How Litero AI Raised an $800K Pre-Seed in 5 Months From 8 Investors

The company

• AI writing platform for students, focused on academic research papers

• Raised $800K pre-seed in 5 months from 8 investors — 5 VCs, 3 angels

Founders

• Alexey Pokatilo, solo founder

• Ex-BCG

• Previously co-founded an EdTech company that grew past 200 full-time employees

Pipeline and channel

• Sourced entirely through personal network — warm introductions from friends working at VC funds

• Reached investors — 25

• First meetings — 20 (80%)

• Second+ meetings — 13 (52%)

• Term sheets signed — 8 (32%)

• Lead investor came from a chance meeting unrelated to fundraising

Timeline and runway

• Fundraising start — February

• Talks and due diligence — April

• Term sheets received — May

• Money in the bank — June

• Runway at start — 7 months

• Already had revenue, so runway worked as a dial, not a countdown

Pitch deck and data room

• Data room — pitch deck, P&L with historicals and projections, cohorts, legal documents

• Legal documents — incorporation docs and team contracts

• Data room was assembled during due diligence, not before it — investors said what they wanted to see

Most common rejections

• Regulatory doubt: whether universities would allow or ban AI writing tools

• Defensibility: fear that ChatGPT or Claude would replace the product

• Business model: many investors don’t invest in B2C, or hold it to a much higher bar

Metrics at close

• Revenue at close — $300k ARR

• Valuation — $5M post-money SAFE cap

• Check size range — $50k–200k

• Angel checks near the $50k floor; most VC checks came in higher

Lessons learned

• Cold outreach works — cold connections turn warm quickly

• Prepare the data room before you start

• Would be more proactive with warm and cold outreach next time

• Would expand the number of investors in the round and increase round size for a healthier runway

• Avoid agreeing to unusual terms early — default to a simple SAFE