He Raised €2M at Just €70K ARR, Without Pitching a Single Investor

€2M raised at €70K ARR. Only 25 customers. And he never pitched a single investor.Juanjo Mestre, CEO & Co-Founder of Dcycle, built one of Europe's fastest-growing ESG platforms, now serving 2,000+ companies across Madrid, London, and Munich with 65+ employees and ~€10M in total funding raised.His fundraising approach? The opposite of every playbook out there.No cold emails. No 100-deck grind. Just 5 investor relationships built over a year, until two of them came to him and said: "It's time to raise."Background: Juanjo co-founded Dcycle to solve a massive problem, companies drowning in scattered environmental data across teams, systems, and silos. Dcycle built one centralized platform where every department feeds data in and stakeholders pull reports out. Carbon footprint, compliance, ESG disclosures; all in one place.Every founder objection he overcame:- "ESG is a nice-to-have, not a must-have"- "You're too early with only €70K ARR"- "The sustainability market is too uncertain"Juanjo's fundraising journey:→ Step 1: Joined Lanzadera accelerator in Spain; connected with early investors→ Step 2: €1M first round from 4 Spanish pre-seed VCs (September 2021)→ Step 3: €2M pre-seed round; closed with just 25 happy customers and €70K ARR→ Step 4: €6M Series A; scaling across Europe→ Step 5: Now preparing for Series B in the next 6–8 monthsCurrent traction:→ 2,000+ companies served worldwide→ 65+ employees across Madrid, London, and Munich→ ~€10M total capital raised→ Expanding into UK and Germany markets→ Series B fundraising starting within 6–8 monthsWe go deep into:✅ How Juanjo built investor relationships for a year without ever "pitching" and why two VCs eventually came to him when the timing was right.✅ Why ESG data is becoming non-negotiable for companies — driven by regulation in the EU, UK, California, and New York and how Dcycle positioned itself at the center of that wave.✅ His take on product-market fit: why €100K ARR is just starting, €1M ARR is validation, and €5M ARR is when things get real.✅ The three forces driving the sustainability data market regulation, investor pressure, and market demand and how they compound globally.✅ Why he believes Series A is about validation but Series B is about scalable playbooks and what investors expect at each stage.✅ The honest truth about European vs. US fundraising: why the biggest exits still happen in America and what that means for European founders planning Series B and beyond.✅ The one pitch deck slide investors cared about most during his Series A — and it wasn't revenue or team.✅ How a favorable market (ESG boom in early 2022) combined with genuine relationships turned a €70K ARR company into a €2M raise — and what founders can learn from that timing.About Deal Makers (& Fakers) Podcast:Raw, unfiltered founder conversations about startup fundraising. No polished success stories, just brutal truth about raising capital, investor rejections, pitch deck failures, and fundraising strategies that actually work.I'm Niclas, building ⁠spectup⁠ into a new kind of capital advisory. Follow along if you're raising, investing, or just curious how the game really works.Reach out → spectup.comCheck out Dcycle → https://dcycle.io/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit niclasschlopsna.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dealmakersandfakers.substack.com