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) | 15 | $7.5M |
| Cryptocurrency | 1 | $500K |
| Consulting | 1 | $500K |
| Advanced Materials | 1 | $500K |
| Developer Tools | 1 | $500K |
| Industrial | 1 | $500K |
| Analytics | 1 | $500K |
| EdTech | 1 | $500K |
| Animation | 1 | $500K |
| Accounting | 1 | $500K |
| City | Companies | Total Funding |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 16 | $8.0M |
| New York | 3 | $1.5M |
| S√£o Paulo | 1 | $500K |
| Lehi | 1 | $500K |
| Stanford | 1 | $500K |
| Alameda | 1 | $500K |
| Saratoga | 1 | $500K |
| Vilnius | 1 | $1.4M |
BootLoop enables AI agents to write, test, and debug firmware directly on the intended hardware.
Cacao is a fintech platform that allows Brazilians to receive, store, spend, and withdraw USD instantly.
Cactus enables AI model execution on mobile platforms through an open source inference engine with support for multiple app frameworks.
Certus AI uses voice automation to manage restaurant phone calls for orders, reservations, complaints, payments, and POS system integration.
Clodo is the AI real estate assistant that remembers everything about every contact, lead, and client.
CoCreate automates video backup, syncing, proxy creation, and clip organization for editing in major platforms.
Comena is an AI-powered platform that automates B2B order and inquiry processing for wholesalers and distributors.
Convexia develops AI agents that evaluate drug assets through simulations, clinical profiling, safety prediction, and market analysis.
Cyberdesk provides virtual desktops for deploying AI agents using simple code.
Design Arena is an AI-generated design platform that provides frontend interfaces to images, video, and audio.
Doe is an enterprise AI system that provides real-time financial insights to boost efficiency and profitability.
Duranium is a metal manufacturing company that develops reactors that recycle CO2 emissions while generating a valuable co-products.
F4 is an industrial hardware design validation platform that focuses on engineering drawing compliance and interpretations.
Fleetline develops a data-driven algorithm load planner for mid to large-sized trucking fleets.
Fluidize offers AI-powered SaaS for automating and managing scientific simulation workflows.
Flywheel AI converts existing excavators so contractors can operate them remotely for safety and productivity.
Frizzle provides an AI-powered grading tool for math assignments. The platform can grade both handwritten and typed student solutions.
Fulcrum Research provides tooling to identify ML evaluations and environments.
Hera Video is an AI-powered motion graphics and animation platform that creates animations using simple text prompts.
Imprezia offers an AI advertising platform that integrates brand messages into chatbot and copilot conversations.
IronLedge is an AI-powered platform that automates property accounting services for real estate operations.
Janet AI is the AI-native ticket management system.
Kashimi is an open banking infrastructure platform offering secure access to 1,000+ banks through a single API.
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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