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) | 9 | $8.0M |
| Analytics | 3 | $1.9M |
| Agentic AI | 2 | $978K |
| Software | 2 | $850K |
| Aerospace | 1 | Undisclosed |
| Advertising Platforms | 1 | $1.7M |
| Apparel | 1 | $718K |
| Concerts | 1 | $340K |
| Grocery | 1 | $1.5M |
| FinTech | 1 | $800K |
| City | Companies | Total Funding |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 5 | $1.9M |
| New York | 3 | $3.0M |
| Wilmington | 2 | $1.6M |
| Berlin | 1 | $3.5M |
| Brisbane | 1 | $1.7M |
| Sydney | 1 | $718K |
| Melbourne | 1 | $978K |
| Oslo | 1 | $250K |
| Austin | 1 | $300K |
| Nashville | 1 | $340K |
Zelara uses AI to craft tailored content, decide what to send to which customer by when, and compound with every interaction.
AIVA is an intelligence layer for hotels.
Ara is a developer of an AI software engineer automating coding, execution, and learning workflows.
Arlo Industries develops passive aerial sensing networks for tracking drones and missiles.
Flowscope provides AI agents and an automation platform that map business processes and execute repetitive enterprise workflows.
Ad money goes out today, comes back in months, and lives in tools that don't talk. Flyweel is agentic fintech that runs it all.
Nardo is a sports technology platform that serves as a specific digital infrastructure layer for the semi-professional athletic sectors.
Prefactor gives teams the visibility, evaluation, and controls needed to deploy, monitor, and manage AI systems with confidence.
SurplusMap is a geo-intelligence SaaS and analytics platform focused on EV charging infrastructure optimization and growth.
Tenet leverages AI to scale distribution and back office workflows for insurance, providing fast and affordable service to businesses.
TourCntrl is a vertically integrated software and services company that helps artists and venues manage live events.
Al-Powered Decision Intelligence for Real Estate Development
Stretch is reimagining grocery shopping, helping everyday families save money in an increasingly complex shopping landscape.
Onfire Health is a platform that supports payment and savings-based financing for healthcare services.
AI-Manipulated Fraud? Not Anymore. AI Powered Fraud Detection, Trusted by Government, Finance & Insurance.
Stealth AI for the moments you cannot pause.
Apaya develops AI-based software that assists organizations in creating, publishing, scheduling, and monitoring social media content.
SaaS, Healthcare, AI, Computer Vision
AI-wholesale agent that generates deals between wholesalers and retailers
Bizzy AI provides AI voice receptionist and booking automation software for businesses to handle calls, manage and schedule appointments.
Accounting and Tax solutions for Crypto professionals
CROMODATA turning health data into action for patients across LATAM.
AI-powered Payment OS helping enterprises cut costs, boost conversion, and scale globally.
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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