The vast majority of startups fail. We’re here to change that with our new Mercury Raise platform.
Three years ago, we introduced Mercury Raise as a program to help founders raise their seed or Series A rounds. After working with thousands of founders, we began to notice that they were consistently encountering roadblocks centered around three distinct themes: raising money, finding community, and getting expert guidance.
Of course, it’s normal for a startup to deal with these particular challenges — they’re part and parcel of the startup journey. But when you put these roadblocks into perspective, they’re not just growing pains — they can actually determine whether or not a startup succeeds.
Over the past few years and based on feedback from customers and Raise participants, we’ve grown to realize that our Raise program could not only better help founders in the face of these widespread challenges, but that it could also evolve to meet the needs of more founders. That’s why we’re investing in the next evolution of Mercury Raise by building a platform for founder success that can scale from helping hundreds of founders per year to thousands.
What does that look like? Today, we announced that we’ve transformed Mercury Raise from a seasonal, cohort-based program into an always-available platform. This platform features a new suite of tools, programs, and networks built specifically to help founders everywhere — across stages and industries — to overcome common roadblocks.
Highlights of the Mercury Raise platform
For raising money
Founders can submit their pitch through Investor Connect and we’ll connect them to a pool of hundreds of investors actively looking to fund companies like theirs. The tool is completely free and features a data-powered sorting process that analyzes investor criteria such as industry, business model, location, and stage in order to best connect investors to relevant startups.
For finding community
Our community of vetted founders gives members access to networking via founder-only Slack channels, as well as moderated discussions, async AMAs with special guest experts, a Mercury-team curated news feed, and AI-powered community member intros. These resources are designed to help founders feel supported in what can be a lonely experience — but in a way that complements their hectic schedules.
For expert advice
Get the answers you can’t just search for on Google with Expert Sessions: live, interactive office hours and workshops hosted by subject matter experts and top VCs. These sessions have a capped attendee pool to facilitate relevant discussion, but their themes and takeaways are also shared with the broader Mercury Raise community.
We’ve always aspired to give founders what our co-founder Immad Akhund wishes he’d had when he started out as an entrepreneur. First, banking engineered for startups, but second: the connections, tools, and insider knowledge to make building a startup smoother and less lonely. With this evolution of Mercury Raise, we’re aiming to better support all founders in these specific and crucial ways as they set out to beat the odds. And as time passes, we’ll continue actively creating additional resources, tools, and programs in our quest to help more than just 10% of startups succeed.
To learn more about Mercury Raise and sign up for platform updates, click here.
Mallory Contois is the head of community at Mercury