How to get investors to fund your mobile app

Do you have a ground-breaking idea for a mobile app but aren’t sure how to get investors to listen? Lucky for you, there are plenty of things you can do to find  investors to fund your mobile app. In the past, we have discussed different ways to get funding for your project. But, once you’re face to face with investors, what do you need to convince them? And what type of funding should you go after? In this article, we’ll focus on the main strategies you can follow and also give you an overview of the different funding rounds.

Tips to get investors to fund your mobile app

To kick things off, we’ll cover five things you can do to fund your mobile app, building up to the ones that will require you to make a larger initial investment.

Know your niche

Given that the mobile app industry is very competitive, research will be the basis for any successful business venture. Knowing your audience and what niche your mobile app will be targeting is key if you want investors to listen. You should also look into the competition to see what they are doing, looking for ways to stand out or for gaps your app may be able to fill. This information will help you prove to potential investors that you are offering an innovative product or service that meets a specific need within the market.

Think about app branding

Now that you have defined your mobile app and its target audience, you can move on to branding. This will give life to your idea, show you are serious about it and help investors visualize it. You should think about creating a logo, getting a domain, and maybe even some general design mock-ups. If you are at a loss at this stage, it might be wise to hire a specialized company.

Work on your elevator pitch

An elevator pitch is a way to describe your project in a concise way. Since investors usually run tight schedules, an elevator pitch is a great way to introduce your mobile app without taking too much of their time. That said, as short as it may be, it also takes a lot of work to perfect it. You should be able to describe your project in 30 seconds (roughly the same time as an elevator ride) in a way that is appealing so you can get investors to fund your mobile app or at least get their attention. If your elevator pitch doesn’t work right away, don’t fret, you should keep working on it until you have the perfect version or find the right investor.

Work on a pitch deck

If the elevator pitch works, you might want to think about a pitch deck. This is the pitch you will use when you have a longer meeting with investors to go over your mobile app idea and business plan. A pitch deck is a presentation that includes a variety of details about your project. These can include the problem you are tackling and how you are solving it, an overview of the market, the key features of your mobile app, your business model, an overview of the competition, and your marketing strategy. Like any successful presentation, your pitch deck should be as visual and concise as possible to persuade investors to fund your mobile app. 

Create an MVP

Creating a prototype or MVP (minimum viable product) for your mobile app makes it more tangible and shows how serious you are about the project. It also gives investors the possibility of interacting with the mobile app and seeing how it works. This prototype or MVP doesn’t need to be perfect (there will surely be some bugs and features to improve on later on), but it will make it easier to show investors why they should fund your mobile app. If you want to learn more about MVPs, you can check out this article and this article we’ve written on the topic.

Funding rounds

If you don’t already, you should know there are several funding rounds or stages for projects. We’ll give you a short overview so you can decide which one is more suited to your specific mobile app.

Pre-seed funding

This is the first stage when it comes to getting capital for your mobile app. At this stage, your idea is not fully materialized; it is more of a concept than anything else. This funding round is usually covered by friends or family or even your own money. During this stage, you will be working on defining your idea and creating the tools that will help you pitch it to potential investors.

Seed funding

This second round of funding is one to tackle when your app is not yet ready to hit the market, but you have a pretty good idea of how everything will work or even have an MVP ready. The money received in the seed round will go to refining your app, doing further research and testing product-market fit. During this stage, angel investors, startup incubators and early-stage venture capitalists are the ones most likely to fund your mobile app.

Series A funding

If you’ve made it this far, it means you are on the right track. Mobile apps that reach Series A funding have gained proof of concept and proved product-market fit. Therefore, this stage is meant to help you optimize, scale and grow your project. Bigger angel investors or venture capitalists are the ones more likely to fund your mobile app at this level.

Series B funding and beyond

If Series A funding was already a big deal, reaching this step is an even bigger milestone. Here, you will continue to grow and scale your mobile app, possibly working on globalization and team expansion. At this stage, your business is getting established, you are doing a good job of advertising your app and you have an engaged target audience.

Beyond Series B, you would already be looking into business acquisitions, finding new markets or going public through the stock market.

Final thoughts on how to get investors to fund your mobile app

Figuring out how to get investors to fund your mobile app and finding the right investor for your app can definitely be stressful. We hope this article helps you get started and wish you success in your new venture!