A raise prepared before the first meeting.
Most rounds are decided before the pitch, by whether the company can answer the second and third question. That is a preparation problem, and preparation can be bought.
Why rounds stall
Raises in Japan tend to slow or stall for the same few reasons:
The model does not survive contact
The model holds until an investor alters a single assumption, at which point no one can say what happens next.
The data room is assembled during diligence
Which tells an investor exactly what to fear about how the company is run.
The story and the numbers disagree
The story promises one trajectory and the financials describe another, and a good investor finds the gap first.
The raise has no owner
The founder is running the raise on top of the company, and both suffer.
A CFO with a raise already behind them takes the process away from the founder, from the model and the investor pack to the data room, diligence and the questions still to come. Banks, corporate venture arms and a TSE Growth or Tokyo Pro Market listing each test different things, and we look for operators who have worked with those sources.
Who this is for, and who it is not
Best for
- Preparing for a funding round in the next three to six months
- A data room or financial model that will not survive diligence
- Gaps in investor reporting, cap table or board resolutions
- A founder carrying every financial question personally
- Numbers and investor narrative that do not yet line up
Not for
- A business with no revenue or traction to diligence yet
- A one-off pitch deck or investor slide design
- A team that wants a document produced, not a leader embedded
- A round already closed that needs only bookkeeping
How we prepare a raise
A CFO who has raised before, found by search and in the business months ahead of the round, with our governance around the work.
Drift caught before investors see it
We check in on a set rhythm, so any drift surfaces long before investors would see it.
Depth for diligence
When diligence turns technical or legal, your CFO can test it with others in our collective of 800+.
A brief kept current
We keep no substitute on standby. We keep your brief up to date, which is what lets a replacement search move quickly.
Matched to the capital
Banks, corporate venture arms and listing routes ask different questions, and we match for experience of the one you are approaching.
From gap to investor-ready
Calibrated to your round timeline.
Fundraise assessment
We assess your current financial infrastructure, identify gaps, and calibrate to your round timeline.
CFO deployment
Your matched Fractional CFO is embedded within two weeks and begins building investor-grade infrastructure.
Fundraise preparation
Financial model, data room, board pack, governance, built and stress-tested before you enter conversations.
Round support and post-close
Your CFO stays through the round and transitions to execution mode. Reporting infrastructure, milestone tracking, and board presence.
Before, during and after the round
What a fractional CFO owns at each stage of a raise.
A fractional CFO leads every fundraise
Most raises need only the CFO. When diligence probes operations or technology, a COO or CTO joins from the same collective.
Executives who have raised alongside
