Potential Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has raised $7m in the first quarter of the year, he said Monday morning.

The South Bend, Indiana mayor, little known nationally before he launched his presidential exploratory committee, has drawn a recent flurry of media attention with his bid to be the nation’s first openly gay and, at age 37, youngest president.

“This is just a preliminary analysis, but our team’s initial report shows we raised over $7 million dollars in Q1 of this year. We (you) are out-performing expectations at every turn,” Buttigieg said on Twitter early Monday morning.

Official reports on fundraising for the first three months of the year, a period that went through Sunday, are due on 15 April. Buttigieg was the first candidate to release his figures publicly.

Buttigieg is competing in a crowded Democratic primary field that includes several senators and current or former governors, and potentially a former vice-president.

Though the three-month haul of cash is impressive for a minor candidate in the race, it still leaves Buttigieg lagging behind the frontrunners. When former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke entered the race he raised $6.1m in a single day. Senator Bernie Sanders raised $5.9m on his first day and California senator Kamala Harris raised $1.5m the day she launched her campaign.

But Buttigieg has broken out of relative obscurity. He has already qualified for the Democratic primary debates by raising donations from more than 65,000 individual contributors.

His exploratory committee also recently announced it was hiring nearly 20 more staffers, which would almost double the size of his team.

The fundraising haul is likely to further buttress his attempt to be seen as a viable contender.

“At this stage they take your measure by looking at your fundraising,” he said in a tweet Sunday asking for donations. “Please help us make sure it’s a good day.”