Seed
Kliq Uses Metal to Identify Access Points
“Metal provides powerful functionalities to identify who within your network can introduce you to a given investor. The platform ingests my network data from Gmail and LinkedIn. And then identifies which of my connections are VC-backed founders or investors, and who they know based on their prior work in raising capital or investing in companies.”
Ben Camara
Founder/CEO
Backed by Serena Ventures, KLIQ is building an AI driven business software for entrepreneurs whose product is their content. They provide the content commerce platform to monetize directly from their audience.
The Challenge
What founders struggle with before Metal
As a startup that has previously raised from notable institutional investors, and as someone that otherwise has a vast network, the main challenge for Ben was around identifying the right people in his network that could introduce him to target investors.
Although Ben had access to an extensive network of founders, operators, and investors, the challenge was understanding how those relationships connected to prospective investors. Without clear visibility into these pathways, many valuable introduction opportunities remained hidden.
Intro Pathways via Metal
How Metal surfaces the right investors
With Metal, Ben was able to plug in his network by connecting his Gmail and LinkedIn accounts. He was able to add in the names of his existing investors, as well as manually provide names of VC-backed founders that he knew well that weren’t necessarily identified via other data sources.
Metal is able to identify which of Ben’s connections are VC-backed founders and/or investors.
With Metal, Ben was able to plug in his network by connecting his Gmail and LinkedIn accounts. He was able to add in the names of his existing investors, as well as manually provide names of VC-backed founders that he knew well that weren’t necessarily identified via other data sources.
For VC-backed founders, Metal knows which investors they have previously raised capital from. For investors, the platform has insight on which companies they have invested in, and which other investors those companies have raised from.
Based on the above, Metal is able to identify which of Ben’s connections can introduce him to a given investor. With this insight, Ben is now able to focus his time on actually reaching out to the right folks and getting introductions (as opposed to spending hours researching potential intro paths).
Impact on the Fundraising Process
How targeting the right investors changes outcomes
With Metal, users can build a replicable process to get introductions, enhancing their investor relations and enabling them to move quickly through the round while building significant momentum in the process.
Metal transformed hidden relationships into actionable introduction pathways, allowing Ben to immediately identify who in his network could connect him to the right investors.
The ability to consistently access additional investors also breeds confidence and creates optionality. There is a very direct causality between the number of investor meetings and the probability of a successful close.
Executive Summary
Key takeaways from KLIQ's use of Metal
KLIQ used Metal's network intelligence to uncover hidden introduction pathways within its existing network. By mapping relationships across founders, investors, and portfolio companies, the team was able to prioritize warm introductions, reduce manual research, and approach fundraising with greater confidence.
01
Building a process around getting introduction creates optionality and breeds confidence
02
Each additional investor meeting directly improves the probability of closing
03
Automating the research part via software creates bandwidth to actually line up investor meetings
