What investors look for in your numbers at Series A
Raising your Series A is a big milestone. You’ve moved past the early idea and MVP stage, you’ve got traction and starting to approach that magic PMF (product market fit), and now you’re looking to scale. But before investors hand over the cheque, they’ll dig deep into your numbers.
Here’s what they’ll be looking for.
Revenue traction
At this stage, investors want to see that people are willing to pay for what you’ve built. This isn’t about profits yet, but they’ll expect signs of commercial momentum.
- ARR/MRR: In most cases, they’re looking for anywhere upwards of £1 million in annual recurring revenue, depending on your sector.
- Growth rate: You should be growing 2–3x year on year. Slower growth can be fine if you’ve got high-value enterprise deals, but the growth story still needs to be compelling.
- Revenue quality: Recurring revenue is gold. One-off sales are less interesting unless they lead to long-term customers.
Customer metrics
Investors want to know your customers are sticking around, and that you’re acquiring them in a sustainable way.
- CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): How much it costs to bring a new customer through the door.
- LTV (Customer Lifetime Value): How much value you get from that customer over time.
- LTV:CAC ratio: Ideally 3:1 or higher. Anything below 2:1 raises questions about your go-to-market model.
- Churn rate: Especially if you’re a SaaS business, churn tells them whether customers are actually getting value.
If you’ve got usage data, show it. If you don’t, customer retention and testimonials help prove your case.
Unit economics
This is all about proving that the more you grow, the more efficient and profitable you’ll become.
- Gross margin: Most SaaS businesses aim for 70% or more. Hardware or marketplace businesses will be lower, but the margin still needs to improve as you scale.
- CAC payback period: Investors like to see payback in under 12 months, which means your marketing and sales spend isn’t a long-term cash drain.
- Sales efficiency: Revenue per sales rep, conversion rates, sales cycle length — all of these paint a picture of how well your team is performing.
Burn rate and runway
This is about survival. Investors want to know how long your business can operate without raising again, and how wisely you’re spending cash.
- Burn multiple: This is how much you’re burning for every £1 of net new ARR. A burn multiple of less than 1 is excellent, but anything up to 2.5 is typical depending on growth and sector.
- Runway: Ideally, you’ve got 12–18 months post-raise, giving you time to execute the plan, hit those milestones and get ready for Series B.
Numbers tell a story
At the end of the day, your numbers are a narrative. They show whether your business is working, whether it can scale, and how confident investors can feel about backing you.
But getting the story straight isn’t always easy. Founders are often buried in day-to-day operations and don’t always have time to build clean dashboards or model out ten different scenarios for investors. That’s where we come in.
At EmergeOne, we work with scaling startups to make sure their numbers make sense: not just internally, but to the people writing cheques. Whether you need a solid financial model, help with board reporting, or someone to join investor meetings and back up your pitch, we’ve done it all.
If you’re gearing up for a Series A raise and want to make sure your numbers tell the right story, let’s talk.