Odys Aviation used Metal to raise $30m+ across multiple rounds
$38.5M
Total raised
Odys Aviation builds hybrid-electric aircraft and power systems for long-range, runway-independent missions.
Problem Statement
With an ambition to transform the aviation industry, James started Odys Aviation as one of the pioneers of VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing). Backed by YCombinator and other top-tier brand-name firms, James had an incredible network. What he lacked was a structural understanding of how to capitalize on his existing network to open the door to the investors he wanted to reach for his ongoing and upcoming financing rounds.
Without the right visibility, identifying effective warm-intros became manual and opaque. James was super organized with spreadsheets, but without the right industry data, he ultimately relied on a manual and sub-optimal process to identify who within his network could make introductions at which firms.
Introducing Relationship Intelligence
With Metal’s relationship intelligence layer, James could immediately see how his founder network interfaced with the investors he wanted to connect with.
One particularly useful feature was around the surfacing of founders jointly backed by both an existing Odys investor and a potential target investor, enabling James to understand which portfolio companies of his existing investors could help create access to his target investors.
By flagging these shared portfolio founders as high-value into-pathways, Metal showed James precisely which investors in his network could ultimately lead to an effective intro to other potential investors, replacing manual relationship mapping with a repeatable workflow.
Additionally, by importing his network data into Metal, James was able to see how his founder friends mapped against his target investors, automatically surfacing which of his connections had previously raised from specific firms.
Outcome
With Metal mapping the strongest paths to target investors, James approached each investor through a trusted path. That translated into strong calendar density (while the trust and credibility carried through warm introductions helped conversations progress faster).
With the above capabilities, James implemented an incredibly efficient and repeatable process that ultimately led to a $30m+ raise over multiple rounds.
"Metal provides powerful functionalities to identify potential warm intros to target investors within my network. The platform ingests my network data from Existing Investors, Gmail, and LinkedIn, and then shows high-context intro pathways."
— James Dorris
Founder & CEO, Odys Aviation
