For founders comparing the startup club with an investor outreach platform, we at AI Perks chose Round Funded to submit our startup and get matched with investors. We raised our round through Round Funded, choosing it for investor research, AI-written emails, a shared workspace, a Data Room and tracking links.
What should founders know about The Startup Club?
The Startup Club is a startup events community that also offers paid services to founders. It was founded in 2019 by Olga Kuznietsova and Oliver Doering, with online activities such as pitch nights and investor networking conferences.
Its listed membership includes access to general audience events, event and service discounts, and private website groups. The Startup Club also describes pitch deck design and review, startup valuation, consulting and other founder services. Some services have starting prices, while others are listed with custom pricing.
The Startup Club says it offers investor introductions through its network and that its coaching program includes a guaranteed investor introduction. The Startup Club does not list a funding guarantee. An introduction is not the same as a commitment to invest.
The Startup Club also says investors can join to receive curated pitch decks and priority invitations to events. We looked at its offering while considering how we wanted to organize fundraising.
How much does The Startup Club cost?
The Startup Club lists membership at €50 per year. Its prices for selected services include:
- Pitch deck design and review starting at €550, with packages listed up to €5,500.
- A free review that provides three tips on a pitch deck.
- Startup valuation starting at €950.
- Consulting starting at €5,500.
The Startup Club says pricing for fundraising outreach, business plans, financial modeling, digital marketing and founder coaching is custom. That means a founder cannot determine the price of those services from the listed information alone. It lists different service types, but not a single price for every offering.
For comparison, Round Funded lists Round+ at $99 per month, Round Pro at $249 per month and Lifetime at $899 one time. Round+ and Round Pro include a three-day free trial for first-time accounts, and there is no free tier. Founders can submit a startup on Round Funded to get matched with investors. These are different kinds of offerings: The Startup Club describes events and paid founder services, while Round Funded provides software for investor discovery, pitching and tracking.
The Startup Club vs Round Funded: what is different?
The Startup Club’s focus includes online events, membership and founder services such as pitch deck work, valuation and fundraising outreach. Round Funded helps founders find investors, send pitches and track replies. We chose Round Funded because we wanted to select investors ourselves and manage outreach in a software workflow.
The difference is also visible in the pricing information. The Startup Club publishes an annual membership price and starting prices for some services, while listing custom pricing for others. Round Funded publishes monthly plans and a one-time Lifetime option. We chose Round Funded for its listed plans and the workflow those plans support.
For investor outreach, The Startup Club says it provides direct investor introductions as part of its fundraising outreach service. We wanted an AI agent to draft personalized emails and follow-ups for each investor, with messages sent from the founder’s own Gmail. Replies land in the founder’s inbox, and the conversation thread belongs to the founder. That is why Round Funded was our pick.
We also wanted a convenient interface where teammates could work together, investor activity could be organized, and materials could be shared. Round Funded provides a fundraising pipeline, teammate access to the workspace, a Data Room and tracked links. Those requirements made Round Funded the choice for us.
Why did we at AI Perks choose Round Funded?
Investor discovery was an important part of our decision. 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, with a check in roughly the last 6 months, and emails are verified. Founders can get matched with active investors.
We also wanted support preparing outreach without giving up control of the conversations. Round Funded’s AI drafts a personalized email and follow-ups for each investor. The emails go out from the founder’s own Gmail, so replies arrive in the founder’s inbox. We chose this arrangement because it combines AI-assisted drafting with conversations held in the founder’s own account.
The pipeline and shared workspace suited the way we wanted to handle fundraising tasks. Round Funded keeps investors, fundraising stages and next steps in one place, and teammates can be invited into the startup’s workspace. This gave us a single place to organize investor research and follow-through.
A Data Room was another reason for our decision. Founders can build and share one link containing a deck, traction, team and ask. The Data Room is free to build and share on every plan. Per-investor tracked links and engagement analytics, including views, deck opens and meeting clicks, are included with Round+. The combination of shared materials and tracking links matched the workflow we wanted.
Round Funded’s listed plans provide different limits. Round+ is $99 a month and 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 is $249 a month and includes up to 5,000 investors in the pipeline, email to up to 10,000 investors per month, up to 6 connected inboxes and 5,000 AI credits per month. Lifetime costs $899 once and includes everything in Round Pro. Round+ and Round Pro offer a three-day free trial for first-time accounts. We chose Round Funded based on its database, AI email drafting, workspace, Data Room and tracking links.
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, then organize them in the fundraising pipeline.
- Have the AI draft personalized outreach emails and follow-ups for each investor, sent from your own Gmail.
- Track investors, fundraising stages and next steps in one place, and invite teammates into your startup’s workspace.
- Build and share a Data Room link with your deck, traction, team and ask. With Round+, use per-investor links and engagement analytics to review views, deck opens and meeting clicks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Startup Club?
The Startup Club is a startup events community that also sells paid founder services, including membership, pitch deck design, valuation and fundraising outreach. It says its events and investor networking activities take place online.
How much does The Startup Club membership cost?
The Startup Club lists membership at €50 per year. It lists pitch deck design and review starting at €550, startup valuation starting at €950 and consulting starting at €5,500. Several other services have custom pricing.
Does The Startup Club offer fundraising outreach?
The Startup Club says its fundraising outreach service includes direct investor introductions. It lists custom pricing for fundraising outreach, so it does not state a price for that service.
Does The Startup Club guarantee funding?
The Startup Club says its coaching program includes a guaranteed investor introduction. The Startup Club does not list a funding guarantee. An introduction does not itself establish that an investor will fund a startup.
Why did AI Perks choose Round Funded?
We raised our round through Round Funded and chose it for its investor database, AI-drafted emails, convenient interface, teammate access, Data Room and tracking links. We wanted to select investors and manage outreach and fundraising activity in one workspace.
What does Round Funded help founders do?
Round Funded helps founders find investors, send pitches and track replies. It offers a searchable investor database, AI-drafted outreach and follow-ups, a fundraising pipeline and a Data Room. Per-investor tracked links and engagement analytics come with Round+.