Case Study

a raise, annotated

Company
CEO: Philip Odelfelt
Industry: Data intelligence for building materials

Stage: Series A - $17M equity + $5M debt
Timeline: 6 months, start to finish
Engagement: Pre-raise planning, investor targeting, raise management, transaction advisory

Closing a $17M Series A in a down market

Philip Odelfelt

Founder & CEO, Datavations

Philip was a quantitative analyst at 7 Park Data, forecasting industrial performance for funds including Citadel and Point72. He founded Datavations on a model he built himself, accurate to within 1% for five straight quarters.

the short version

In late 2024, Philip Odelfelt faced a difficult choice: maintain momentum during peak season, or dedicate months to fundraising in the worst venture market in a decade.

Six months later he was closing an oversubscribed $17M Series A, plus $5M in debt - while saving hundreds of hours he spent on sales, product, and growing the business instead.

Series A raised

$17M

oversubscribed!

Valuation step up

3.3x

Warm intros found

3,200+

Initial meetings

70+

The Challenges

the worst Series A market in a decade

Market Headwinds

Datavations was preparing to raise capital during the most challenging fundraising environment in recent history. Seed-to-A graduation rates had plummeted 50% since 2018, while average time to close stretched to 6–9 months compared to just 3–4 months in 2018–2019.

As a vertical software provider for housing materials manufacturers - a generally overlooked sector - Datavations needed to find investors that truly understood their vision and would be long-term, value-additive capital partners.

Limited Bandwidth

Philip Odelfelt was stretched thin and trying to find time to do it all. He was acting as de facto PM for all product development, closing major enterprise deals, managing existing client relationships, and running daily operations as the company entered peak season.

“Based on my Seed round, I estimated that running a proper Series A process would require 10–20 hours per week for 4–6 months. That meant 4–6 months of neglecting other priorities. I couldn’t accept that outcome.”

Philip Odelfelt - Founder & CEO, Datavationsthe math that didn’t work

The Quill Solution

where Quill picks up the pen

Pre-Raise Planning

Instead of diving straight into outreach, Quill’s team conducted deep market analysis. They benchmarked valuation and financial performance across 500+ similar Series A rounds and created multi-round cap table pro formas with scenario planning based on market conditions and financial performance.

This included a full accounting of all previous rounds and current stakeholders - fully diluted positions, conversions at Series A, rights, MOICs, and more. The result: a precisely defined round size and valuation target, which informed which investors to target and the overall financing strategy.

Precision Investor Targeting

Quill analyzed their entire investor universe, filtered out non-active VCs, and narrowed in on investors actively deploying into similar companies: 10,000+ investors filtered down to 395 active high-fit Series A partners through deep thesis matching on vertical enterprise SaaS and industrials.

But the real magic came from network intelligence. Quill discovered 3,200+ warm introduction paths through stakeholder networks, used relationship-strength scoring to distill them into 150 high-signal intros to VC partners, and ran social capital analysis to prevent intro fatigue among key connectors.

Ongoing Raise Management

Pre-meeting intelligence. Briefs on each partner’s background, recent investments, thought leadership, and board seats - plus customized talk tracks per firm and anticipated questions based on analysis of 50+ similar pitches.

Real-time support. Call summaries with sentiment analysis within hours, an FAQ database updated after each meeting, and human-reviewed pitch feedback to find high-leverage improvements.

Transaction advisory. Term sheet scenario analysis showing how each option plays out today, at the Series B, and at exit; pro forma cap tables for closing docs; and negotiation assistance to get every stakeholder aligned and close the round.

The Results

closed, oversubscribed, on target

Datavations closed $22M in total funding - a $17M oversubscribed equity round plus $5M in debt. Philip saved 250 hours that were reinvested in sales, product, and hiring. The company received 3 term sheets, achieved a 3.3x valuation step-up from the Seed round - hitting their target valuation and dilution ranges - and built relationships with 26 prospective Series B leads.

In a market where Series A’s were about twice as hard to get done, Datavations closed their dream round: the right strategy, the right investors, and an oversubscribed close.

In his own words

from our interview with Philip

Why bring in Quill instead of running the raise yourself?

“Based on my Seed round, I estimated a proper Series A would take 10–20 hours per week for 4–6 months. That meant months of neglecting sales, product, and the team during peak season. I couldn’t accept that outcome.”

What did working together actually feel like day to day?

“Having Quill as our fundraising copilot meant our executive team could stay focused on execution during our Series A raise. I felt very confident diving into the raise. Worth every penny.”

What would you tell other founders heading into a raise?

“Most founders tell their team ‘I’ll be less available during fundraising.’ I told mine ‘Business as usual’ and delivered on that promise thanks to Quill.”