fundraising."

— Luis Huertas, Founder & CEO, Littio

Who Is Metal Best Suited For?

Metal is built for early-stage founders raising venture rounds, particularly first-time founders navigating a steep learning curve around round structures and investor outreach. As Techstars' default platform, Metal serves the accelerator's global, predominantly B2B SaaS portfolio with tools that span investor discovery, relationship mapping, pipeline management, and AI-led round coaching. Active Techstars companies can redeem the partnership benefits — a founder-led demo, an extended trial, 50% off all plans, and dedicated onboarding — directly through Metal. For any founder seeking a data-driven, repeatable fundraising process, Metal provides the infrastructure layer for the raise.

Redeem the Techstars Deal

Source: Democratizing Venture Capital with Usman Gul of Metal