A funding announcement press launch will aid you amplify one of many nice milestones in constructing your organization.
Elevating cash is a giant deal for rising tech corporations. As soon as your traders have signed their paperwork and the funds have been wired, it’s time to let the world know that you just’ve secured new funding.
Writing a press launch is easy, nevertheless it’s merely the place to begin for a profitable marketing campaign. An efficient funding announcement requires loads of planning and coordination.
In the US alone, 4,720 corporations raised cash in Q1 of 2024, in accordance with York IE Gasoline. That’s lots of funding information floating round on the web.
What’s one of the best ways to chop by way of this noise? At York IE, we assist our shoppers reply this query on a regular basis. Our group has helped many purchasers — together with Keep Ai and Lytica — efficiently announce their funding and construct momentum.
Let’s dive into one of the best ways to put in writing a funding announcement press launch and the way to amplify the information.
Should you’re seeking to kickstart your announcement, you can even obtain our free funding announcement template.
3 Necessary Facets of a Startup Funding Press Launch
Profitable fundraising could be a watershed second to your firm. It could possibly entice media consideration, new investor curiosity and, most significantly, new clients.
For this reason it’s so necessary to nail your announcement. Listed below are the three most necessary facets of a profitable funding press launch:
Investor and Companion Relations
A funding announcement must be a collaborative train.
You could possibly merely write your personal press launch, amplify it in your firm’s social media channels, and name it a day. However you’re solely prone to generate a small quantity of buzz.
As a substitute, you must loop in your traders and companions at each stage: setting your announcement date, drafting your preliminary funding press launch, sharing the information on social media, and so on. This will provide you with entry to a wider viewers and generate potential connections to media members and different trade influencers or trusted voices.
Media Technique
A funding announcement is an opportunity to achieve third-party validation from a media outlet. Along with saying the information by yourself channels, you must take the chance to pitch journalists that may function your organization on their web site or of their e-newsletter.
Regardless of what you’ve heard, a function in Forbes or TechCrunch isn’t the usual for a profitable funding announcement. Positive, it’s good to have your organization’s identify underneath the brilliant lights. However generally, a point out in a distinct segment trade publication will attain your audience in a extra significant manner.
With 1000’s of fundraising occasions every quarter, reporters would possibly move in your information. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to nonetheless construct relationships with publications for the longer term.
Repurposing and Distribution
A funding announcement press launch is solely a car to your information. It ought to solely be the beginning of your promotional efforts.
That is the place our drumbeat advertising philosophy comes into play. Your organization ought to take the core messages of your funding press launch and repurpose them throughout completely different channels.
The varieties of advertising collateral we would produce with considered one of our shoppers throughout a fundraising occasion embody:
- A press launch
- A founder’s story weblog that profiles the corporate and founder’s journey in direction of the spherical
- A thought management article to pitch to a third-party media outlet
- Graphics and duplicate to your firm’s social media accounts
- Graphics and duplicate for traders and staff to share on their private accounts
- An electronic mail announcement to blast out to your community
Elevating cash is a giant deal. Your announcement course of ought to mirror that!
How Do You Write a Funding Press Launch?
To jot down a funding press launch, collaborate together with your management group and traders to establish the core messages of the discharge — after which collect supporting proof within the type of quotes and statistics. Setting inside deadlines will assist everybody keep accountable to your goal launch date.
Beneath, we’ve outlined seven key steps within the funding announcement press launch course of. We even have a information to writing a press launch for those who’re in search of a high-level overview.
1. Set an announcement date.
Set up your launch date earlier than you start drafting your funding press launch. This may assist hold the method organized whereas holding your group accountable. Keep in mind to think about potential delays by including buffers to your timeline. Pulling collectively your advertising supplies would possibly take just a few weeks, so make sure to give your self loads of time.
Will you announce your information earlier than attending a convention? Does your announcement have relevance to a vacation or seasonal occasion? Is there different trade information you’ll be able to latch onto?
Contemplate all of those angles earlier than setting your date. When you do, guarantee that all stakeholders are aligned.
2. Set up your organization boilerplate.
In case your announcement goes nicely, new individuals will begin studying about your organization. That’s why it’s so necessary to have clear, constant messaging earlier than your startup funding press launch goes reside.
We at all times suggest conducting a messaging hierarchy train together with your government group. This may aid you re-establish the core facets of your message: who’re you, what you do, the way you do it and who you do it for. You don’t must reinvent your self; simply be certain your wording is present and captures your model.
These components will make up your boilerplate, which is the paragraph that seems underneath the “About Firm X” part on the finish of a press launch.
3. Outline your dream headline and key takeaways.
Earlier than you write your launch, it’s necessary to ascertain what you’re making an attempt to say. In different phrases, you’re answering the query, “so what?” Why ought to your audience care about your new funding?
Let’s examine two completely different headlines:
Headline A: “Firm X raises $5 million Sequence A so as to add new options to its automotive dealership customer support platform”
Headline B: “Firm X raises $5 million in Sequence A funding to assist automotive dealerships ship higher customer support.”
What do you discover? Whereas Headline A focuses on the funding, Headline B focuses on the affect of the announcement.
A funding announcement press launch isn’t about patting your self on the again. It’s about exhibiting your viewers (potential traders, clients and companions) the way you’re executing your imaginative and prescient.
For key takeaways, take into account how this funding spherical suits into your organization’s total development technique. Are there particular initiatives, product growth or expansions that the funding will help?
4. Finalize your funding spherical particulars.
Ensure you have solutions to the next questions:
- What stage of funding are you saying?
- How a lot did your organization increase?
- Which traders participated within the spherical? Who led? Is anybody becoming a member of the board?
These are desk stakes for any funding announcement.
5. Collect key metrics and milestones.
Along with your funding, you can even share latest highlights to indicate your organization’s momentum. Contemplate particular development metrics, product launches, notable buyer additions, awards, expansions of your group, and so on.
6. Supply quotes from key stakeholders.
A compelling startup funding press launch normally contains a number of quotes. It is best to at all times embody a quote out of your founder or CEO that highlights their distinctive experience and explains how the information aligns with the corporate’s imaginative and prescient.
You must also embody quotes out of your traders and key clients for added validation. We suggest drafting a quote on behalf of those stakeholders as a place to begin and sharing it with them earlier than together with it within the launch. This provides them one thing to work from, whereas nonetheless providing flexibility to tweak or personalize the quote.
7. Coordinate essential approvals.
Approvals can usually be the longest a part of the announcement course of. However you’ll be able to’t announce funding with out first reaching sign-off from everybody concerned within the information: traders who participated within the spherical, companions who have been quoted and, in fact, your inside leaders.
Your funding announcement press launch must be absolutely accepted by all events nicely forward of your launch date. This provides you sufficient time to pitch media shops (extra on that shortly) with a completely accepted launch for his or her preview. Many reporters gained’t take into account that includes your organization if they’ll’t take a look at the press launch earlier than.
How Do You Promote a Funding Announcement?
To advertise a funding announcement, observe these steps:
- Create graphics and promotional supplies
- Coordinate with key traders and stakeholders
- Construct your media record
- Conduct focused media outreach
- Ship the discharge over the wire
- Promote the announcement on owned channels
- Execute an intensive messaging audit
1. Create graphics and promotional supplies.
We suggest accompanying your announcement with a graphic. This could possibly be a easy social card that reads “Firm X raises $5 million” together with your brand or an image of your government group. These graphics can be utilized on social media or as a featured picture to your press launch. (Take a look at the instance above that we created for our portfolio firm, PeakMetrics).
In case you have time, you can even make customized graphics to your traders and companions to share on announcement day. Easy and clear graphics will do wonders!
2. Coordinate with traders and key stakeholders.
Hold your companions within the loop on announcement time and any anticipated media protection. Contemplate writing social copy to your traders and key stakeholders; this may make them extra prone to put up on announcement day.
Your announcement will land significantly better for those who’ve acquired a number of individuals prepared to love and share proper when the information drops.
3. Construct your media record.
Establish your key media targets. Search for shops that cowl your trade, in addition to journalists that cowl your discipline for his or her publication.
Converse together with your government group. Have they got current relationships with reporters? What about publications they need to be featured in? Keep in mind to set sensible expectations for any public relations outreach.
When your information goes reside, your government group would possibly obtain media requests. Do some prep work earlier than to ascertain key speaking factors, in addition to matters to keep away from. Your execs will really feel way more snug after some preparation, and also you’ll really feel higher concerning the messages they’re sharing.
4. Conduct focused media outreach.
The primary 4 steps centered principally in your inside group. Now it’s time to assume externally.
It is best to proactively pitch your finalized funding announcement press launch to media shops earlier than it goes reside on the wire. We suggest beginning this course of two weeks previous to launch.
Generally, you’ll share your information underneath embargo or as an unique:
- Beneath Embargo: Provide the information to a reporter earlier than the information goes public, with a mutual settlement to carry off on protection till the announcement date. This provides the outlet time to overview your press launch, interview sources and put together tales previous to the launch date. Needless to say a reporter should comply with the stipulations of the embargo.
- Unique: Grant unique entry and an early reporting alternative to a single information outlet. The publication is incentivized to cowl your story, however this additionally limits your press choices to a single occasion.
5. Ship the discharge over the wire.
Many corporations pay to put up their releases to a newswire, which is a feed of releases from corporations that journalists and media shops can simply entry. At York IE, we suggest our shoppers use ACCESSWIRE, because it affords broad media publicity with no hefty price ticket.
Be sure you prep your funding press launch on the wire at the very least just a few days prematurely, so you’ll be able to see what it seems like in preview kind. Some wire providers can help you embody a featured picture, which is the place your graphics come in useful.
6. Promote the announcement on owned channels
Selling your announcement contains repurposing the discharge on just a few completely different channels:
Firm Web site
The funding information ought to reside in your firm’s web site. You may put up the press launch as-is or write a brief put up that summarizes the information and provides a brand new spin. Contemplate including a callout banner to pin the information to your web site homepage.
One in all our favourite ways is writing a founder’s story weblog put up that accompanies the press launch. This put up, from the angle of your founder(s), will point out the fundraising information. It’ll additionally give attention to the genesis of the enterprise: the issue you’re fixing, the early days of the corporate and some other private anecdotes.
Having follow-on content material will aid you keep momentum together with your viewers after capturing their consideration with the primary announcement.
Social Media
Plan to share your information on all your firm accounts: LinkedIn, X, Fb, and so on. However don’t cease at your organization accounts! As I’ve alluded to, an important announcement is a product of collaboration.Ask staff to share the information on their private accounts. Encourage traders, companions and key clients to share. For every of those events, write up some brief pattern copy (and take into account making a graphic) to make their job simpler.
Electronic mail and E-newsletter
Don’t overlook to interact your community over electronic mail, too! We work with shoppers to put in writing up a brief electronic mail saying (and linking to) the information. This may be shared together with your clients, traders, companions, family and friends, and so on. In case you have an electronic mail e-newsletter, make sure to function your funding entrance and heart within the subsequent version.
7. Execute an intensive messaging audit.
As your announcement features steam, your organization profiles will garner extra views. Return by way of all your public accounts to make sure that your boilerplate and messaging are constant and updated.
Contemplate asking staff to replace your organization description on their private profiles, if relevant.
Fundraising information entails lots of transferring components. However efficiently issuing and selling your funding announcement press launch could be a game-changer for growing new relationships with traders, reporters and potential clients.
Elevating cash is a large accomplishment. Take advantage of this milestone second!