25 Industrial Tech VCs Writing Pre-seed Checks in 2025

For the last decade, startups were told to “stay lean.” Don’t touch hardware. Be a pure software play. Today, that mindset is increasingly obsolete.

At Outlander VC, we believe that many consequential companies of the next decade won’t be built in the cloud alone. They’ll be built in factories.

The foundational AI boom (and horizon commoditization) has delivered easy-to-access powerful models. You can build a wrapper or deploy an API overnight. The result? A flood of lookalike startups chasing ephemeral distribution moats.

But when you embed intelligence into physical systems – into drones, vehicles, vessels, robots – you shift the playing field. Software is getting easier and easier to copy. 

Physics isn’t so simple.

Hardware introduces real constraints: supply chains, manufacturing, motion, autonomy, edge sensing, and more. In today’s era, what used to be considered a hindrance can now be an advantage. Mastering how to navigate those constraints provides a layer of defensibility that just doesn’t exist in the software world anymore.

Over the last ten years, it was considered suicide by many to build a hardware company without $50M in venture funding. We were ahead of the curve then, backing companies like Coco and Skyways in years where robotics investments made up less than today’s estimated 10% of venture dollars. And we see a massive potential transformation ahead. 

Today, founders can build prototypes quickly with off-the-shelf components or leveraging 3D printing for rapid iterations. With generative design and additive optimization tools like MecAgent or Vixiv, bringing your imagination to life in the physical world is happening faster and faster too. 

The bottom line is this: we’re not anti-software; in fact we’re still extremely bullish on certain vertical and horizontal AI plays so continue to make active investments in what we believe will be transformative technologies in the app layer. But we do believe that some of the biggest problems in the world for the next 10 to 20 years and beyond will be solved by founders who ship things, not just code.

And to help the founders out there who share this vision of the future world, we’ve put together a list of 25 investors cutting checks at the earliest stages into industrial-focused tech startups. 

These are the firms that, like us at Outlander VC, are backing ambitious founders at the very beginning, funding ideas that are reimagining how the physical world is built, moved, powered, and automated.

Top Pre-seed Industrial Tech VCs

1. Outlander VC
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $500K–$2.5M
Focus: AI for the Physical World, Robotics, Space, and more (Generalist fund)
Notable Investments: ScaleAI, Coco, REGENT
Website: outlander.vc 

2. Activate Capital Partners
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$1M
Focus: Factory automation, climate industrials, industrial IoT
Website: activatecap.com

3. Alchemist Accelerator
Stage: Pre-seed
Check Size: $150K–$500K
Focus: B2B industrial tech, robotics, manufacturing
Website: alchemistaccelerator.com

4. Alumni Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed–Series A
Check Size: $100K–$3M
Focus: AI, robotics, deep tech
Website: av.vc

5. BlueBear Capital
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $500K–$2M
Focus: Robotics, energy infrastructure, autonomy
Website: bluebearcap.com

6. Boost VC
Stage: Pre-seed
Check Size: $500K
Focus: Frontier tech, aerospace, robotics
Website: boost.vc

7. Brickyard
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $300K–$500K
Focus: Robotics, automation, technical teams
Website: justlaybrick.com

8. Construct Capital
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $2M–$4M
Focus: Robotics infrastructure, industrial SaaS, logistics
Website: constructcap.com

9. Contrarian Thinking Capital
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $150K–$250K
Focus: Robotics, logistics, modernizing industrial workflows
Website: contrarianthinkingcapital.com

10. Cybernetix Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $300K–$1.5M
Focus: Robotics, industrial autonomy, manufacturing automation
Website: cybernetix.vc

11. Detroit Venture Partners (DVP)
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $100K–$500K
Focus: Industrial automation, manufacturing tech, mobility
Website: detroitventurepartners.com

12. DO Venture Partners
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $300K–$1.2M
Focus: Robotics, automation, deep industrial software
Website: doventurepartners.com

13. Embark Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $300K–$1M
Focus: Robotics, autonomy, technical founders
Website: embark.vc

14. Fifty Years
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$500K
Focus: Hardtech, industrial systems, robotics, climate hardware
Website: fiftyyears.com

15. Future Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $500K–$2M
Focus: Tough tech, industrial robotics, climate + hard tech
Website: future.ventures

16. GoAhead Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $100K–$500K
Focus: Deep engineering teams, robotics, autonomy
Website: goaheadvc.com

17. Heroic Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed
Check Size: $200K–$1M
Focus: Robotics, autonomy, defense-aligned hard tech
Website: heroicvc.com

18. Ironspring Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $300K–$1.5M
Focus: Manufacturing innovation, construction, supply chain
Website: ironspring.com

19. Mana Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed
Check Size: $250K–$750K
Focus: Climate industrials, materials, space, hardtech
Website: manaventures.com

20. Pathbreaker Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$600K
Focus: Robotics, AI, deep tech
Website: pathbreakervc.com

21. Precursor Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed
Check Size: $250K–$750K
Focus: Founder-first investing, deep tech, industrial-adjacent hardware
Website: precursorvc.com

22. Razor’s Edge Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$1M
Focus: Autonomy, sensing, industrial AI, dual-use hardware
Website: razorsedge.vc

23. Right Side Capital Management
Stage: Pre-seed
Check Size: $200K–$500K
Focus: High-volume pre-seed, robotics and deep tech
Website: rightsidecapital.com

24. RockYard Ventures
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $100K–$500K
Focus: Construction, manufacturing, supply chain
Website: rockyardventures.com

25. The Engine
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$2M
Focus: Tough tech, industrial platforms, robotics, energy systems
Website: engine.xyz