How to Raise Capital During the Holidays

Raising capital during the holidays can feel like a gamble. Many founders assume investors are checked out, ad costs are too high, and it is better to wait for January. In our November webinar, “How to Raise Capital During the Holidays,” Jason Fishman and Ashley Inman from Digital Niche Agency walked through why that belief often costs founders real money and momentum.

Holiday capital is real

The first part of the session focused on data. Holiday investing is not a theory. It already happens at scale.

Jason shared that in Q4 2022, about 110 million dollars was invested in online startup deals. December 2023 saw roughly 33 million in Regulation CF commitments. November 2024 brought in about 34.2 million more. December 2024 also hit a record number of active equity crowdfunding campaigns with 569 raises live at once.

The conclusion is simple. Investors keep investing through the holidays. The question is whether they are investing in your campaign or someone else’s.

Why pausing in Q4 backfires

Many founders consider cutting ad budget or pausing completely during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. The webinar made clear why that is risky.

When you stop, ad algorithms lose their learning, retargeting audiences cool off, and momentum fades. Meanwhile, other campaigns stay active and capture attention from the same pool of investors. When you try to restart in January, it often feels like starting again from zero.

Momentum matters. If an investor checks your campaign in November at 300 thousand raised and comes back in a few weeks to see 600 thousand or 700 thousand, that builds confidence and excitement. If they return to the same number, it sends a very different signal.

How investors actually behave in late Q4

Ashley shared her own habits as a proxy for many investors. People say they want to unplug during the holidays, but reality looks like this: more time on the couch, more scrolling, and more space to research long term bets.

Investors are also thinking about taxes and portfolio positioning before year end. That means they are particularly open to well framed, long term opportunities when they have the time to look deeper.

The takeaway: your investors are on their phones. They are already clicking on ads and offers. Startup investments can be part of that behavior when you stay in front of them.

What winning campaigns do differently

The session contrasted “winning” campaign behavior with “losing” campaign behavior.

Winning campaigns:

• Stay live, including through holiday weeks

• Keep ads running, especially retargeting

• Share real milestones and third party validation

• Use short founder videos that feel personal and native to social feeds

• Talk as if deals are happening, because they are
  

Losing campaigns:

• Assume everyone is checked out

• Cut spend to “save budget”

• Post generic content just to post

• Go quiet for weeks, then try to restart
  

The team emphasized that it often takes 7 to 17 touchpoints for an investor to convert. Those touchpoints stack faster when you keep a consistent rhythm.

A simple holiday playbook you can follow

Jason and Ashley outlined a practical cadence founders can actually maintain:

• At least one portal update per week

• At least one investor email per week

• At least three social posts per week

• One short founder video added to that mix

• Ten to thirty minutes weekly on competitor and portal research
  

From there, layer in a high level calendar: ramp into the holidays, push through key shopping and travel weeks, then follow through in January with year end recaps and next year roadmaps. Supporters should hear from you often enough that they feel informed, not forgotten.

The bottom line

The core message of the webinar was straightforward. Holiday capital is not a myth. Founders who stay visible, keep their funnel moving, and communicate clearly can turn Q4 into a period of real traction instead of a pause.

Your raise does not stop because of the holidays. It stops when you do.

Download the free webinar deck!