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Metal, the AI fundraising startup founded by former Airlift chief executive Usman Gul, has raised a $4.5 million seed round from investors including a16z Speedrun, Y Combinator, Rebel Fund, Indus Valley Capital and Oman’s Phaze Ventures.
Pioneer Fund, Gaingels, and Team Ignite Ventures also participated in the round. Metal said the financing brings its total capital raised to $4.5 million.
Metal sells software for founders running venture rounds, ranking prospective investors based on factors including stage, sector, geography and cheque size, while also handling research, introductions and pipeline management. The company is now extending beyond active fundraising into investor relations, part of a plan to remain in use across a company’s relationship with its investors rather than only during a raise.
The company says its paying customers have raised $542 million in FY2026, with more than 100 rounds closing each year and more than 1,000 founders using the platform annually. It’s also projecting multi-million-dollar revenue for the year after six consecutive quarters in which revenue grew between 30% and 80% quarter on quarter.
Gul started Metal after his previous company, Pakistani grocery-delivery startup Airlift, collapsed in 2022 when a new funding round fell through. FWDstart previously covered Metal as Gul’s second act after Airlift, which had raised Pakistan’s then-largest venture round, an $85 million Series B, and more than $110 million in total before shutting down.
That experience also provided the problem Metal is trying to solve. Gul says Airlift spoke to roughly 300 investors while raising $120 million over three years, with around 80% ultimately falling outside the company’s stage, sector, geography or cheque-size requirements. Metal was started in 2024 to use software and investor data to narrow that search before founders begin outreach.
The latest financing brings a16z and YC onto the cap table alongside Phaze, which FWDstart reported had backed Metal earlier this summer. Metal says more than 100 YC founders are already paying customers, while more than 50 companies backed by a16z Speedrun had used the platform as of July.
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