Pre-seed companies are in the earliest stages of development, often pre-product or pre-revenue. These startups typically raise under $1M to validate their concept and build their initial team.
Explore 9,419 recently funded pre-seed companies with lead investors, funding amounts, and founding team data.
| Industry | Companies | Total Funding |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence (AI) | 13 | $4.5M |
| Agentic AI | 3 | Undisclosed |
| Analytics | 2 | $4.5M |
| Bioinformatics | 1 | $500K |
| Blockchain | 1 | $500K |
| Developer Tools | 1 | Undisclosed |
| AI Infrastructure | 1 | Undisclosed |
| Billing | 1 | $500K |
| Aerospace | 1 | Undisclosed |
| Desktop Apps | 1 | $500K |
| City | Companies | Total Funding |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 17 | $6.0M |
| New York | 2 | Undisclosed |
| Brooklyn | 1 | Undisclosed |
| Dover | 1 | $500K |
| San Mateo | 1 | Undisclosed |
| Mildenhall | 1 | Undisclosed |
| Pasadena | 1 | $4.0M |
| London | 1 | $500K |
Strand AI offers biological datasets and data tools used by life sciences teams to train and evaluate machine learning models.
Synthetic Sciences builds AI agents that automate research workflows, from literature review to experiments and papers.
Syntropy offers software that uses AI agents to plan, generate, test, and submit code changes for software development projects.
Talking Computers develops AI agents that communicate with users and systems to perform workplace tasks and support automated workflows.
Tepali builds an AI operating system that provides software tools to support and manage medspa business processes and workflows.
Terminal Use offers a platform to build, deploy, and manage AI agents with filesystem access, orchestration, and execution infrastructure.
The Token Company offers an API that compresses text inputs to reduce token usage before sending prompts to language models.
Unifold offers payment infrastructure for multi-chain crypto deposits, handling wallets, routing, compliance, and settlement.
Unisson is a B2B software company that offers AI agents that learn product workflows and execute complex tasks inside software.
Valence offers a platform for trading prediction market contracts and managing orders, positions, and execution.
Valgo develops software that quantifies risk for the insurance of physical AI systems.
Verdex offers software that utilizes satellite imagery and data to track and analyze farmland conditions.
Veriad checks marketing ads against ASA, regulatory, and internal policies to generate compliance reports.
Visibl Semiconductors is an applied AI lab focused on automating the development of the world's semiconductors.
Wayco offers AI software that automates client intake and case workflows for law firms using voice and referral intelligence processing.
Wideframe offers AI software that analyzes video footage, enables semantic search, and generates edit-ready sequences for creative agencies.
Zerosettle offers a merchant web checkout software for iOS apps to process payments, manage tax, and handle compliance and disputes.
Zymbly is an AI assistant for aviation maintenance that includes voice-first guidance, workflow support, and quick access to manuals.
Triangle Health is a software company that uses artificial intelligence to analyze medical documents.
Vela offers an AI scheduling assistant that books, coordinates, and reschedules meetings across email, SMS, and messaging apps.
Emdash offers an open-source desktop environment that runs multiple coding agents in parallel for software workflows.
Beacon Health offers an AI agents that automate risk adjustment, patient calls, and scheduling within EHR systems.
Traverse is a data research lab that builds training data to help AI models develop judgment and handle ambiguous tasks.
Q2q offers a platform that researches markets, builds prospect lists, and runs multi-channel outreach with integrated tracking.
Revion offers voice AI software that converts technician speech into structured repair orders, inspections, and time logs for dealerships.
Pre-seed funding is the earliest formal stage of startup financing. At this point, founders are typically working on validating an idea, building a prototype, or conducting initial customer discovery. Many pre-seed rounds come from personal savings, friends and family, angel investors, or early-stage accelerators. The company is usually pre-revenue and may not yet have a fully built product.
$50K - $2M
The actual amount varies based on market conditions, company traction, and investor appetite.
Pre-seed capital is generally used to build a minimum viable product (MVP), conduct customer interviews, hire the first one or two team members, and cover operating expenses while the founders validate their assumptions about the market.
Friends and family, angel investors, micro-VCs, and startup accelerators like Y Combinator, Techstars, and 500 Global are the most common pre-seed investors. Some institutional seed funds also participate in pre-seed rounds when they see exceptional founding teams.
At the pre-seed stage, investors focus less on traction metrics and more on the founding team, market opportunity, and the clarity of the problem being solved. A compelling pitch, evidence of domain expertise, and early user interest or waitlist signups can be enough to secure funding.
Based on 9,419 pre-seed companies tracked in the VCBacked database, here is a snapshot of current funding activity at this stage.
Finding companies that have recently raised pre-seed funding is valuable for sales teams, investors, recruiters, and service providers. Pre-Seed startups are actively spending their newly raised capital on tools, talent, and services, making them ideal prospects. VCBacked tracks 9,419 pre-seed companies with verified founder contact information, updated regularly as new rounds are announced.
You can narrow your search by filtering companies by industry vertical, city or region, or by exploring specific combinations such as Pre-Seed artificial intelligence (ai) companies. Each company profile includes funding details, founder names, and contact information to help you reach out directly.
For a broader view of the startup funding landscape, explore all funding stages or browse companies by our full company directory. Whether you are looking for early-stage startups to invest in or growth-stage companies to sell to, VCBacked provides the data you need to identify and connect with the right companies.
Perfect for: B2B sales teams targeting pre-seed companies, investors exploring opportunities, and service providers looking for companies that just raised capital and are ready to scale.
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