Most founder emails read like they were written by a robot who learned English from LinkedIn posts.

Let's dive in.

Katie Palencsar - Anthemis Managing Director of the $50M Female Innovators Lab Fund (one of the largest funds solely dedicated to female fintech founders). Under her leadership, the majority of portfolio companies are led by Black, Indigenous, or women of color founders. Learn more about Anthemis.

Asya Bradley - Angel Investor After building and selling Kinly (a neobank for Black Americans), Bradley became an active angel investor focused on funding female founders. Her question: "Why wait for someone else to fund female founders when I could do it myself?"

Kelly Graziadei - F7 Ventures General Partner who led Alinea Invest's $3.4M seed round. She's particularly focused on financial literacy and investing platforms for women and Gen Z, emphasizing inclusive wealth creation.

Sallie Krawcheck - Ellevest Former CEO of Citi Wealth Management and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management who founded Ellevest, the first financial company built by women for women to reach $1B assets under management. Read about her journey.

📈 Here's the thing: Female founders in fintech get asked way more questions about their experience. But when they do get funded, they perform just as well as everyone else.

Want to research more female funders? Check out the Female Innovators database from Anthemis for comprehensive fintech funding data.

Most founders mess up investor emails from the start. Here's what actually works:👇

Template 1:

Use for: Angels who might actually use your product

Subject: [Your sector] for [their background] | [traction metric] | [funding stage]

Hi [Name],

I read your post about [specific thing they shared]. Really impressed with [specific detail about their experience/company].

[Company name] makes [simple explanation] for [target customer]. We've hit [impressive metric] and are seeing [growth trend].

Given your background in [their sector/experience], thought you might be interested in our [stage] round. We're raising [amount] to [specific use of funds].

Would love to show you what we're building. 15 minutes next week?

[Your name]

Use for: VCs who care about metrics and scale

Subject: [Sector] startup | [key metric] growth | Series [Stage]

Hi [Name],

Noticed [specific recent investment/article they shared]. Your thesis on [sector trend] matches exactly what we're seeing.

[Company] is [simple pitch]. We've grown from [starting point] to [current metric] in [timeframe] with [efficiency metric].

We're raising [amount] Series [stage] to [specific scaling plan]. [Lead investor status if applicable].

Deck attached. Available for a call this week?

Best, [Your name]

Use for: When your deck was opened but no reply

Subject: Re: [Original subject]

Hi [Name],

Quick follow-up on [Company]. Since you checked out the deck, figured I'd share one insight that might interest you:

[One new piece of traction/insight/development]

Still raising our [amount] round. Happy to answer any questions.

[Your name]

Don't Do This:❌

Mark Cuban revealed that he has invested more than $100 million in companies through cold outreach alone. The founder of Relativity Space cold emailed him with "Space is sexy 3D Printing an entire Rocket" and got a reply in minutes.

Well-crafted cold emails can have an 80% response rate when done right. The secret? Make them feel like you picked them specifically.

Want the full breakdown? Check out SeedLegals' complete investor outreach guide and OpenVC's cold email playbook for more detailed strategies.

UK Resilience & Innovation Grant Up to £50K (50% match funding) Who can apply: Trading SMEs in South East Midlands What it funds: Capital costs for projects that strengthen business performance, increase innovation, or enhance sustainability Deadline: Check website for current dates Apply here

ASTIA Raise Program Up to $2M funding + mentorship Who can apply: Women-led startups globally across all sectors What it includes: Capital connection, strategic mentorship, and access to ASTIA's network of 3,000+ accredited investors Deadline: Rolling applications Apply here

Female Founders Fund Pitches Seed to Series A funding Who can apply: Female entrepreneurs building scalable technology companies What they fund: Consumer, enterprise, and fintech startups with strong traction. They've backed companies like Glossier, Canva, and The Wing. Deadline: Rolling applications Apply here

Need help with your grant applications? Here are some fundraising resources that can help you get organized.

🎯 Want to be featured? Send me your biggest funding win or lesson learned and I might feature it in next week's newsletter (with your permission, obviously).

Connect with me on LinkedIn for daily funding reality checks.

Next week: What funding topic should I cover? Reply with what you're struggling with most and I'll tackle it.📩

Good investor outreach is an invitation to join something exciting. Bad outreach sounds like begging. (And that we DO NOT DO !)

Talk soon,
OnAgenda Team

P.S.

Fun fact: Most investors decide whether to reply within the first sentence. Makes you rethink that long intro paragraph, doesn't it? 😏