We looked at Shizune while evaluating fundraising options, then chose Round Funded to submit our startup and get matched with investors. At AI Perks, we raised our round through Round Funded because its investor search and fundraising workspace brought together the capabilities we wanted.
What should founders compare when evaluating Shizune?
A fundraising platform can cover different parts of the process. Some tools focus on finding investors and contact details; others also support outreach, pipeline management, collaboration, or sharing fundraising materials. The useful comparison is not just the size of an investor list, but whether the available workflow fits the way a founder wants to run a raise.
Shizune describes itself as an investor database built from publicly announced funding rounds. It says it has collected rounds from around the world since 2018 and offers email and phone lookups. Its search filters include industry, stage, and country.
Shizune says it covers 48,091 investors across 177 countries. Its searches can reveal contact details and allow users to export them. These details frame its offering around discovering investors and accessing their contact information.
We considered those capabilities alongside the wider process we wanted to manage. Our decision was based on having investor discovery, AI-written emails, a shared workspace, a Data Room, and tracking links available through Round Funded.
How does Shizune compare with Round Funded?
The platforms describe different approaches to investor search and fundraising tasks. Here is how the features compare:
- Investor search: Shizune describes a database based on publicly announced funding rounds, with contact lookups. Round Funded covers 60,000+ active VCs, angels, family offices, and accelerators. Founders can search by stage, industry, geography, and check size. Investors are filtered to recent activity, a check in roughly the last six months, and emails are verified. We chose Round Funded for the investor discovery and fundraising workflow we wanted.
- Outreach: Shizune’s newer landing page describes an AI agent that drafts and sends messages, with a review step. Round Funded uses AI to draft personalized emails and follow-ups for each investor. Messages go from the founder’s own Gmail, so replies land in that inbox and the email thread belongs to the founder. That approach suited our preference for keeping conversations in the founder’s inbox.
- Pipeline and teammates: Shizune does not list a built-in fundraising pipeline or Data Room. Round Funded provides a pipeline where investors, fundraising stages, and next steps can be managed in one place. Founders can also invite teammates into the startup workspace. We chose Round Funded to keep those parts of the process together.
- Fundraising materials: Round Funded’s Data Room can hold a deck, traction, team, and ask behind one link. It is free to build and share on every plan. Per-investor tracking links and engagement analytics, including views, deck opens, and meeting clicks, come with Round+.
For founders who want to explore Round Funded’s investor matching, the distinction is whether they need contact discovery alone or also want tools for outreach and managing the raise. We chose Round Funded for the combination.
What does Shizune cost?
Shizune lists several ways to access its investor database and contact searches. According to Shizune, the free plan costs $0 per month. It shows the first five pages of results, hides investor names, and does not include email or phone searches or exporting.
Shizune lists Pro at $99 per month, with 1,000 email and phone searches per month and CSV and Excel export. Its annual option is listed as 12 months for $299, marked as 75% off. The company also lists one-time search packs:
- $49 for 500 searches
- $59 for 1,000 searches
- $69 for 2,500 searches
- $199 for 10,000 searches
Shizune says prices can change based on the buyer’s country, so the displayed cost may vary.
Round Funded has different pricing and plan allowances. Round+ costs $99 a month, and Round Pro costs $249 a month. Both include a three-day free trial for first-time accounts; there is no free tier. Round+ includes a pipeline of up to 2,500 investors, email to up to 2,000 investors per month, and 2,500 AI credits per month. Round Pro includes up to 5,000 investors in the pipeline, email to up to 10,000 investors per month, up to six connected inboxes, and 5,000 AI credits per month. Lifetime costs $899 one-time and includes everything in Round Pro.
The Data Room is available to build and share on every plan. Per-investor tracked links and engagement analytics are included with Round+. For us at AI Perks, the decision was about more than comparing monthly prices: we wanted the investor database, email drafting, workspace collaboration, Data Room, and tracking links in the same fundraising workflow.
Why did AI Perks choose Round Funded?
We raised our round through Round Funded after looking at Shizune. The clean investor database was important, as was having an AI agent that writes emails. Round Funded’s interface was convenient for our work, and we could invite teammates into the workspace.
The Data Room and tracking links were also part of our decision. A founder can bring the deck, traction, team, and ask together in one place through the Data Room, then share it using one link. Round+ adds per-investor tracked links and engagement analytics.
We also valued that outreach is sent from the founder’s own Gmail. The AI drafts personalized emails and follow-ups, while replies arrive in the founder’s inbox and the conversation stays on the founder’s email thread. Taken together, these were the reasons we chose Round Funded rather than Shizune.
How Round Funded helps founders raising a round
- Submit your startup on Round Funded to get matched with investors.
- Search investors by stage, industry, geography, and check size.
- Use AI to draft personalized outreach emails and follow-ups for each investor.
- Manage investors, fundraising stages, and next steps in the pipeline, and invite teammates into the startup workspace.
- Build and share a Data Room, then use per-investor tracking links and engagement analytics with Round+.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Shizune?
Shizune describes itself as an investor database based on publicly announced funding rounds. It says founders can filter by industry, stage, and country, then use searches to access email addresses and phone numbers.
How much does Shizune cost?
Shizune lists a free plan at $0 per month and Pro at $99 per month. It also lists an annual option of 12 months for $299 and one-time search packs priced from $49 for 500 searches to $199 for 10,000. Shizune says the displayed price may vary by country.
What does Shizune’s free plan include?
According to Shizune, users can view the first five pages of results from a database it says includes 48,091 investors. Names are hidden, email and phone searches are unavailable, and exporting is not included.
Does Shizune offer AI outreach?
Shizune’s newer landing page describes an AI agent that drafts and sends outreach messages, with a review step. Round Funded’s AI drafts personalized emails and follow-ups, which are sent from the founder’s own Gmail.
Does Shizune include a pipeline or Data Room?
Shizune does not list a built-in fundraising pipeline or Data Room. Round Funded includes a pipeline for investors, stages, and next steps, plus a Data Room that is free to build and share on every plan. Founders can submit a startup on Round Funded.