How to attract unicorn investors for your startup

Leading founders think big – it’s pretty much their DNA. If they weren’t ambitious entrepreneurs reaching for the stars, they’d be happy to settle and work for someone else.

It’s important for startups to have that kind of mentality. They all need to aim high, and ideally build unicorn potential. But a big part of actually achieving that is working with investors with unicorn experience. Easier said than done, of course!

Where to start?

Enter the latest edition of The Midas List. Produced by Forbes and Truebridge Capital Partners, the list recognizes the world’s top 100 venture capitalists for the 19th time.

These are the people who have made investment plays and seen them go spectacularly well. People who have seen portfolio companies acquired for over $200 million or private valuations swell to $400 million or more. Calculated over the last five years, those who have been most successful on these measurables sit at the top of the list.

For the third straight edition, the man at the top is Neil Shen of Sequoia China. Shen has backed both Alibaba and TikTok owner ByteDance in the past. He’s one of a record 22 Chinese venture capitalists on the list.

So this is one list every startup founding team should be looking at. It tells them exactly how to ‘think big’ when it comes to investors.

Leading founders think big – it’s pretty much their DNA. If they weren’t ambitious entrepreneurs reaching for the stars, they’d be happy to settle and work for someone else.

It’s important for startups to have that kind of mentality. They all need to aim high, and ideally build unicorn potential. But a big part of actually achieving that is working with investors with unicorn experience. Easier said than done, of course!

To put an exact number on a startup’s valuation at any point in time, both founders and investors can try out the DealMatrix valuation software!

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Better think twice

Of course, it’s no secret that these elite venture capital investors are difficult people to get a meeting with. Every ambitious founder across the globe wants a piece of their time and a slice of their cash pie. But, as the saying goes, nothing ‘ventured’, nothing gained!

That said, it’s logical to take a calculated approach here. Cold-emailing everyone on that list has the odds stacked against it as a strategy. Instead, research for investors and maybe even startups who have a personal relation with the investor you aim for. Those people, might be near to you and they are more likely to have a reason to take notice of your project. Networks play a huge role for investors and they tend to stay within trusted cercles.

The experts of Dealmatrix and Venionaire Capital selected the 10 leading venture capital investors in Europe and wordwide for you, according to their rank in the Forbes European Midas List – Maybe you will find your “perfect-match” unicorn investor.

LIST: Top 10 European Venture Capital Investors

LIST: Top 10 International Venture Capital Investors

There’s a wealth of information you can use to find the most relevant investor:

  • Consider geography – venture capitalists still lean towards investing ‘at home’. If you’re in Belgium, your chances of success with the Chinese investors are slim. But if you’re in Beijing, they’re firmly on your radar.
  • Click into their profiles. Do any of them specialize in specific markets or technological niches?
  • If you’re a female founder, can you get one of the 11 female venture capitalists on your side?
  • Where did they go to school and what are their interests? Maybe there’s a small connection you can build upon.

Impact of Covid19

One thing to bear in mind as you look at this year’s list is, of course, the pandemic. The midas list is mostly a snapshot of how things looked in March 2020, when the world was still functioning normally. A lot has changed since then. Timing and a feel for the economic mood will be important in your dealings with VCs going forward. Keep an eye on European Venture Sentiment and make yourselves familiar with the overall market dynamics.

If you’re targeting European investors, it might also be worth looking into the effects of Brexit. Will London-based venture capitalists still be able to operate in Europe? That’s something to keep an eye on.

Getting the chance to pitch in front of any of these people will be a cause for celebration in itself. But it’s a dream worth chasing, because the network effects of a big investor taking an interest in you are well known. When a big name venture capitalist comes for a look, all the others will want to know why. So even if the star name doesn’t ultimately bite, your stock goes up.