2026 results

    What's your success rate?

    A success rate only means something once you know what was counted. So here is the figure we publish: what our 2026 clients are raising with us, counted the hard way. Every client who paid us this year with a sized raise, one raise each, with the deals that stalled or died left in.

    What our clients are raising with us in 2026

    The mean of every 2026 client raise, with live, closed, stalled and dead deals counted together.

    Where does your raise sit?

    Drag the blue handle to the amount you need to raise, or tap an amount.

    Lower-half mean$3.3M
    Mean$9.3M
    Upper-half mean$15.2M

    $5M sits between our 2026 lower-half mean (below average) of $3.3M and the mean (average) of $9.3M.

    Debt or equity

    Share of all 2026 raise dollars, by how the raise is funded.

    Debt and equity
    54% of dollarsmean raise $8.7M
    Equity only
    37% of dollarsmean raise $20.5M
    Debt only
    9% of dollarsmean raise $3.3M

    Over half of raise dollars use both: debt for part of the price and equity for the rest. Equity-only raises have the largest mean (average).

    By sector

    Real estate, in blue, is 74% of dollars. Operating businesses are 26%.

    • Residential real estate44%mean $12.4M
    • Commercial real estate30%mean $11.0M
    • Operating businesses26%mean $5.8M

    Why deals stall

    Share of raise dollars by cause, across every live, stalled or paused raise on our deal board. No names.

    • The deal went quiet: no activity from the parties for 60 days or more67%
    • The deal package was incomplete: documents or numbers the lender needed were missing16%
    • A capital source passed13%
    • The economics did not work for the capital source4%

    How to avoid it: keep the deal moving every week, and get the package complete early. Nearly all of the stall is silence, not a lender saying no.

    How long a successful full buy takes

    From first payment to a funded close, across our closed acquisitions.

    Above average (faster)
    6 months
    Mean (average)
    8 months
    Below average (slower)
    10 months

    Expect months, not weeks, and a stretch where nothing appears to move. One close came after 24 of 25 capital providers said no.

    How we count it

    1. Every client who paid us in 2026 with a sized raise. No hand-picked wins.
    2. One raise per client. Where a client has more than one, the raise that got furthest.
    3. Stalled and dead deals stay in. A raise counts whether it closed, is still live, stalled or died.

    Our 2026 client raises run from $275K to $21M. The lower-half mean (below average) is the mean of the smaller half, the upper-half mean (above average) the mean of the larger half. Debt, equity, sector and status are read off our deal board; the start date is the client's first payment.

    What prospects ask

    The five questions that make up 63% of what people ask on our calls, answered with the numbers above.

    1. What exactly do I get, and how does it work?

      asked 24% of the time

      A compliant fund or SPV built for your deal: private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, operating agreement, CFA-built financial proformas, data room and pitch deck. Then introductions to debt and equity through our lenders and investors. You stay the principal who raises and closes. Time to a funded close on our closed acquisitions: 6 months above average, 8 months mean (average), 10 months below average.

    2. What does it cost?

      asked 15% of the time

      Fees are published at raises.com/pricing. On the closed deals, what the buyer paid us directly was under $10,000. A closing fee can be paid out of the deal at closing, which counts toward the raise, not toward your cash.

    3. Do you work with deals like mine?

      asked 9% of the time

      2026 raise dollars: 44% residential real estate, 30% commercial real estate, 26% operating businesses. Raises run from $275K to $21M. Our closed acquisitions were $500K to $2.7M.

    4. I don't have a deal yet. Can you help?

      asked 9% of the time

      Not as a client yet. 67% of stalled raise dollars stalled because the deal went quiet, so we take on a raise once there is a specific business or a building, a buyer moving it and a clear amount. Until then the free guides at raises.com/buy-a-business and raises.com/alternatives are the right next step.

    5. How much of my own cash do I need?

      asked 6% of the time

      Buyer cash is the last layer of the stack, after debt from our lenders, equity investors and seller carry. On the closed deals where it is on record, the buyer's own cash was under 1% of enterprise value, under $10,000 on average.

    The main takeaway

    Why we're more selective about who we let in

    Before we take on a raise, we look for a specific business or building, a buyer who is moving it, and a clear amount to raise. It means saying no more often. It also means the raises we take on are the ones that keep moving.

    Book a strategy callRead the case studies

    You're not the average

    These are our average clients, and this may not be you. These figures describe the raises our 2026 clients brought to us, not results we promise. Every raise depends on the deal, the sponsor and the market, and many of these raises are still live. Past raises do not predict future ones. Raises.com® does not sell securities or provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Nothing on this page is an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.