TL;DR: Aera Capital (Investment Banking) booked 112 calls from 4,200 LinkedIn connection requests in 90 days. Reachium built a content-driven lead generation system that let founders raising capital find Aera instead of the other way around.
Aera's pipeline used to depend on cold outbound, and in investment banking that reads as chasing. The fix was to publish content that made the right founders raise their hand first.
Key Takeaways
- Aera generated 524 hot leads from founders actively raising capital, all inbound, and booked 112 calls from them.
- 1,680 of the 4,200 connection requests were accepted, and 524 of those connections replied.
- Every post ended with one ask, "book a call if you're raising," so the content filtered founders before they reached the calendar.
- The shift was from sourcing deals to selecting them: founders arrived already asking to talk.
What was Aera Capital up against?
Aera didn't want to chase founders. It wanted founders who were raising capital to come to it with intent, not curiosity. Cold outbound in investment banking tends to feel desperate, and a firm selling credibility can't afford to look that way.
How did Reachium set it up?
Reachium built a content engine around Aera's expertise. The thought leadership positioned Aera as the firm a founder should already know about before a raise. The call to action was deliberately narrow. It never said "follow us." It said "book a call if you're raising," which meant anyone who booked had already qualified themselves.
What happened?
Reachium sent 4,200 LinkedIn connection requests on Aera's behalf, and 1,680 were accepted Platform data. Those connections produced 524 replies and 112 booked calls with founders actively raising Platform data.
Pasha Baradaran, Aera's Head of Origination, put it simply: "Five hundred founders raising capital found us. We didn't find them. The content did."
How does Aera's reply rate compare with the benchmark?
524 replies from 1,680 accepted connections is 31% of accepted connections Platform data. Across the platform, Reachium's 2026 LinkedIn outreach benchmark found 27.6% of accepted connections produced a reply Platform data. Content carries a lot of the weight in setups like this one. In Reachium's own lead-magnet post study, lead-magnet posts earned a median of 78.5 comments against 1 for standard posts Platform data.
Aera's campaigns were run end to end by the Reachium agency team. Firms that would rather run their own accounts can compare the per-account plans. For more investment banking results, read the Ancaster and Culmen Capital case studies.
FAQ
How long did it take Aera Capital to see results?
The 524 hot leads and 112 booked calls came out of a 90-day run.
Did Aera message founders first?
No. The leads were inbound. Founders raising capital responded to Aera's content and asked for a call.
What did Aera's content ask readers to do?
Book a call if they were raising capital. The narrow ask kept curious readers out and let serious founders self-select.
Why did Aera move away from cold outbound?
In investment banking, chasing founders with cold messages can read as desperate. Aera wanted founders to come to it instead.
How many of Aera's connection requests were accepted?
1,680 of 4,200, or 40% Platform data.
What would a setup like Aera's cost?
Reachium prices per LinkedIn account, so cost depends on how many accounts run the campaigns. The content and outreach work can be handed to the done-for-you team.