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By design, Autopilot spends the most amount of time and bandwidth to identify the “most likely” investors. Across large data sets, Metal has observed this specific part of the process to be the highest leverage activity in a raise process.
Metal’s investor search capabilities combine high-precision filters with AI-powered natural language search, creating two complementary ways to build a targeted list from 30,000+ active investors.
Build a custom search query using precision filters across stage, sector, geography, check size and more.
Natural Language Search
Use natural language to describe your ideal investor profile and let Metal’s AI put in the right filters.
For most users, starting with natural language search is the right choice. For power users looking for customisation, setting the search criteria themselves can be a useful starting point.
Filter by investor category: Accelerator, Angel, Corporate VC, Family Office, Private Equity, Venture Capital Firm, or Other. Use this to exclude investor types that structurally don’t fit your raise — angels don’t lead $8M rounds, and corporate VCs carry strategic constraints most early-stage founders don’t want.
Filter by the country or city where an investor firm is headquartered. Distinct from geography filters (which track where investors deploy capital) — HQs tells you where the partner you’ll meet with is actually based.
Filters by the percentage of an investor’s portfolio concentrated in a specific funding stage. A high Stage Specialists score means they have deployed the majority of their capital into that stage — not just participated occasionally.
Stage is the single most important filter. An investor who leads Series B rounds is not a relevant target for a pre-seed raise regardless of sector fit. Apply this filter first, before any others.
Filters by the percentage of an investor’s deals in a specific continent. Use this to find investors with genuine geographic conviction — not just one opportunistic deal in a region.
Filters by the minimum number of investments an investor has made in a specific country. More precise than continent-level filtering — useful when you need investors who actively operate in a specific market (e.g., Germany, UK, Brazil) rather than just occasionally backing companies there.
Use Continent Focus to build a broad geographic shortlist, then layer Country Focus to identify investors with a genuine presence in your specific market.
Filters by total capital under management — a proxy for capacity and check size range. Investors generally write cheques at 1–2% of total fund. A $50M fund is unlikely to write a $5M cheque; a $500M fund rarely leads a $250K pre-seed.
Filters by how many deals an investor has made across a selectable time window — lifetime, or past 3, 6, 9, or 12 months. High recent activity signals active deployment. Low recent activity may indicate a fund winding down, between vehicles, or highly selective. Prioritise high-activity investors when running a time-sensitive raise.
Filters by the percentage of deals an investor has led. If your round requires a lead to set valuation and anchor the syndicate — typically true for any raise above $1M — filter for investors with a meaningful lead rate. A low lead rate doesn’t disqualify an investor but means they’re better positioned as a follow-on check.
Filters by how frequently an investor has participated in follow-on rounds for companies they previously backed. High follow-on rates signal commitment to portfolio companies — relevant if you want investors who’ll support subsequent rounds, not just write the first cheque.
Filters by the percentage of an investor’s portfolio in your sector — a measure of relative focus. A high concentration score means your sector is a deliberate priority for them, not incidental exposure.
Filters by the total count of investments in your sector — a measure of absolute experience. Different from Sector Concentration: an investor with 2% concentration but 40 sector deals has more raw experience than one with 20% concentration and 3 deals. Use both together to distinguish specialists from generalists.
Multi-select filter from Metal’s predefined thesis taxonomy. Covers thesis areas like Future of Work, Climate Tech, Developer Tools, FinTech Infrastructure, and others. Use this to find investors who have explicitly adopted a thesis aligned with your category — particularly useful in emerging verticals where sector tags alone may not capture the sub-market.
Surfaces investors who have backed specific companies. The primary workflow is tag-based: build a tag list of comparable companies in Company Search, then apply that tag here to filter for investors who backed any company in your set. This is the highest-conviction signal in the filter set — covered in detail in Similar Companies.
Avoid using category-defining companies (Stripe, Airbnb, Figma) as your comparable set. Their early investors operated at later stages and rarely match early-stage raises. Use companies that raised at a similar stage and round size to yours.
Removes investors who backed companies you specify — most commonly your direct competitors. Investors with portfolio conflicts are unlikely to invest in you, and approaching them wastes time and can create awkward dynamics. Use this filter to clean your list before outreach.
Surfaces investors who have co-invested alongside a specific investor you select. Useful for mapping the syndicate ecosystem around a lead investor you’re targeting — if you know Investor A is likely in your round, Co-Investors shows who regularly backs alongside them.
Highlights investors who frequently participate in rounds where a specific lead investor has set terms. Useful for filling out a round once a lead is anchored — Frequent Followers tend to move fast when a trusted lead is already in.
Type a description of your target investor into the global search bar — Metal’s AI interprets the query and surfaces matching results across investors, companies, and people simultaneously.Example queries that work well:
“Seed investors backing B2B SaaS companies in Europe with a focus on vertical software”
“VCs who have led rounds in AI infrastructure tools for enterprise”
“Investors in climate tech who write checks between500Kand2M”
“Pre-seed funds that back technical founders building in developer tooling”
The AI search draws on the same structured investor data as the filter search, but interprets intent from natural language rather than requiring you to pre-select filter values. Use it when you know what you’re looking for but want to explore before committing to a filter configuration.
Each investor card in search results shows the core signals you need to qualify quickly:
Name and fund — partner name and the fund they represent
Stage and typical cheque — their standard investment parameters
Recent activity — deals closed in the last 12–24 months
Sector tags — their stated and revealed investment focus
Fit score — Metal’s ranking of how closely they match your company profile
Network proximity — how reachable they are through your existing connections
Click any investor card to open their full Investor Profile — portfolio history, thesis detail, valuation ranges, lead/follow behavior, and intro pathways.
From any search result, click Add to Pipeline to move an investor into your fundraising pipeline. You can set their initial stage — Identified, Researching, Outreach Pending — at the point of saving.
Don’t filter too aggressively upfront. The goal of the discovery phase is to build a broad qualified list of 50–150 investors that you then qualify further through profile review and network mapping. Removing investors too early based on a single filter criterion means missing strong candidates.
The most effective investor lists come from layering multiple discovery approaches rather than relying on one. Use AI Search as your starting point, then complement it with:
Market Signals — surface investors who are currently expressing thesis conviction in public content
New Funds — find investors actively seeking their first sector bet
Similar Companies — identify investors who have already backed comparable companies
Investors who appear across two or more of these approaches are your highest-priority targets.
