How to Get Investors For Your Mobile App Startups? Steps, Cost & Types

In 2008, Airbnb’s founders got turned down by investor after investor. Everything changed when Sequoia Capital decided to back them with $600,000. That investment helped launch Airbnb into the company we know today, worth over $100 billion. It really shows how finding the right investor at the perfect moment can completely change everything.

Airbnb isn’t alone in this story. Plenty of startups with brilliant concepts face the same uphill battle trying to get investors to believe in them. But here’s the thing: without proper funding, even the smartest ideas can get stuck going nowhere. Getting investment isn’t simply about having money to grow bigger. It’s about proving your business actually works, giving you the resources to expand, and helping you move faster from having a good idea to becoming a major player in your market.

Investment gives startups several important advantages: it powers product development, supplies what you need for marketing and bringing in users, and makes your company stronger when competing against others. For mobile app startups, where tech changes fast, getting funding at the right time can decide whether you win or lose. It doesn’t just help you build something solid but also brings in extra resources and partnerships that keep you growing long term.

If you’re building a fitness app, a fintech platform, or a social media tool, investors offer way more than just cash. They bring know-how, connections, and reputation. Learning how to attract the right investors is essential for turning your startup into the next Airbnb, which we will discuss in this blog.

Let’s explore, in detailed sections, practical strategies on how to get investors for an app.

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Why Do You Need Investors for Your App Idea?

Recent numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that one in five startups fail within their first year, and about 65% of startups will close down within 10 years of starting. Turning an app idea into something that actually works takes more than just being creative and having technical expertise. You need solid financial backing behind you.

Investors give you the cash to pay for important things like building your app, getting the word out, setting up systems, and growing bigger. Without this help, lots of good ideas never get past the testing phase.

Money isn’t the only thing investors bring to the table. They also give you connections to people in the business, advice from experience, and smart direction that can speed up your growth. When they back you, it shows others that your idea has real potential, which makes it easier to find partners, customers, and additional funding later on. Bottom line, getting investors doesn’t just pay for building your app but also gives it a much better shot at winning in a tough market.

Breaking Down the Types of App Investors

The market offers a variety of ways to get funded. Depending on your app idea, the amount of funds you need, and the stage you are at, you’ll need to look for investors in different places and pitch your ideas in different ways. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the different types of investors you may find.

Family and Friends

Family and friends are usually the easiest to convince that your app idea is worthy. However, in most cases, your personal connections can sponsor a startup only at the beginning. You can use that money to do market research and build a prototype to show other possible investors. To do more, you need to consider other options as well.

Co-Founders

The second way is to invite your friends or family members to become a co-founder. When a person is convinced that your idea has enough potential, they are likely to invest in your project. You can also find app investors outside your connection to co-found your business if you have enough trust in them.

App Contests

There are several fundraising app contests that take place in different parts of the world. While extremely competitive, these app contests give entrepreneurs a chance to present their idea to investors and secure funding for their project.

Crowdfunding

It is a type of fundraising app or site where collaborative efforts are made via the internet and other networks to raise money. For a successful crowdfunding campaign, you will need to invest time, effort, and probably money in marketing.

Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists

In case you are looking for a serious infusion of money into your mobile startup, it’s angel investors and venture capitalists you should look for. These entities generally offer a large sum of money.

While angel investors for app development in NYC are more often individuals, venture capitalists are usually companies. In order for investors to take interest in your app, you have to make a very compelling argument to prove why your idea is worth the investment.

Also Read: How to raise money for mobile app startup?

What Investors Look for Before Funding Your App Idea

Investors assess several critical factors before funding an app idea to ensure its potential for success. Presenting a well-rounded plan that highlights profitability and long-term viability is key to attracting their interest. Let’s see what investors look for in an app before actually funding it.

Clear User Acquisition and Growth Strategy

Having a solid user acquisition plan is essential in securing investor funding. Investors want to know how you will grow your user base, retain customers, and scale the app. A comprehensive marketing strategy, along with insights into how you plan to attract and retain users, is vital in demonstrating long-term success potential.

Scalability

If you’re wondering how to get investors for an app idea of yours, then considering app scalability is one of the most crucial options. Potential Investors want to ensure that your app can handle growth over time. They will assess whether your app can support a growing user base without losing performance. A scalable infrastructure that adapts as the app grows is vital for long-term success and investor confidence.

Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Your app must offer something distinct or innovative that solves a real problem. Investors seek an app that has a competitive edge or differentiates itself from other solutions in the market. Whether it’s a unique feature, better user experience, or solving a niche problem, demonstrating this uniqueness can greatly influence investor interest.

Market Opportunity and Demand

Investors are drawn to app ideas that tap into a growing and accessible market. They assess whether there is a clear demand for your solution, focusing on the potential for widespread adoption. A well-defined target audience and an understanding of market trends can significantly impact the decision-making process, making your app an attractive investment opportunity.

Steps to Gain the Trust of Investors for Mobile App Development

Having just a baseline app idea won’t help, as investors want to know that you have really given this idea some thought. They want to see that you have analyzed your competitors and that your product has the potential to succeed in the market. Below are the key steps on how to find investors for an app and gain their trust to secure funding for your innovative idea:

1. Validate Your Idea

Finding a good idea can be a daunting task. You need to brainstorm ideas that can make a difference and solve customers’ pain points. You can start by working on your area of interest or passion. Once you have an interesting app idea, the next step is to validate your app idea to make sure that it is promising.

Investors don’t want to fund an app idea that already exists. So, do thorough research of the market and figure out the competitive landscape of your app’s market. Make sure that your app idea is not just a copy of another company’s offering. You can also consult an app development agency to understand the feasibility of your idea.

2. Find the Right Market

It’s important to understand the competitive landscape of the market. You need to do thorough research on applications in your space to find out what innovative features they are offering to users and how you can stay ahead of them.

3. Define the Market Size

When studying the competitive environment, you will get an idea of the size of the market you can expect. You must define the target audience and the market share, so that you can present your potential mobile app stakeholders with the real figures of the probable opportunities and risks, which can be expected.

4. Choose a Reliable App Development Partner

Hiring a reliable app development partner can help turn your idea into reality. Choose a company that has successfully carried out similar projects and delivered analogous products.

Our expert developers, UI/UX designers, and market specialists that offer competent suggestions and always take your vision into account.

The company also provides the latest industry expertise and access to the newest technologies. It helps create an app with the latest features and functionalities that will definitely impress investors. So, joining hands with a reputed development partner is the right thing to do if you want your product to get app funding from investors.

5. Know the Investment Basics

To gain the trust of your potential investors and be persuasive, you should know the basics of running a startup and money-raising yourself. This will help you understand the type of capital to take and the investment stages that exist.

6. Figure Out Revenue Strategy

Apart from understanding the basics of investment, you should also work on a strategy to generate revenue. The plain and clear strategy presented to the investors will make them finance your mobile app development more wholeheartedly. So, if you are still thinking, how to monetize an app idea, it’s essential to study the various monetization strategies and be ready to answer the clarification questions about them.

7. Create MVP

Minimum Viable Product or MVP is the first version of a product with a basic set of features. It is an effective and affordable way of helping investors understand the working flow of your app. An MVP allows you to understand if your app has the potential to succeed before going to app startup investors.

Moreover, MVP provides your potential investors with a physical product that they can see and use in real time. An investor loves nothing more than a business that already works and whose owners have invested time and their own money into it.

Talking about MVPs, we recently helped JobGet to create an application that makes the job search process easier for blue-collar workers. From understanding the client’s vision to MVP development, our team of experts helped them to raise funds for their unique application.

Through our steady work, JobGet just landed Series B funding of $52 million, even with the tough economy right now. The app’s performance has been incredible, and it’s now leading the app stores.

8. Prepare a Solid Pitch Deck

A good pitch deck with visuals should show your app idea, your target audience, what makes you different, how you’ll make money, and your growth plans. Use graphs, pictures, and short text to make your concept simple to understand. Working with startup accelerators for mobile apps can help you polish your presentation, get advice from experts, and meet potential investors to boost your chances of getting funded.

9. Demonstrate Traction or Early Adoption

Investors like apps that people actually want. Show them your beta testers, people who signed up early, test programs, or good reviews to prove there’s real interest. Numbers like how much users interact with your app, how many stick around, and growth patterns indicate your potential for success. This kind of proof fits well with mobile startup investment strategies and gives investors confidence that your app can grow big and win customers.

10. Build a Strong Founding Team

A solid, trustworthy team matters just as much to investors as your actual idea. Point out the technical skills, business smarts, and marketing know-how your founding members bring. Share wins from the past or related project experience to show you can actually make this vision happen. A team that covers all the bases gives investors peace of mind that your app can get built, launched, and grown successfully.

Funding Phases for Your Mobile App

Now that we have seen how to get investors for an app, let’s discuss the various stages of startup funding. These funding stages can help you plan your growth strategy, allocate resources effectively, and attract the right investors at each step of your app’s journey from concept to market success.

Pre-Seed

Pre-seed funding is the stage when your app is just a floating idea and nothing substantial has been done yet. This stage is considered an informal round because most funding comes from friends and family or it’s your own money. Funds raised in this stage are typically used to create a founding team, demos, or MVP, conduct research and collect data, and gain some early traction.

Seed Stage

It is the second stage of funding for a prototype where the focus is on the initial growth of your business. In the seed round, your mobile app startup is not yet operational, and you’re still working on improving the product. You’re looking for investments to fund further research, begin testing the product-market fit, and hire a workforce. At this stage, typically angel investors, early-stage venture capitalists, and startup incubators respond.

Series A

Reaching this stage of investment means you are on your way to success. At this point, you’ve established the market-product compatibility and have clearly defined the objective of your brand. You start to focus on your business and product growth. Your main focus should be on optimizing your business, marketability, and scalability of your mobile app. At this stage, venture capital firms, “super” angel investors, and family offices are the usual Series-A investors.

Series B,C,D

Making it to series B and beyond means your product has gained acceptance from users. This stage focuses on enhancing and expanding your product to attract more users. Your brand has a reputation, and people are aware of your services.

Now you have to take your app from a mobile app startup funding stage to a mid-size business. Funds raised at this stage are used for business acquisitions, going public, partnerships, upgrading branding levels, and engaging with new markets with constant product development and upgradation.

Now that we have seen how to get funding for an app, let’s see how much funding one needs for an app startup.

How Much Funding Do You Need For Your App Startup?

When we talk about what investors look for before funding an app idea, there’s no set number for how much startup money you’ll need. The exact number will depend on your app idea, the complexity of the app, the team, and other factors. For instance, a simple MVP with minimal features can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000. A more complex cross-platform app with APIs, on the other hand, can cost anywhere between $50,000 to $300,000.

But don’t worry, we have already discussed the options to raise money for your startup. However, before going to the app investors, work with your full-cycle app development company to figure out the estimated cost of developing your app, functionalities, and the primary purpose of the app. Without any budgetary plans in place, you risk making a monetary miscalculation that can cost you your dream.

If you receive less funding, you won’t even be able to start the app development process. On the other hand, if you receive more funds than you need, you may end up giving away your owner’s share or even your company to mobile app investors.

What to Do Once Your App Gets Funding?

Once you’ve received funds from investors, what’s next? Well, your work doesn’t stop here. Your app needs continuous improvement and maintenance. Once your app is launched, keep improving your app and take feedback from users and app investors as you grow. As you move through the various stages of startup funding, your business will receive funds that can be used to add innovative features to the app, improve the design, and scale the business.

Plus, with the advent of new technologies and updates in OS, your app will surely need to evolve constantly. For this reason, you must hire a capable startup app development company that can ensure the smooth functioning of your app for a long time.

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Common Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking App Investors

Getting investment for your app is vital for growth, but many business owners make serious errors during this process that can reduce their chances of success. If you’re learning how to get investors for an app, staying away from these traps will put you in a much better spot.

Lack of Clear Vision

Investors want to support founders who know exactly where their product is going. If you can’t clearly explain what problem your app fixes, why it’s important, and how you plan to expand over the next three to five years, you risk losing trust.

A vague or cookie-cutter pitch often shows uncertainty and poor preparation. Before talking to investors, make sure you have a well-documented roadmap with specific goals, timelines, and milestones that show both big dreams and realistic thinking.

Overlooking Market Fit

An app concept by itself isn’t sufficient. It needs to prove that real users actually want it. Many startups crash because they don’t test their idea with actual users before pitching. Without solid proof of momentum or interest, investors may write off your app as too risky.

Run surveys, test beta versions, and collect real information that shows people will actually use it. Remember, understanding how to find investors for an app only works if you can confidently prove that your product fixes a real problem and fits within a big, profitable market.

Ignoring Financial Projections

A solid product matters, but investors want to see a return on their investment. If you show up to a meeting without detailed financial forecasts, you’re leaving too many questions hanging. Investors need to see a clear picture of how you’ll make money, your pricing strategy, profit margins, and where you expect growth to happen.

Without this information, your pitch feels unfinished and risky. Well-organized financials don’t just build trust but also make your case stronger for funding for app development, showing you’ve actually thought about making money beyond just having a good idea.

Underestimating the Competition

No app lives in its own bubble. Even if you think yours is totally different, there are always other options or alternatives people can choose. Many founders screw up by either pretending competitors don’t exist or acting like they don’t matter. Investors see this as a warning sign because it shows you don’t really get your market.

Instead, be upfront about your competitors, talk about what they do well and where they fall short, and clearly explain how your app is different. A thorough competitor analysis proves you’re being realistic and smart about winning customers.

Unprepared for Due Diligence

The pitch is just the beginning. Once investors show interest, they’ll examine your business closely to verify what you told them. If you’re not ready for this step, everything can fall apart quickly. Due diligence examines your financial records, customer contracts, who owns what ideas, legal matters, and your team’s history.

Missing papers or details that don’t match up will make them suspicious. Being ready and organized makes everything go smoother and shows investors you’re honest and take this seriously.

Having an Unrealistic Valuation

You should feel proud of your app and want good money for it, especially when you’re getting some early wins. But asking for too much can push away potential investors. Really high valuations make you look like you don’t know what you’re doing, which makes talking deals harder. Instead, use real facts like how fast users are joining, actual money coming in, market size, and what other similar companies sold for.

Talk to experienced people or mentors who can help you pick a fair price that shows what you’re really worth while giving room to grow bigger. This makes your offer way more interesting to investors who know what they’re doing.

Partner with Appinventiv to Secure Startup Funding

The future of startup funding keeps changing, with investors searching for fresh ideas, scalable solutions, and teams that know how to get things done. To bring in the right investment, you need to clearly show what your app can accomplish, prove its worth, and present a smart growth plan. App development never really stops, and keeping your app updated with new features and improvements makes sure it stays useful and interesting for people who use it.

Still wondering how to get investors for an app? Want to build a strong, error-free MVP that grabs investor attention? Appinventiv, a top mobile app development services partner, has helped many global brands and startups reach their digital goals. We help startups create MVPs that don’t just wow investors but also set up the groundwork for lasting success.

A great example of our results is our work with Edfundo, a financial literacy app that teaches kids money skills from an early age. We helped them get $500,000 in pre-seed funding and prepared them for a $3 million seed round, setting up the app for faster growth.

We also worked with Edamama, an eCommerce platform made for new and busy mothers, helping them raise $5 million in funding.

These wins show how serious we are about turning big ideas into products ready for the market. With Appinventiv as your technology partner, your mobile app startup can reach outstanding innovation, smooth user experience, and solid market position, opening doors for major fundraising chances.

Speak with our experts and discover how to future-proof your app with advanced technologies and investor-ready strategies.

FAQs

Q. What is the funding process for mobile app development?

A. There are various types of funding processes that can help you accelerate your mobile app development. A few of them are listed below:

• Fundraising
• Contributions
• App contests
• Seed funding
• Bank loans

Q. How to gain the attention of investors?

A. Angel investors and venture capitalists only invest in startups that they find are unique. Entrepreneurs must look for different ways to gain the attention of investors and showcase their product’s USP. A few of the tested methods are:

• Become an expert in your niche
• Brand your app- logo and vision
• Get an online presence
• Build a pitch deck
• MVP is key to success

If you want to know more on how to get investors for an app, connect with our experts to get a detailed consultation.

Q. Where can I find investors for my app?

A. Finding the right investors for your app takes a smart plan. To figure out how to get investors for an app, begin by looking into angel investors, venture capital firms, startup accelerators, and networks focused on your industry. Creating a solid pitch, proving your idea works, and showing early success will boost your odds of attracting the right funding partners. Reaching out to experts and using platforms that focus on mobile startup investment strategies can also help you get the money your app needs.

Q. Do I need an MVP to attract investors?

A. New app ideas are generated daily, and investors often hear them. However, an MVP helps raise money as it defines your app idea as functional. The demo of your app provides an interactive demo experience about your product. The chances of experiencing bugs and glitches are high, but no matter what route you take, investors will be impressed that you’ve put huge efforts into bringing your app to life. MVP defines your app’s vision for the future, and investors want to invest in products that can promise a future.

Q. How much does it cost to build an MVP?

A. The cost of developing an MVP depends on various factors like the app domain, platform, tech stack, team size, and geographical location of the development partner. The average MVP development cost is $30,000 to $100,000. However, a fully functional app with cross-platform and API development can cost up to $300,00 or more.