Every investor relationship is unique and requires bespoke management, and the right tools that can help with relationship management are essential. If your firm is interested in growing its investor network, a dedicated CRM for investor relations management is a must-have. Let's look at why it is an essential tool and how you can use it to your advantage.

Benefits of Using a Dedicated Investor Relations CRM

• Keeping track of fundraising conversations
• Centralise investor data
• Managing existing/Building new relationships with LP
• Providing value

Things to Look for in an Investor Relations CRM

• Deal Flow Pipeline Visibility
• Recording Communication
• Relationship Creation
• Fundraising Management

5 Best Investor Relations CRMs

• HubSpot Sales
• Pipedrive
• Salesforce CRM
• Zoho CRM
• Dialllog

Why doesn't a generic CRM work for Investor Relations?
What are the risks of using a CRM for Investor Relations?
Conclusion

Investor relations CRM is a management software that allows one to manage relationships with potential or existing investors in a fund. These relationships start well before the venture fund is up and running. The first time investors are approached is during the fundraising period. Those who decide to invest become Limited Partners in the fund and General Partners develop the relationships with their LPs through an established communication model throughout the lifetime of the fund. And it all starts again with the next fund being raised. The goal of investor relationships CRM is to capture as much information as possible about the history of interactions with the investors to support and solidify the relationships over time.

• Centralise investor data.

Having all your investor data in one place where your team members can see it is one of the major benefits a CRM provides. A central database keeps your organisation on the same page, allowing users to leverage the information in every conversation they have. This is important in businesses where competition is intense, and you want to gain a competitive advantage through a personalised approach towards your investors. If all the relevant investor information is available at one's fingertips, the entire fund is prepared to communicate with each investor in the best possible way.

• Managing existing/Building new relationships with LPs

For VCs, most of the key wins come from a very small number of key relationships. The main question is, which relationships are the most valuable?

The most integral and highest value task of any venture capital firm will always be linked to relationship building and improving relationships with existing investors (LPs). During the COVID-19 pandemic, relationship and deal management in venture capital shifted towards relying even more heavily on technology. Building new relationships with new LPs helps your firm grow, as you rely on warm introductions as your means of building this relationship.

• Providing value

An investor relations CRM platform with analytics functionality directly supports investor pipeline management and data sharing with current investors. Reporting and analytics are also a way to showcase your experience and value to prospective investors.

The biggest value a CRM provides for venture capitalists is not from the volume of data recorded (even though this is also important) but from the ability to leverage relationship intelligence within the given data set. Each piece of information recorded in the CRM goes beyond the mere data point; it is a piece of a relationship. Valuable time should be spent on building and supporting those relationships, not manually entering data. Leveraging automated reminders along with the transparency that comes with an automated system enables teams that aren't together in one place to stay aligned on long-term goals for each relationship.

You're already preoccupied with large amounts of data at your disposal. This is where an automated CRM can enable you to spend more of your time where you add the most value. One of the most impactful technology initiatives for a VC firm is investing into a CRM that automatically deals with the heavy lifting needed to get the most value out of relationships.

• Deal Flow Pipeline Visibility

The high volume, relationship-driven aspect of investing is supported by a CRM software, which serves as a central store for all of your crucial transaction information. You want to be able to compile your transaction pipeline into simple to understand reports using real-time analytics. It is essential to have reporting dashboards that specifically target the facts considered important. Consistent updates covering the information that your partners care about help convey the added value, fostering the growth of your relationships, and enhancing your reputation as a partner who exceeds their expectations.

• Recording Communication

Every engagement your team has with a company is documented in a single location as a result of automated activity tracking. In addition to providing a way to immediately attach files to a contact record, this essential feature of a VC CRM also includes direct conversations like emails, meetings, and phone calls so you can keep track of what you discussed and when. A singular record also ensures that your team may continue to work toward the same, established objectives. When all interactions are recorded together, you can check what details were discussed in earlier sessions and make sure there is a clear line of communication between them, which in return establishes trust.

• Relationship Creation

Your company will expand if you connect with new firms and form connections with them, but it is typically unsuccessful in doing so through cold calls and emails. You may gain better access with a CRM driven by relationship intelligence technology, allowing you to better use your current data and demonstrate the value of your team. Developing a connection with your clients fosters trust, which may expand your referral business and help you keep customers for subsequent deals.

• Fundraising Management

Deal flow management is a primary focus of CRM software created for private equity and venture capital funds. The ability to transform investment deal flow management tools into fundraising management tools is a component of the best CRM software. You want to be able to track and manage your firm's fundraising stages as well as the most crucial facts about the relationship together by automatically recording all of your contact information and deal data. By keeping an eye on various fundraising activities in your CRM, you can link current deal data to your full communication history, allowing you to handle them independently while quickly surfacing more detail.

1. HubSpot Sales

HubSpot Sales is an efficient CRM with a variety of features that make it a good option for managing your investor relationships. The comprehensive contact management system that comes with HubSpot Sales makes it simple to keep track of your investors. Each contact record may have comments and reminders added to it, and you can even create projects and follow-ups.

Additionally, HubSpot Sales has a variety of tools that may be used to automate investor relations activities. Sending out quarterly reports or monthly newsletters is possible with the built-in email function. Additionally, it has pre-built templates for making presentations and pitch decks that can be altered.

Lastly, a variety of reporting and analytic tools included with HubSpot Sales can provide you with helpful insights into your investor connections. You may monitor the success of your investor relations activities and determine which investors are most interested in your business. You can keep track of important data using the built-in reporting tool, such as how many meetings you've had with different investors and how much money each one has pledged. Although it is by far one of the best CRMs, it is costly. The pricing for HubSpot Sales CRM begins at £38 per month.


2. Pipedrive

Tracking investor relations is a substantial strength of Pipedrive. It's easy to keep track of your interactions with prospective with Pipedrive's lead management features. Each lead record may have notes and reminders added to it, along with tasks and follow-ups. Pipedrive also has a very attractive automation feature. Using the integrated email tool to distribute quarterly reports or monthly newsletters is very beneficial. Along with that has built-in templates for making personalized pitch decks and presentations, which is quite helpful.

With Pipedrive you can monitor the success of your investor relations activities and determine which investors are most interested in your business. The most advantageous aspect of Pipedrive is that it is one of the most reasonably priced CRMs available. It starts at just $14.90 a month for the essential features, which makes it an excellent option for startups and small enterprises.


3. Salesforce CRM

The best option is Salesforce CRM if you're in charge of investor relations for a big company. Despite being costly, this CRM has a lot of power. The price for Salesforce CRM starts at £20 per month for essential features, going all the way to £240 per month for the unlimited package.

The value of being able to produce reports that demonstrate the effectiveness of your investor relations strategy cannot be overstated. Both the ability to produce custom reports and a variety of built-in reporting capabilities are included with Salesforce CRM. It can help you adjust your investor relations approach based on the data and trends. Emails are very important when it comes to investor relations so it is essential to use a CRM platform that can support this. Numerous capabilities included with Salesforce CRM make it simple to send bulk emails, monitor email interaction, and even automate email marketing campaigns.

Salesforce CRM also integrates with many popular platforms like Microsoft outlook and google applications. Nearly every CRM on the market falls short of Salesforce in terms of integrations. Additionally, a variety of capabilities included in Salesforce CRM make it simple to automate tasks related to investor relations. Salesforce even has a mobile app that allows users to access their CRM data from a smartphone or tablet.


4. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is the ideal option if you're seeking a free CRM for investor relations. This CRM has a variety of capabilities that make it a great option for startups and small enterprises. It is also relatively inexpensive. For the most basic subscription the price is £12. It might not have as many features as industry rivals, but it still offers everything you require.

Numerous features provided by Zoho CRM make it simple to manage your investor relations operation. The "workflow" function, for instance, may be used to automate processes like sending out reminders or issuing financial reports. Zoho CRM also has a mobile app, allowing you to access your data from a smartphone or tablet. Along with that, it also integrates with google apps. Popular programs like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs are included in this. Last but not least, Zoho CRM provides excellent assistance, and you can always get in touch with a customer care agent by phone, chat, or email.


5. Dialllog

Although fairly new and expensive, Dialllog CRM is one of the best and most innovative CRM platforms available today with a price of £65 per month. Dialllog is the first communication and teamwork tool created especially for venture capital firms. It provides VC firms with a 360-degree perspective of all of their operations, from sourcing and fundraising to due diligence and investment management. To assist your team in managing ongoing operations, utilizing smart insights in real-time, and preventing personal information silos, Dialllog records and organizes all of your interactions.

Only Dialllog's platform creates data-driven workflows to provide efficiency for profitable investments. Key features include the integration of email and calendar, deal flow, due diligence, investment management, and more. This is by far one of the most promising CRM platforms for VC investor relations.

Typical CRM software for venture capital teams usually only covers the sourcing pipeline and relationships with investors are managed with spreadsheets or emails. There are three reasons why a generic CRM doesn't work for Investor Relationship management:

1. Generic CRMs don't allow multiple use cases and only manage a one-dimensional funnel workflow. They don't really allow to make the difference between investors and startups and run separate funnels.

2. Many fund managers want to hide some sensitive investor communication from the rest of the team, and generic CRMs don't allow to make certain conversations private.

3. Any generic CRMs see relationships with investors as stopping when they invest in the fund. The CRMs are not designed to deal with your communications with LPs, so that you can leverage the full history of the relationship when you are ready to fundraise for your next fund.

By not centralising all the accumulated knowledge about your current or potential investors and your history with each of them, you risk losing key information that helps you strengthen the relationships and fundraise more funds in the future. The better the tool, the more you know about your investors, which will lead to stronger relationships.

It wouldn't be difficult to make a list of possible disadvantages arising from the implementation of a CRM. Instead, that long list can be summarised into a single element, since that is what will truly determine the success or otherwise of your initiative.

The effectiveness of a CRM mostly depends on its correct implementation, and the correct implementation, in turn, depends on a team that knows how to correctly use analytics, adapt the tool to the requirements of the company, and take the time needed to analyse and change whatever is necessary to optimise the results.

Your VC team must have one investor relations platform that supports building a full investor relations strategy. Several advantages come with having a CRM in your venture capital fund. For example, it helps to build new relationships and offers clear visibility into your investor pipeline, due diligence, investment management, email and calendar integration, KPI tracking and reporting, tracking fundraising, etc.

For your firm to regularly secure funding and remain competitive as more firms begin to compete for investment, you must consolidate and streamline the process you adopt for managing relationships with your Limited Partners.

Choosing the right CRM system can be overwhelming with the number of options available. The right CRM should not be separate from your startup sourcing CRM, because you don't want to switch from one system to another. Your CRM needs to bring all your ecosystem relationships into one platform and to build a map of all your activities and networks, allowing you to be more successful in raising funds and communicating results to the existing investors to drive your business forward.