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 | $7.3M |
| Analytics | 4 | $2.0M |
| Architecture | 1 | $500K |
| Developer Tools | 1 | $500K |
| Browser Extensions | 1 | $500K |
| Drones | 1 | $500K |
| Advanced Materials | 1 | $2.0M |
| Hardware | 1 | $500K |
| Developer APIs | 1 | $500K |
| City | Companies | Total Funding |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 15 | $7.5M |
| London | 2 | $2.5M |
| Oslo | 1 | $500K |
| Collingwood | 1 | $1.3M |
| Cupertino | 1 | $500K |
| Colorado Springs | 1 | $1.8M |
| Gif-sur-yvette | 1 | $500K |
| Mountain View | 1 | $500K |
| Atlanta | 1 | $500K |
| New York | 1 | $500K |
Crunched offers an AI spreadsheet assistant that automates model building, data extraction, and error checking within spreadsheet workflows.
Claybird offers an AI video ad creation agent that plans, generates, edits, and publishes ad videos from concept to release.
Zarna offers an AI agent that automates sourcing, diligence, and portfolio workflows for private equity and investment firms.
Cor develops Obi, a voice-enabled AI bot that simplifies client onboarding and user activation within software products.
Veria Labs is a cybersecurity company that provides AI-powered continuous penetration testing services targeting high-stakes industries.
Articulate uses AI to help builders and solar developers avoid costly errors by detecting drawing clashes early.
AirCaps provides assistive subtitle glasses that offer real-time captioning for the hard-of-hearing and deaf community.
AI agents for automating financial services, compliance, and risk with institutional-grade control.
Brickwise offers AI-powered property management that handles tenant calls, maintenance requests, and property operations.
Inspector is an AI IDE for front end engineers that allows to modify styles, move elements, and automatically reflect changes in codebase.
Aside provides an AI platform that helps sales teams with live call prompts, note-taking, and real-time insights.
JSX Tool is a browser-based IDE and extension that helps developers to inspect, edit, and generate React component code.
Kalpa Labs is building generalist speech models that unlock in-context learning & strong instruction.
Alt-X develops AI-driven tools to automate financial analysis and reporting for investors in real estate and private equity.
Mayflower offers a software plugin for immigration screening, legal compliance, and document verification.
Tornyol is a micro drone startup developing AI-enabled mosquito-killing drones for chemical-free pest control.
Sylvian provides a platform for generating expert data, evaluating, and improving specialized AI agents.
Mater-AI is a nanotechnology research firm that uses physics-based modelling and AI to speed up the discovery of materials science R&D.
Tensr specializes in the creation of autonomous robotic factories.
AtlasGrid AI is an Artficial Intelligence firm that builds visual graph of mobile app UI and displays analytics directly. on your screens.
Allus AI builds next-gen vision foundation models that bring real intelligence to manufacturing
Dome is an API platform that provides developers with a unified interface for accessing and building on top of prediction markets.
Locus provides payment tools that let businesses manage and track transactions made by autonomous agents.
Iris is an AI assistant that automates workflows and manages time by combining calendar and inbox data.
MarkIt is an AI trade-compliance platform that automates global trade documentation and risk workflows.
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.
Get Started - Access Contact InformationJoin thousands of sales teams, investors, and service providers using VCBacked