◆ The Directory
Find the fund that writes your first check.
Filter 195 active early-stage investors across Europe and the US by check size, sector, stage, and geography — then open a full profile for each.
a16z START
a16z START is Andreessen Horowitz's day-zero company-formation program, offering a standard $1M check plus legal, recruiting, and back-office support for founders essentially before a company legally exists — leveraging one of the largest platforms in venture.
Backstage Capital
Backstage Capital, founded by Arlan Hamilton, was one of the earliest and most vocal funds built explicitly to invest in underrepresented founders — women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ founders — who statistically receive a tiny fraction of total VC dollars.
BoxGroup
BoxGroup, founded by David Tisch, is a high-volume New York seed investor that has made 300+ early bets across consumer, enterprise, healthcare, and fintech, including being the first institutional investor in Plaid. It writes relatively small, low-friction checks and is known for staying out of aggressive ownership or board-control fights in favor of broad portfolio coverage.
Felicis Ventures
Felicis Ventures invests generalist-style in transformative technology companies, with early stakes in Shopify, Canva, and Notion giving it one of the stronger recent track records among mid-sized seed funds.
First Round Capital
First Round Capital pioneered the modern "seed-only" fund model, deliberately staying out of later rounds so it can focus entirely on being a startup's first institutional investor. Beyond capital, it's known for building one of the earliest founder-support platforms in venture (First Round Review, alumni network, in-house recruiting and design help), and has backed several category-defining consumer and enterprise companies.
Initialized Capital
Initialized Capital was founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian along with Garry Tan and Harj Taggar, both former Y Combinator partners. It made its name with a $200,000 seed check into Coinbase in 2013 and has since built a 300+ company portfolio that includes over two dozen companies that later reached unicorn valuations, including Instacart.
Khosla Ventures
Founded by Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures is known for making high-conviction, science-driven bets on deep tech, sustainability, AI, and health — categories many funds consider too risky or too early. It invests at seed through growth and has a track record of backing breakthrough technology companies well before they were consensus.
Precursor Ventures
Founded by Charles Hudson, Precursor Ventures is a San Francisco pre-seed specialist that has backed over 300 companies since 2015, often as the very first check a founder raises. It invests broadly across software, consumer, and fintech rather than committing to a narrow sector thesis, and is known for being founder-friendly toward first-time and underrepresented founders.
Techstars
Techstars runs one of the largest global accelerator networks, offering a standard check plus mentorship across dozens of sector- and city-specific cohort programs, with SendGrid and DigitalOcean among its alumni.
Y Combinator
Y Combinator is the accelerator that popularized the modern cohort-based program: a fixed check (currently structured as $500K total across a standard deal), a few months of intensive mentorship, and a Demo Day in front of hundreds of investors. Its alumni network and brand recognition are unmatched among early-stage programs, and its portfolio includes some of the most valuable technology companies ever built.
2048 Ventures
2048 Ventures invests in deep tech, AI, and frontier technology founders at pre-seed, with a New York base giving it a different network than the more Bay-Area-centric deep-tech funds.
500 Global
500 Global runs a globally distributed accelerator and seed fund with particular strength in emerging markets outside the traditional US/Europe venture corridor; Canva is among its portfolio.
Abstract Ventures
Abstract Ventures invests in consumer, commerce, and fintech founders, operating with a lean, syndicate-adjacent structure common among newer seed funds.
Acequia Capital
Acequia Capital invests generalist-style in Latino/a-founded startups, addressing a well-documented gap in venture funding reaching Latino entrepreneurs in the US.
Act One Ventures
Act One Ventures focuses on AI-native business software, backing founders building products designed around AI from the ground up rather than bolting AI features onto legacy software.
Afore Capital
Afore Capital was founded specifically to formalize "pre-seed" as its own distinct stage, investing in founders before they have meaningful traction or sometimes even a finished product.
Alumni Ventures
Alumni Ventures raises capital from university alumni communities across many schools and deploys it into a broad, diversified portfolio of generalist technology deals, functioning more like a venture fund-of-funds for individual accredited investors.
Amplify LA
Amplify LA is a generalist early-stage fund and accelerator hybrid, one of the earlier institutions dedicated specifically to building up the Los Angeles startup ecosystem.
AngelList
AngelList is less a single fund than an entire infrastructure layer for early-stage investing — powering syndicates, rolling funds, and fund administration for thousands of individual angels and small funds across the industry.
Antler (US)
Antler's US operation runs the same talent-first, cohort-based model as its global program — recruiting individual founders and helping them form teams and companies — with hubs in New York and Austin.
Basecase Capital
Basecase Capital invests in next-generation enterprise software companies, targeting founders rebuilding categories of business software from the ground up rather than incrementally improving legacy tools.
Betaworks
Betaworks operates as a hybrid startup studio and fund, both building products in-house (it created Giphy and Bitly) and investing in AI, media, and consumer companies built by outside founders.
Bloomberg Beta
Bloomberg Beta, backed by Bloomberg LP, invests around a future-of-work thesis and is notable for publishing its own investment memo template and thinking publicly on GitHub — unusually transparent for an institutional fund.
Boldstart Ventures
Boldstart Ventures specializes in enterprise developer tools, infrastructure, and cybersecurity, investing as the very first institutional check for deeply technical founders, with Snyk among its standout portfolio companies.
Bonfire Ventures
Bonfire Ventures invests exclusively in B2B software (SaaS and enterprise), a deliberately narrow mandate from a firm that argues focus improves both diligence quality and follow-on decision-making.
Boost VC
Boost VC runs a "sci-fi becoming reality" accelerator thesis, backing aerospace, VR, and crypto founders early; Kraken (the crypto exchange) is among its notable alumni.
Breakwater VC
Breakwater VC invests in SaaS, fintech, and "real economy" businesses — companies serving traditionally non-tech industries — spreading its bets across sectors many pure software funds overlook.
Bullpen Capital
Bullpen Capital specializes in the "post-seed" gap — companies that have found product-market fit but aren't yet ready for a traditional Series A — a stage many funds skip over entirely.
Cade Ventures
Cade Ventures invests across consumer tech, health tech, and hardware, spanning several categories under a single generalist-adjacent seed mandate.
Civilization Ventures
Civilization Ventures invests in enterprise and consumer companies framed around a "human progress" thesis, backing founders working on large, structural problems rather than incremental improvements.
Cleo Capital
Cleo Capital, founded by Sarah Kunst, invests in women and underrepresented founders, writing smaller checks aimed at getting capital to founders earlier in their fundraising journey.
Collaborative Fund
Collaborative Fund invests across health, food, cities, climate, and fintech, publishing widely-read essays on culture and behavioral economics alongside its investing; Kickstarter and Sweetgreen are among its notable early bets.
Compound VC
Compound VC invests in AI/ML, robotics, biotech, and crypto founders, spanning several of the more technically demanding frontier categories within a single generalist-adjacent thesis.
Contrary
Contrary sources heavily from a curated network of top university students and recent graduates, betting on talent pedigree as an early signal before a company has meaningful traction.
Correlation Ventures
Correlation Ventures uses a data-driven, largely automated model to co-invest quickly alongside a round's lead investor, rather than sourcing and leading its own deals — a distinctive approach built around speed and pattern data.
Cowboy Ventures
Cowboy Ventures, founded by Aileen Lee (who coined the term "unicorn" for the venture industry), invests generalist-style in seed-stage technology companies with an eye for category-shifting consumer and enterprise products.
Crosscut Ventures
Crosscut Ventures is a foundational fund within the LA startup ecosystem, generalist in scope with an early stake in Dollar Shave Club among its more prominent exits.
Decibel Partners
Decibel Partners invests in enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity, and infrastructure founders, with a partnership background steeped in enterprise software go-to-market experience.
Dreamit Ventures
Dreamit Ventures runs sector-focused accelerator programs in healthtech and securetech, targeting founders in regulated industries that benefit from structured customer and partner introductions.
E14 Fund
E14 Fund invests specifically in spinoffs and founders connected to MIT's Media Lab, giving it a uniquely narrow but deep pipeline into cutting-edge hardware and deep-tech research; Formlabs is among its portfolio.
Elad Gil
Elad Gil is one of Silicon Valley's most prolific individual angel investors (rather than a formal fund), with a personal track record that includes early stakes in Airbnb, Stripe, and Square, and a widely-read book on scaling startups ("High Growth Handbook").
Eniac Ventures
Eniac Ventures was an early mover on the mobile-first thesis and has since broadened into AI, consumer, and enterprise software, with Pinterest and Instacart among its historical wins.
Everywhere Ventures
Everywhere Ventures (formerly Hustle Fund's sister fund, now independent) invests in the future of money, health, and work, with a globally distributed scout and LP network that lives up to its name.
Fifty Years
Fifty Years invests with a deliberately long time horizon in climate, health, and education companies, framing its thesis around solving problems that matter on a 50-year timescale rather than chasing short-term trends.
Fika Ventures
Fika Ventures invests in B2B SaaS, fintech, and marketplace startups from an LA base, contributing to the city's growing case as a legitimate alternative hub to the Bay Area.
Flight Ventures
Flight Ventures is a small generalist seed fund investing in US technology companies, part of the long tail of smaller-check funds that round out the seed ecosystem alongside the more established names in this directory.
Floodgate
Floodgate, co-founded by Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura-Ko, was an early champion of the "seed is a distinct stage" thesis rather than treating it as a smaller version of Series A. It invests across consumer, enterprise, and deep tech, and was an early backer of several companies that went on to redefine their categories, including Twitter and Lyft.
Founder Collective
Founder Collective is a seed-stage fund run by former founders, built around deliberately small fund sizes so partner incentives stay aligned with getting a handful of decisions right rather than deploying capital at volume. It backed Uber and BuzzFeed in their earliest rounds and has since seeded 24+ companies that went on to reach billion-dollar valuations.
Freestyle Capital
Freestyle Capital invests in consumer internet and marketplace companies, with Patreon and Poshmark among its notable early bets in the creator-economy and resale marketplace categories.
Fuel Capital
Fuel Capital invests generalist-style across consumer and enterprise seed-stage companies, part of the broader ecosystem of San Francisco-based small-check seed funds.
Gaingels
Gaingels invests in and alongside LGBTQ+ founders and allies, and is also frequently brought into other funds' cap tables specifically to improve diversity among a round's investor base.
GoAhead Ventures
GoAhead Ventures runs an unusually open process — founders submit a video pitch directly rather than needing a warm introduction — aimed at surfacing deal flow that traditional network-based sourcing misses.
Gradient Ventures
Gradient Ventures is Google's dedicated AI-focused venture fund, backing AI-first companies with access to Google's AI research community and infrastructure as part of its platform support.
Graph Ventures
Graph Ventures invests generalist-style in global technology companies, offering seed capital to founders regardless of headquarters location.
Great Oaks VC
Great Oaks VC invests across a wide range from pre-seed through Series A, giving it flexibility to follow founders across multiple rounds rather than being locked into a single stage.
GV (Google Ventures)
GV is Alphabet's venture arm, investing across life science, enterprise, and consumer technology with access to Google's internal technical resources and talent as part of its platform offering to portfolio companies.
Harlem Capital
Harlem Capital invests in minority- and women-led startups with an explicit long-term goal of changing the face of who gets funded in venture capital, backed by a growing, multi-fund track record.
HAX (SOSV)
HAX, also part of SOSV, is a hardware- and robotics-focused accelerator with a historical Shenzhen presence that gave portfolio companies direct access to the world's densest hardware manufacturing supply chain.
Haystack
Haystack, founded by Semil Shah, invests around a "people over sectors" philosophy — betting on founder quality first — and has backed Instacart and Cruise among its standout early investments.
Homebrew
Homebrew, founded by Hunter Walk and Satya Patel (both former Google and Twitter operators), invests in seed-stage companies building tools that help individuals and small businesses do more with less — a thesis that led it early into fintech infrastructure and workplace software. Its ~170-company portfolio includes multiple unicorns and a mix of IPOs and acquisitions.
Hustle Fund
Hustle Fund writes very small, high-volume checks into B2B SaaS, fintech, and digital health founders, deliberately targeting the earliest and most capital-efficient stage of company building.
IndieBio (SOSV)
IndieBio, part of the SOSV family, is a life-sciences-focused accelerator that helps biotech and synthetic-biology founders get from lab bench to company in a matter of months, with Upside Foods among its well-known alumni.
January Ventures
January Ventures backs underrepresented founders — with a particular eye toward founders modernizing traditional, less "obviously venture-backable" industries — from a dual Boston/London base.
K9 Ventures
K9 Ventures, a solo-GP fund run by Manu Kumar, invests in technical founders working on AI, data, and enterprise products, with an early stake in Lyft among its standout wins.
Kapor Capital
Kapor Capital, founded by Mitch and Freada Kapor, invests in social-impact tech with a required "gap-closing" screen — every investment must plausibly close a disparity in outcomes for underserved communities. Early bets included Uber and Twilio.
Lachy Groom
Lachy Groom is an individual investor (a former Stripe executive) writing checks into fintech, infrastructure, and developer-tools founders, leaning on operator credibility from his time inside one of the industry's most successful companies.
Lerer Hippeau
Lerer Hippeau is a New York seed fund with one of the strongest consumer and DTC brand track records in venture, having backed Warby Parker, Casper, and Allbirds among a long list of category-defining consumer companies.
Liquid 2 Ventures
Liquid 2 Ventures, co-founded by NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana, invests generalist-style in early-stage technology companies and has backed several since-unicorn companies including Chime.
Lux Capital
Lux Capital invests at the frontier of science and technology — defense, space, robotics, and advanced manufacturing — sectors many generalist funds avoid due to long development timelines and regulatory complexity. It has been an early backer of the current wave of "hard tech" and defense-tech companies attracting renewed investor interest.
M13
M13 invests in consumer software, commerce, and fintech companies, and was an early investor in Ring (acquired by Amazon), giving it one of LA's more visible consumer-tech exits.
M25
M25 invests exclusively in Midwest-headquartered startups, betting that a market historically underserved by coastal VCs has a growing supply of strong founders and comparatively less competition for deals.
MaC Venture Capital
MaC Venture Capital invests around cultural-trend spotting and underrepresented founders, arguing that diverse teams have an information edge on emerging consumer and cultural shifts before they go mainstream.
Mucker Capital
Mucker Capital invests in enterprise SaaS, fintech, and payments companies from LA, with ServiceTitan — a home-services software unicorn — among its standout early bets.
NextView Ventures
NextView Ventures invests around a distinctive "everyday economy" thesis — technology that touches ordinary daily life and routines rather than niche enterprise workflows — from a Boston/NYC base.
NFX
NFX invests around a specific, well-documented thesis on network effects, marketplaces, and gaming, and publishes widely-read frameworks on network-effect business models that shape how much of the industry thinks about the category.
Notation Capital
Notation Capital, run by former founders, invests in technical founders building data, developer tools, and AI companies, with a hands-on approach informed by the partners' own experience building and selling a startup.
Outlander VC
Outlander VC invests in enterprise AI, industrial tech, and frontier technology founders, targeting the harder, more capital-intensive categories many micro-VCs avoid.
Overlooked Ventures
Overlooked Ventures invests specifically in Black and Latino founders, part of a wave of funds launched in the early 2020s to address long-standing funding gaps documented across the venture industry.
Pear VC
Pear VC has deep ties to Stanford's founder pipeline and was an early backer of DoorDash from before it had a name, investing generalist-style across consumer and enterprise categories.
Plug and Play
Plug and Play's Silicon Valley headquarters runs corporate-innovation-driven accelerator programs connecting startups directly with large corporate partners, alongside seed investment; early PayPal involvement is part of its founding story.
Primary Venture Partners
Primary Venture Partners invests generalist-style but exclusively in NYC-based founders, building one of the more focused local ecosystems within the broader US seed landscape.
Protagonist
Protagonist invests broadly across software, AI, fintech, consumer, and web3, based in Miami — a market that's grown as a secondary tech hub outside the traditional SF/NY corridor.
Redbud VC
Redbud VC invests in pre-seed technology founders outside the traditional coastal hubs, part of a broader wave of funds targeting overlooked geographies within the US.
Refactor Capital
Refactor Capital specifically targets software engineers transitioning into founders, betting that deep technical backgrounds correlate with defensible product decisions in early-stage software companies.
Resolute Ventures
Resolute Ventures invests generalist-style in seed-stage technology companies, running a small, focused fund model rather than scaling into a larger multi-stage platform.
Root Ventures
Root Ventures invests in hardware, engineering-heavy, and hard-tech founders, with a partnership of former engineers who can evaluate technical risk firsthand; Scale AI is among its portfolio.
RSCM
Right Side Capital Management (RSCM) is a high-volume, data-driven pre-seed fund that invests small checks into capital-efficient technology startups, using a largely systematized process rather than traditional relationship-driven sourcing.
Slow Ventures
Slow Ventures invests in consumer, creator-economy, and culture-driven companies, with early stakes in Robinhood and Slack among a portfolio that consistently looks for products tapping into cultural shifts before they're consensus.
Soma Capital
Soma Capital is a high-volume generalist seed and pre-seed investor in technology startups, known for a fast, founder-friendly process aimed at being easy to work with in a competitive round.
SOSV
SOSV runs several specialized deep-tech accelerator brands under one umbrella (including HAX for hardware and IndieBio for life sciences), giving founders in capital-intensive hard-science categories dedicated program support.
South Loop Ventures
South Loop Ventures invests in underrepresented, particularly Black and Latino, founders from a Houston base, part of a growing set of funds explicitly targeting founders of color.
Spacecadet Ventures
Spacecadet Ventures is a micro-VC investing in pre-seed technology founders, operating with a lean, distributed team model common among newer, smaller-check funds.
SV Angel
SV Angel, founded by Ron Conway, is one of Silicon Valley's original super-angel platforms, having built an enormous early-stage portfolio across the last generation of consumer and enterprise breakout companies.
The Artemis Fund
The Artemis Fund invests in femtech, fintech, and future-of-work founders, run by an all-women investment team with a specific focus on categories historically underinvested relative to their addressable market size.
Trucks VC
Trucks VC invests in transportation technology, logistics, and autonomous vehicle startups, a specialist niche that benefits from deep domain networks in a highly regulated, capital-intensive industry.
Two Sigma Ventures
Two Sigma Ventures is the venture arm of the quantitative hedge fund Two Sigma, investing in data science, AI/ML, fintech, and enterprise founders with deep technical resources to draw on for diligence.
Unshackled Ventures
Unshackled Ventures invests exclusively in immigrant-founded startups, and distinctively also helps handle visa and immigration logistics for founders — a genuine practical barrier that's otherwise outside most funds' scope.
Village Global
Village Global is backed by an unusually high-profile group of tech founder LPs (including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg), and leans heavily on that network for deal sourcing and founder support.
Wischoff Ventures
Wischoff Ventures is a micro-VC investing in pre-seed and seed technology companies, part of the long tail of smaller, specialized funds that have proliferated alongside the traditional name-brand firms.
Wonder Ventures
Wonder Ventures is one of the earlier institutional seed funds built specifically around the LA startup ecosystem, backing enterprise and consumer founders in a market historically overshadowed by the Bay Area.