Fundraising is one of the most critical aspects of a startup’s journey, yet it’s also one of the most time-consuming and complex processes founders face. Between preparing pitch decks, finding the right investors, managing communications, and tracking engagement, things can quickly get overwhelming. Luckily, the right tools can simplify your fundraising process, save you time, and help you stay organised.
Here’s a list of top tools that every founder should consider to streamline fundraising in 2025:
1. Crunchbase – Finding Your Perfect Match in the Investor World
Imagine you’re building a healthtech startup—why waste time pitching to investors focused on fintech? Crunchbase helps you understand who’s out there and what they’re looking for. It’s a treasure trove of data on venture capitalists, angel investors, and firms actively funding startups across the globe. You can filter by location, sector, and funding stage, ensuring you target the right investors for your startup.
Crunchbase ensures you’re speaking to investors who care about what you’re building, making your outreach more effective and less frustrating.
2. Pitchwise – Mastering the Art of Pitching with Insights
Fundraising is not just about putting your deck in front of investors—it’s about knowing how they engage with it. With Pitchwise, you get more than just a sharing tool; you gain valuable insights on investor behavior. Pitchwise allows founders to:
- Share pitch decks securely with advanced sharing configurations.
- Track who views their deck, how long they engage, and which sections attract the most attention.
- Keep the same link even when updating decks, ensuring a seamless investor experience.
- Generate new investor leads every time the deck is reshared.
Think of Pitchwise as your fundraising radar—it helps you spot what’s working and what’s not.
3. Africa: The Big Deal – Data-Driven Insights on African Funding
For African founders, understanding regional funding trends is critical. Africa: The Big Deal provides in-depth data on venture funding activity across the continent, breaking it down by sector, region, and investor type.
As a founder, you can use this platform to identify emerging opportunities, understand market dynamics, and tailor your approach to align with investor priorities. Whether you’re targeting fintech investors in Nigeria or climate tech backers in East Africa, this resource provides actionable insights.
4. Open VC – Democratizing Investor Access
Open VC is another free, open-source platform that provides access to hundreds of investor profiles, complete with their preferences, stages, and regions of focus.
Imagine having a centralized place to find investors actively looking to fund startups like yours. Whether you’re in healthtech, fintech, or climate tech, Open VC allows you to filter through the noise and identify the best matches for your business.
4. LinkedIn Sales Navigator – Building Relationships, Not Just Leads
LinkedIn Sales Navigator helps you find and nurture the investor connections you need. With advanced search filters, you can pinpoint investors who are likely to be interested in your startup.
Beyond cold outreach, LinkedIn is also great for building your personal brand. Share your startup’s milestones, engage with investor content, and show thought leadership. Over time, this builds credibility, making investors more likely to take your pitch seriously.
5. Base Templates – Your Fundraising Blueprint
Starting from scratch can be daunting, especially when creating a pitch deck. That’s where Base Templates comes in. This platform provides easy-to-customize templates for pitch decks, term sheets, and other essential fundraising documents.
For instance, you can use Base Templates’ Series A pitch deck as a foundation, ensuring that you cover all critical areas investors expect. It saves time while maintaining a professional and polished appearance, giving you a solid head start.
6. Foundersuite – Stay Organized, Raise Faster
Managing multiple investor conversations can quickly become overwhelming. Foundersuite is a CRM designed specifically for fundraising, helping you stay on top of your outreach efforts. You can log every interaction, track your progress with potential backers, and set reminders for follow-ups to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Foundersuite also offers a library of templates for investor updates, pitch emails, and term sheets, making it easier to communicate professionally and effectively. By keeping everything in one place, Foundersuite streamlines your fundraising process, allowing you to focus on building relationships and closing deals.
7. Carta—Simplifying Cap Table Management
As you raise funds, keeping track of who owns what in your company becomes critical. Carta simplifies cap table management by automating the process and keeping everything organised. No more messy spreadsheets or manual updates—it’s all handled in one clean interface.
When you’re negotiating with investors, having an up-to-date cap table at your fingertips is invaluable. It shows you’re professional and on top of your game, which builds trust and speeds up decision-making.
Extra Tool: Pitchwise Resources
Building a robust fundraising pipeline requires more than just pitching to investors—you need the right tools to stay organised, communicate effectively, and present your business in the best possible light. That’s where Pitchwise Resources become invaluable.
From curated investor lists (Series A investors, early-stage VCs, fintech investors, development funders and more) to professionally designed pitch deck templates, contract templates and other tools, Pitchwise Resources offers essential resources to help founders optimise their fundraising journey.