You Can Raise VC in the Summer Despite the Myth
You Can Raise VC in the Summer Despite the Myth
Author:
Peter Walker
Published date:
July 27, 2025
VCs do not all decamp to Lake Como in July—most emerging managers especially are fully active during summer, and deals get signed at a solid pace throughout...
Founders - you can raise VC in the summer, but kicking off a new fundraise in the next few weeks is...not great.
I know the prevailing wisdom is VCs shut up shop during July / August and all decamp to their villas on Lake Como.
But that's just not true! Most VCs (in particular your favorite emerging managers) are full go during the summer. We appreciate their work :)
Notes on the data:
- Date is reflective of when the deal is 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱. Which means most of the deals in June, for instance, did not begin life in June. Do your prep work early!
- I'm not sure I would kick off a new fundraise with a bunch of cold emails in the next couple of weeks. But if you're already raising, don't just turn it off.
- BTW - run an actual fundraising process. Don't just take scattershot meetings. Your calendar during the raise should be jammed with specific, well-organized meetings in a particular order. Poor planning kills many a fundraise.
- I'm not sure if anyone has good data on how long an active fundraising process takes these days. I used to hear 2-3 months, now I'm hearing longer for many and much shorter for a special few.
Fundraise into momentum, pure and simple. If you can time that momentum, start September 1st, even better.
Good luck out there!
Author: Peter Walker
Peter Walker runs the Insights team at Carta, focused on discovering key data and narratives across the private capital ecosystem. In a former life, he was a marketing executive for a media analytics startup and led the data visualization team at the Covid Tracking Project.