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) | 8 | $4.1M |
| Agentic AI | 6 | $12.0M |
| Analytics | 4 | $2.0M |
| Aerospace | 2 | $1.0M |
| Advanced Materials | 2 | $1.0M |
| AI Infrastructure | 2 | $1.0M |
| Apps | 1 | $500K |
| City | Companies | Total Funding |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 17 | $17.5M |
| New York | 2 | $1.0M |
| Üsküdar | 1 | $590K |
| Orange | 1 | $500K |
| Provo | 1 | $500K |
| Cambridge | 1 | $500K |
| Chicago Park | 1 | $500K |
| London | 1 | $500K |
Hebbian Robotics is a data engineering company that builds APIs for robotics data teams for model training and quality control.
Hebbian Robotics is a data engineering company that builds APIs for robotics data teams for model training and quality control.
Decawork AI provides software for IT teams to deploy, govern, and maintain internal AI agents.
Decawork AI provides software for IT teams to deploy, govern, and maintain internal AI agents.
Mireye provides physical world data infrastructure and application programming interfaces for artificial intelligence agents.
Safahat is the creator of a legal operating system platform powered by artificial intelligence.
Kebra develops AI software that automates field-service documentation and back-office workflows.
Guild is an AI-native defense contractor automating aerospace manufacturing and supply-chain execution.
Guild is an AI-native defense contractor automating aerospace manufacturing and supply-chain execution.
Conifer provides AI routing gateway that optimizes token spend by intelligently routing queries across local hardware and cloud models.
Hop Aero develops hypersonic rocket cargo systems for rapid point-to-point delivery in contested environments.
Tarriflo offers a platform powered by artificial intelligence that automates international trade documentation.
Edviro provides an AI-powered facilities and energy management platform that detects waste, automates work orders, and optimizes schools.
Magma enables companies building AI agents to monetize their workflow traces and interaction data by licensing them to AI labs.
Petrarch develops a data platform that sources, anonymizes, and restructures proprietary enterprise data for AI training.
Petrarch develops a data platform that sources, anonymizes, and restructures proprietary enterprise data for AI training.
Petrarch develops a data platform that sources, anonymizes, and restructures proprietary enterprise data for AI training.
Petrarch develops a data platform that sources, anonymizes, and restructures proprietary enterprise data for AI training.
Atomarine builds floating, modular offshore data center barges cooled by seawater and powered by standalone vessels to bypass land grids.
Experiential Labs provides an open-source AI gateway that unifies cloud models, self-hosted hardware, and custom API keys.
Rise Reforming converts stranded biogas from various sources like wastewater plants and farms into valuable chemicals on-site.
PRINCEPS develops AI-native software for compliance, operational resilience, and administrative workflows in the energy sector.
Touchmark provides AI infrastructure solutions focused on solving pricing challenges through artificial intelligence technologies.
Rekursiv AI develops autonomous systems that hypothesize, perform research, and design machine learning experiments.
Rekursiv AI develops autonomous systems that hypothesize, perform research, and design machine learning experiments.
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