Top Pre-Seed Investors and Venture Capital Firms For Startups (2026)
Find the pre-seed investors and VCs backing founders before the product, the revenue, or the first customer. Investor Hunt currently lists 8,580 investors active at the pre-seed stage.
Investor Data Snapshot
Pre-seed investors in the Investor Hunt database: 8,580
Top countries represented: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, India, Canada
Top states and regions represented: California, New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Illinois, Florida
Top cities represented: New York City, San Francisco, London, Boston, Los Angeles, Paris, Chicago, Austin
Top industries covered: B2B, Information Technology, Consumer Internet, Health Care, Enterprise Software, SaaS, FinTech
The following data reflects pre-seed investors currently available in the Investor Hunt database and is updated regularly.
What a Pre-Seed Investor Actually Is?
A pre-seed investor writes the first institutional check a startup ever takes. The label gets stretched to cover almost anyone standing near an early deal.
At this point, investors are primarily backing the founders rather than the business. Decisions rely heavily on the team's expertise. The capital is used for building the first product and reaching the milestones needed to raise a larger seed round.
Checks run anywhere from $50,000 to $1 million for a small slice of equity.
How to Approach a Pre-Seed Investor With No Traction?
With no revenue to point to, the pitch should lean on the signal.
Lead with the strongest signal available rather than a metric you don't have yet. Keep the first email short. Most investors say 50-200 words is enough, with 100 the rough sweet spot, and it should come from the founder's own address.
Open with one sentence on what the company does. Then send three to four follow-ups over ten to twelve days.
How Much Equity Does a Pre-Seed Round Cost?
Before reaching out, it helps to know what the check costs in ownership.
Per the Carta 2026 Founder Ownership Report, pre-seed founders typically give up 10% to 20% equity, with the median near 15%.
Most 2026 rounds raise $250K-$1.5M at $4-10M post-money valuations.
A common rule of thumb is that if a round gives away more than 25% this early, the valuation is too low or the raise is too large for the stage.
How Much to Raise at Pre-Seed in 2026?
The formula for this
(Months to milestone + 6-month buffer) × monthly burn = your raise
A four-person team burning $80K a month, with a milestone 12 months out, needs (12 + 6) × $80K = $1.44M, so they raise $1.5M.
That figure is defensible because it's tied to a reason.
What Are The Top Pre-Seed Investment Firms?
Every firm below is of a different type and writes real first checks, has the track record to prove it, and is still active at the earliest stage today.
- Check size: Lead investor at seed; targets roughly 7.5%-12.5% ownership
- Focus: Generalist: enterprise, AI, fintech, healthcare, consumer, hardware
- Founded: 2004
- Notable early bets: Uber, Square, Notion, Roblox
Founded in 2004 by Josh Kopelman and Howard Morgan, First Round is one of the oldest dedicated seed firms still operating.
It invested as a generalist and was the first institutional money into Uber, back when the company was still called UberCab.
- Check size: Pre-seed and seed; fourth fund closed at $432M (2023)
- Focus: AI, enterprise, healthcare, consumer
- Founded: 2013
- Notable early bets: DoorDash, Gusto, Guardant Health
Pear was founded in 2013 by Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson and is based in Menlo Park.
It specializes in the idea stage, roughly half its companies are student-founded, and runs PearX, a hands-on program for teams still hunting for product-market fit.
- Check size: $250K-$500K first checks
- Focus: Software, hardware, consumer, enterprise
- Founded: 2015
- Notable early bets: The Athletic, Carrot Fertility, Pair Eyewear
Charles Hudson founded Precursor in 2015 and still runs it as a solo general partner out of San Francisco.
He backs founders that bigger firms overlook, such as first-timers, people outside the usual networks, and companies with no product yet.
- Check size: ~$25K-$100K, fast
- Focus: Consumer internet, SaaS: broad and prolific
- Founded: 2009 (Ron Conway angel investing since the '90s)
- Notable early bets: Google, Twitter, Airbnb, Stripe
SV Angel writes small, quick checks and rarely leads, which means it usually skips the board seat that comes with leading a round.
What it brings instead is a network, and Conway's name on the cap table is its own kind of signal.
- Check size: $100K-$150K at pre-seed
- Focus: B2B SaaS, dev tools, fintech, AI
- Founded: 2017
- Notable early bets: Webflow, NerdWallet
Founded in 2017 by former operators Elizabeth Yin, Eric Bahn, and Shiyan Koh, Hustle Fund backs founders earlier than almost anyone.
The firm describes itself as "hilariously early" and means it, making decisions in days and writing checks to companies that barely have a product.
- Check size: $1M-$4M (leans seed)
- Focus: Software, AI, crypto, fintech, healthcare
- Founded: 2012
- Notable early bets: Coinbase, Instacart, Rippling
Initialized was founded in 2012 by Garry Tan, Alexis Ohanian, and Harj Taggar, and operates out of San Francisco and New York. It invests at the early stage across software, AI, crypto, fintech, and healthcare.
- Check size: First-check, pre-product; funds totaling $150M+
- Focus: Enterprise software, dev tools, security, infrastructure
- Founded: 2010
- Notable early bets: Snyk, BigID
Ed Sim founded Boldstart in 2010, and it's stayed narrow on purpose ever since. The firm is a first-check investor in enterprise software, dev tools, security, and infrastructure, and nothing else.
Which Industries Are Most Likely to Raise a Pre-Seed Round?
At Investor Hunt, we see certain industries consistently more primed for pre-seed funding, and the 2025 Carta data backs it up:
- SaaS: Still the giant; 33% of all venture funding
- AI: The hot money; 42% of seed capital, up from 23% pre-ChatGPT
- Hardware: Climbed to the #2 pre-seed sector by cash in 2025
- Biotech/pharma: Now #3, with some of the highest valuation caps
- Fintech: Software-light enough to raise small and lean
Frequently Asked Questions:
How much do pre-seed investors typically invest?
Most pre-seed checks fall between $50,000 and $1 million.
How many pre-seed investors are based in the United States?
Investor Hunt lists 58,189 investors based in the United States across all stages, with California (18,495) and New York (10,807) being the two densest hubs.
Of the 8,580 investors tagged as active at pre-seed, the majority are US-based, concentrated in San Francisco and New York City.
How many angel investors does Investor Hunt have?
Investor Hunt lists 67,687 profiles tagged as Angel/Individual investors. The majority are based in the United States (58,189 investor profiles across all types), with strong representation in the UK, India, Germany, France, and Canada.
How do you find pre-seed investors?
At Investor Hunt, founders filter 110,000+ angels and VCs by stage, sector, and check size to build a focused shortlist in minutes.
Related Investor Lists
