How Staria Raised €660,000 with Bolkana’s Fundraising Booster

Raising a funding round is never easy, but doing it as a hardware startup can be even more challenging. Today, we’re sharing the story of Staria, an innovative company designing intelligent solar streetlights, and how we helped them raise €660,000 in just 4.5 months.

The Vision: Revolutionizing Lighting

When Staria approached us, they had a clear vision: to revolutionize the lighting market with sustainable and intelligent solutions. However, like many early-stage startups, they lacked fundraising experience and didn’t know where to start.

The Challenges: Hardware and a Niche Market

Fundraising for hardware startups has unique complications. Unlike software startups, hardware requires larger initial investments and takes longer to scale.

For Staria, we needed to:

Find investors specializing in the sector.
Convince them of the technology’s potential in a niche market.

The Strategy: Define and Prepare the Fundraising Plan

To maximize their chances of success, we began with three critical steps:

Define the Numbers:

How much capital they needed.
A fair valuation to attract investors while protecting the team.
An acceptable dilution level.

Create the Necessary Documentation:

A pitch deck that communicated their vision clearly and professionally.
A business plan that highlighted their business model and market opportunity.
A financial plan demonstrating viability and growth potential.

With these elements, we ensured Staria was ready to start their fundraising journey.

First Investors: Business Angels and Industry Leaders

We knew the first step was generating traction with accessible investors: business angels and successful entrepreneurs in the sector.

Through strategic connections, we secured €110,000 from these early investors, who not only brought capital but also credibility and support to the project.

Some of these business angels had previously invested in hardware companies like Wallbox or were former executives at companies like HolaLuz.

The Investment Fund

With the first €110,000 secured, it was time to find an investment fund to contribute the majority of the capital.

We focused on funds specialized in hardware or related sectors, ultimately closing €550,000 with Sherry Ventures, who were impressed by the potential of the team and their technology.

The Result: A Record-Breaking Funding Round

As Miguel Domingo, founder of Staria, said:

“Thanks to the Bolkana team, we closed €660,000 in record time—just 4.5 months—avoiding excessive dilution and gaining key partners.”

If you’re looking to raise capital for your startup, at Bolkana, we’re here to guide you every step of the way. Apply to our program to simplify your fundraising and take your startup to the next level.