How it works
How grades work
Bond-style grades from AAA+ to C-, computed by deterministic, versioned code from nine weighted factors.
Every funder gets a bond-style grade for your company, the way a credit desk reads ratings: AAA+ means apply first, C- means not for you right now. Grades are worked out by deterministic code, not AI. The same answers on the same day always give exactly the same grades and order.
The fit score
Nine factors are scored between 0 and 1 and multiplied by their weight. The weights add up to 100.
| Factor | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Investor tier | 20 | Track record and reputation of the fund or programme. |
| Geography | 14 | Whether they invest in your country (or globally). |
| Sector thesis | 14 | How well your sectors match what they back. |
| Stage | 12 | Exact match with your round scores 1, an adjacent stage 0.4, otherwise 0. |
| Access | 10 | Whether they take cold applications (a warm intro counts as full access). |
| Cheque size | 8 | Overlap between their cheque size and your raise. |
| Young founders | 8 | How friendly they are to young founders. |
| Deadline | 8 | Urgency: a dated deadline coming up soon scores higher. |
| Consumer fit | 6 | Fit for consumer products (moves to sector when you are not consumer). |
Low-confidence data is pulled toward the middle (×0.85 for medium, ×0.65 for low confidence), and a small, published boost is added for a short list of top programmes (+12, +6 or +3).
Hard caps
| Cap | When | Highest possible score |
|---|---|---|
| Stage | No overlap with your round | 27.9 |
| Geography | No investments found in your country | 47.9 |
| Access | Warm intro only and you do not have one | 59.9 |
| Deadline | Applications closed or the deadline passed | 39.9 |
From score to grade
| Score | Detailed grade | Shown in the app as | Read it as |
|---|---|---|---|
| 92 and above | AAA+ (top-brand programmes only) | AAA+ | Apply first |
| 88 – 91.9 | AAA | AAA+ for top brands, otherwise AA+ | Exceptional fit |
| 76 – 87.9 | AA+, AA, AA- | AA+ | Excellent fit: apply this cycle |
| 72 – 75.9 | A+ | A+ | Strong fit |
| 68 – 71.9 | A | A | Good fit |
| 64 – 67.9 | A- | A- | Solid, worth the time |
| 52 – 63.9 | BBB+, BBB, BBB- | B+ | Worth applying |
| 40 – 51.9 | BB+, BB, BB- | B | Speculative: apply only if it is cheap |
| 36 – 39.9 | B+ | B+ | Low fit |
| 32 – 35.9 | B | B | Low fit |
| 28 – 31.9 | B- | B- | Low fit |
| below 28 | C+, C, C- | C+, C, C- | Effectively excluded right now |
Internally there are 20 notches. The app shows 11 simple grades (AAA+, AA+, A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-) so they read at a glance. Open Why this grade? on any funder to see the exact score, the detailed grade and every factor.
Records that share one application (for example a fund and its own pre-seed programme) are merged into one row so you never apply twice by mistake. Small score changes do not flip a grade back and forth between days (a 1-point hysteresis band).
A grade is fit and priority, not your chance of getting money. See Chance of funding.