Top Seed Stage Investors and Venture Capital Firms For Startups (2026)
Find the seed investors and VCs backing founders with a working product and their first real users. Investor Hunt lists 37,763 investors active at the seed stage.
Investor Data Snapshot:
Seed investors in the Investor Hunt database: 37,763
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 seed investors currently available in the Investor Hunt database and is updated regularly.
What a Seed Investor Actually Is?
A seed investor backs a startup that has a working product and early signs that people want it. The round funds the search for product-market fit. Their capital is often used to validate the business model and prepare for a larger Series A round.
Institutional seed checks run from $500,000 to $2 million.
How Much of Your Company a Seed Round Costs?
A seed round takes roughly 20% of the company. Most US seed rounds price at $8M to $20M pre-money. Repeat founders with a prior exit raise 30% to 50% above that.
AI-native startups rise at the top of the range and past it.
What Are The Different Types of Seed Funding?
Seed money comes from four sources, and they behave differently.
Dedicated seed funds run $50M to $300M and write $1M to $4M checks. Seed is their entire product.
Multi-stage firms drop down from Series A to take an early position, often to secure the right to lead later.
Angels write $25K to $100K of their own money and move fast. Micro-VCs sit between angels and institutional funds, writing $250K to $500K.
Accelerators fund at or before seed on a fixed deal. Y Combinator invests $500K for 7% on a standard SAFE.
How Long Does a Seed Raise Take?
A prepared founder closes a seed round in six to twelve weeks from first meeting to money in the bank.
The process runs through a lead. The lead sets the price, the rest of the round fills in behind it, and diligence at seed stays lighter than later stages, mostly reference checks and a look at the founding team.
How Can I Raise Seed Money Without Significant Revenue?
Revenue is not the only proof a seed investor accepts. A working product with real users and named-founder credentials can carry a round on its own.
Also, the bar has moved since 2021. Many seed investors now look for $10K or more in monthly recurring revenue before they commit. Without revenue, the case rests on usage and retention.
The Top Seed-Stage Investment Firms:
Every firm below leads seed rounds, sets terms, and builds its model around the seed stage rather than dropping in from later rounds.
- Check size: $500K–$1M first checks, leads seed rounds
- Focus: Technology-driven companies, broad sectors
- Founded: 2004
- Notable early bets: Uber, Square, Notion, Roblox
First Round backs companies at their earliest institutional moment and built its name on founder support over check size.
It wrote the first institutional check into Uber.
- Check size: $1M–$5M, leads pre-seed and seed
- Focus: Marketplaces, fintech, network-effects businesses, AI, bio
- Founded: 2015
- Notable early bets: DoorDash, Lyft, Trulia
NFX was founded by operators who built ten companies with over $10 billion in exits.
It moves fast, leads rounds, and runs Signal, a fundraising network used by over 100,000 founders.
- Check size: $500K–$1M at the earliest stage
- 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. It comes in at the idea stage and has helped start more than ten companies.
- Check size: $250K–$500K first checks
- Focus: B2B software, B2C software, connected hardware
- Founded: 2015
- Notable early bets: The Athletic, Carrot Fertility, Modern Health
Charles Hudson runs Precursor as a solo general partner out of San Francisco and invests before product-market fit on purpose.
- Check size: $150K–$1M, micro-VC model
- Focus: Sector-agnostic, consumer and enterprise technology
- Founded: 2010
- Notable early bets: Twitter, Lyft, Okta
Floodgate pioneered the micro-VC model with small funds and small first checks.
It looks for what it calls pattern-breaking companies and prefers the San Francisco Bay Area and Austin.
- Check size: Small early-stage checks, rarely leads
- Focus: Consumer, consumer-social, enterprise, fintech
- Founded: 2009
- Notable early bets: Across hundreds of seed-stage companies
BoxGroup is one of New York's most prolific seed firms, built on a lean partner-only team where founders deal straight with the decision-makers.
It takes smaller stakes than a typical lead and bets on conviction in the founder over traction.
- Check size: $500K on a standard SAFE for 7%
- Focus: Sector-agnostic, technology
- Founded: 2005
- Notable early bets: Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, Coinbase
Y Combinator funds roughly 1,000 companies a year through a 12-week program ending in Demo Day.
Which Industries Raise the Most at Seed?
AI startups took 41.7% in 2025, and many raised $4M to $5M seed rounds at $15M to $25M post-money.
SaaS remains the steady default. Fintech, healthcare, and biotech follow, with biotech carrying some of the highest valuation caps.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: How do you find the right seed investors for your startup?
A: On Investor Hunt, 37,763 investors are tagged at the seed stage, and you can narrow them by industry and geography to match the ones that actually back companies like yours.
Q: How much equity do you give up in a seed round?
A: Most founders give up around 20% in a seed round, in line with the median across recent quarters.
Q: What do seed investors look for in 2026?
A: Many seed investors now expect $10K or more in monthly recurring revenue or signed pilots, with retention that shows people come back. AI-native startups can raise their growth rate alone.
Q: Should I raise seed from angels or VCs?
A: At seed, you'll usually want both. A lead VC to set the terms and anchor the round, then angels to fill it out, especially ones who know your industry. Angels move faster and can commit in a single call, so I'd line them up early while the VC conversations run their course.
Q: Do seed investors expect revenue before they invest?
A: Not always, but the bar has moved. A lot of seed investors now want to see around $10K in monthly recurring revenue or signed pilots. If you don't have revenue yet, you need something else that proves demand.
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