The Most Active Enterprise Pre-Seed VC Funds in 2026

Many of the most active enterprise investors at the pre-seed stage are not well-known funds. In fact, some of the most famous venture firms didn't close a single enterprise pre-seed deal in the past year.

Fund size, brand recognition, and press coverage tell you who's well known. They don't tell you who's actually writing checks into enterprise pre-seed right now.

We did our own data-driven research to find the most active early-stage enterprise investors, counted by deals actually closed rather than reputation or AUM. What came out didn't look much like the usual "top VC" lists.

Methodology, in plain terms

• Window: Rounds announced 9/1/2025 through 9/1/2026
• Round type: Enterprise pre-seed in U.S.-based startups only. We're looking at funds investing in U.S.-based companies, no matter where the fund is based
• Who's included: VC funds only. We excluded accelerators (Y Combinator, Antler), individual angels, angel groups, university funds, and government funds, even though several of them were more active by raw count than any fund on this list
• How we counted: We counted every pre-seed round each investor participated in. If a fund backed the same company across two separate pre-seed rounds in the window, both count
• Source: Crunchbase funding round data, 172 enterprise pre-seed rounds, 497 investor-round participations across 352 unique investors in total (167 of them funds)

Who's actually still writing checks

Below are the funds that actually stood out over the past year. Round count shows activity over the past 12 months, but the "Last Check" column matters more. It tells you exactly when each fund's most recent enterprise pre-seed deal was announced.

Meet the 26

Here's what each of the 26 funds above says about itself, in the same rank order, with what to expect if you reach out.

Right Side Capital Management — A quantitative, data-driven pre-VC firm backing capital-efficient tech companies with revenue-generating products.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, SaaS.
• Pre-seed check: $150K–$500K

Founder Factor — An investment platform led by Y Combinator alumni, investing in and supporting top YC startups.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: not publicly disclosed

Forum Ventures — A founder-first AI venture studio, accelerator, and pre-seed fund built around the zero-to-one journey.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, SaaS.
• Pre-seed check: $250K–$750K

Rebel Fund — Run by YC alumni who've co-founded companies worth $100B+ combined, including Reddit and Instacart, with over 300 startup investments.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: $50K–$250K

Pioneer Fund — Combines capital, expertise, and connections from 510+ Y Combinator alumni.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: $150K–$250K

a16z speedrun — Invests up to $1M in new startups.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, Mobile Apps.
• Check: up to $1M total

Team Ignite Ventures — Moves with conviction at the earliest stages, building a high-velocity network around ambitious founders.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, SaaS.
• Pre-seed check: $25K

Array Ventures — Backs founders building the future with AI.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, SaaS.
• Pre-seed check: $250K–$500K

Pear VC — Early-stage company builders run by former entrepreneurs and operators who've founded and scaled 13+ companies themselves.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: $250K–$2M

Transpose Platform Management — An early-stage venture platform backing frontier founders and the funds that accelerate them.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: $500K–$2M

Precursor Ventures — Invests in people over product, at the earliest stage of the entrepreneurial journey.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, Healthcare.
• Pre-seed check: $250K–$500K

Slauson & Co. — Backs founders who use their lived experience as a competitive advantage from the earliest stage.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, Financial Services.
• Pre-seed check: $500K–$2M

Hustle Fund — A "hilariously early" pre-seed fund that measures founders on week-over-week execution speed rather than pedigree or market size.

• Top verticals: Software, SaaS, Consumer.
• Pre-seed check: $150K standard first check

Founders Future — A venture studio providing capital plus creativity, network, and hands-on support to entrepreneurs.

• Top verticals: AI, Climate Tech, Fintech.
• Pre-seed check: not publicly disclosed (known for $5M–$10M growth-stage checks)

.406 Ventures — Partners with early-stage companies with home run potential, building relationships for nearly 20 years.

• Top verticals: Healthcare, Software, SaaS.
• Pre-seed check: no standard size; primarily a Seed/Series A investor

Alumni Ventures — Co-invests alongside leading VC firms, giving individual investors access to the same deals without institutional minimums.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, Healthcare.
• Pre-seed check: $100K–$1M

Founders' Co-op — Built since 2008 to be the most trusted first-check institutional investor for tech startups in the Pacific Northwest.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, SaaS.
• Pre-seed check: $1M–$1.5M

Plug and Play — Runs a global innovation platform helping large organizations and startups stay ahead of the curve.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: $25K–$150K

NFX — Focused on network effects, the mechanism that makes a product more valuable as more people use it.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: $250K–$2M

a16z Scout Fund — Modeled after Hollywood talent agencies, deploying capital through a large internal network of specialized operator-scouts.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: $10K–$25K per deal

MOVE Venture Capital — Nebraska's first pre-seed and seed fund, built by local founders to be the earliest institutional capital for Midwest startups.

• Top verticals: AI, SaaS, AgTech/ClimateTech.
• Pre-seed check: $50K–$100K

Long Journey Ventures — Seeks out unconventional, outlier ideas and eccentric founders other institutional firms might dismiss as too crazy.

• Top verticals: Software, AI, Healthcare.
• Pre-seed check: $100K–$1M

AI Fund — A venture studio that co-founds companies alongside entrepreneurs, venture funds, and corporate partners.

• Top verticals: AI, IT, Software.
• Pre-seed check: $500K–$1M

Cultivation Capital — A St. Louis-based firm managing a family of funds across life sciences, software, agtech, and geospatial.

• Top verticals: Software/IT, Life Sciences, AgTech.
• Pre-seed check: not standard; primarily a Seed/Series A investor writing $100K–$3.5M checks

Incisive Ventures — A solo-GP, high-conviction pre-seed fund backing B2B founders building technology that "reduces friction at scale."

• Top verticals: AI, Enterprise SaaS, Fintech.
• Pre-seed check: $250K–$500K

Soma Capital — A founder-built fund with a track record of first checks into 40+ unicorns including Deel, Ramp, and Rippling.

• Top verticals: AI, Enterprise, SaaS, Fintech.
• Pre-seed check: $100K–$1M

This list is a starting point for finding VC funds actively investing in enterprise pre-seed, not a ranking of who's "best." Match on thesis and check size before you match on activity.

FAQ

What is an enterprise pre-seed investor?

An enterprise pre-seed investor writes early checks, typically $50K to $500K, into B2B software and infrastructure startups before there's much revenue or a fully built product. Some are dedicated micro-funds, some are generalist funds making an occasional bet on enterprise, and some are angel groups or accelerators. This list only covers the fund category.

What's the difference between a VC fund and an accelerator for pre-seed?

An accelerator (like Y Combinator or Antler) runs a cohort program: a fixed batch of startups, a set curriculum or timeline, usually a small standard check plus some equity, and a demo day at the end. A VC fund invests directly, on its own timeline, usually with more room to negotiate terms. Both show up in pre-seed data, but they're different relationships. We excluded accelerators from this list on purpose, even though a couple of them out-volume every fund here.

Who invests the most in enterprise pre-seed rounds?

By our count, Right Side Capital Management led enterprise pre-seed activity among funds in the trailing twelve months with 17 rounds, followed by Founder Factor (16) and Forum Ventures (14). See the note above on why "most active over the year" isn't the same as "still active right now."

How many pre-seed rounds do active VC funds close per year?

In our data, the funds actually differentiating themselves by volume closed somewhere between 3 and 17 enterprise pre-seed rounds in twelve months. Most funds that touch enterprise pre-seed at all only did it once or twice in the window, meaning enterprise was likely a single opportunistic bet rather than a core focus.

If you're building your investor list, start with track record, not fame.

Building something in enterprise, healthcare or fintech? Tell us what you're building.

Looking for the next stage of funding? See Beta Boom's top pre-seed funds ranking or the top startup accelerators by exit rate.