This week, Elon Musk merged SpaceX and xAI into an entity valued at $1.25 trillion – the world’s most valuable private company – with plans to build data centers in space.
It’s the kind of move that forces you to recalibrate what “big” means. And it caps off a 2025 that was anything but quiet:
If 2025 was wild, 2026 is already shaping up to be even more interesting.
Here’s what our investing partners are watching:
The robot economy arrives. In this next generation, robots will be more common than humans. From fighting wars to folding clothes and delivering meals. This growth will require advanced manufacturing, materials, energy, and sensors.
There’s also a massive picks & shovels opportunity to build platforms that service these bits – comms and systems to coordinate effort between and among these groups, security, auditing, tracking, insurance, and much more. The companies building the infrastructure layer for the robot economy will define the next decade.
Commerce gets more contextual. The future of commerce will not be won through keywords and impressions, but through influence, context, and trust. Generative AI, creators, and new media are reshaping how consumers discover and decide, and the companies building for this shift will define the next generation of commerce infrastructure.
Barometer, an AI-powered brand suitability platform for advertising, is a perfect example – enabling brands to align with suitable content at the content-specific level rather than buying blind.
The grid becomes the bottleneck. The real bottleneck in electrification isn’t power generation – it’s the grid itself. Demand from AI data centers, EVs, and electrified industry is ramping faster than new transmission can be built. The problem is that utilities don’t actually have great visibility into their infrastructure. Inspections are infrequent, data is patchy, and that forces conservative operating assumptions.
That’s where companies like Nomadic Drones come in. Their drones land directly on power lines, self-charge, and continuously monitor grid health, giving utilities a live view instead of quarterly snapshots. The payoff is higher utilization of existing lines, smarter maintenance, and less pressure to rush into expensive new builds. As electricity becomes a strategic input for the AI economy, tools that help the grid see and use itself better matter more than ever.
Designers start eating frontend engineering. I spent a lot of 2025 investing in hardware and it’s an area I am still incredibly excited about in 2026. But when I look at the direction AI is pushing software, here’s my take: front-end engineering as we know it might not exist in five years. We’re heading toward a world where designers & product leaders directly own the frontend, with AI handling the translation from design to production code. And I don’t believe that prompt engineering alone is the future, especially as design/user experiences become a bigger part of defensibility.
Tools like Wonder (they just launched their private alpha) are building for this future. Unlike Figma or other current AI prototyping tools, Wonder’s mission is to connect directly to your codebase, understand your design system, and generate beautiful interfaces that can ship to production the same day. AI is going to completely rewrite entire job functions and 2026 is going to mark a major shift for the frontend.
Teleoperation takes center stage. Forget full autonomy. In 2026, humanoid robots go mainstream through teleoperation. The companies trying to solve autonomy first are burning capital on impossible timelines. The smart money is on hybrid models. Human intelligence drives robots remotely, building toward autonomy as a byproduct of real-world deployment, with unit economics that make sense from day one.
Our portfolio company Starlife is building that future right now. (And yes, they’re hiring!) They deploy low-cost humanoids-as-a-service, each piloted in real-time by a human operator, solving customers’ critical labor shortages today while generating physical data at an unprecedented scale.
The PCP Is dead. Long live the AI triage layer. Hot take: Primary care physicians as the first point of contact will work towards being irrelevant.
The combination of continuous biometric monitoring, AI-driven symptom assessment, and specialist-matching algorithms will route patients directly to the right care endpoint. We’re watching for founders building the infrastructure layer here – not consumer apps, but the pipes that health systems will adopt to survive margin compression. The future of healthcare routing won’t look like a doctor’s office. It’ll look like logistics optimization.
Are you a pre-seed or seed stage founder rewriting an industry? We should talk. www.outlander.vc
Disclaimer: This post contains forward-looking opinions of Outlander VC team members and does not constitute investment advice or an offer to sell or solicitation to purchase any securities. References to portfolio companies should not be interpreted as recommendations or endorsements. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal.
It’s February, which means we’re in the thick of Q1 board meetings with our portfolio companies.
These conversations follow a pattern. We start by looking back at 2025 – what worked, what didn’t, what the team learned. Then we turn forward: what does success look like in 2026?
This is where things get interesting.
Most founders come prepared with updates on revenue, hiring plans, product roadmaps, and competitive positioning. All of that matters. But the conversation we actually need to have is simpler and harder: What’s the one thing that needs to be true in December for this year to have been a success?
We see this across the startup ecosystem – from companies at the idea stage to those with meaningful traction. The founders who have clarity on this question make different decisions. They know where to invest time. They know what to say no to. They build momentum instead of motion.
So we wanted to share what happens in these conversations: how we help founders think about goals, why it matters, and what “good” actually looks like when you’re still figuring everything out.
If we’re investing in you at the idea or MVP stage, you are nowhere near having product-market fit yet. You’re experimenting with everything – what to build, who to sell to, how to price it, what messaging works.
That’s exactly what you should be doing. Experimentation is the job.
The problem is that when you’re experimenting with everything, every data point feels important. You measure everything (as you should), but without a framework for what matters, you end up reacting to whatever moved last. One week you’re convinced enterprise is the play. The next week you’re pivoting to SMB. The week after that you’re rebuilding the product because an investor said the UI felt clunky.
This is what it actually feels like to search for product-market fit.
The skill you need to develop while in this phase: learn where to prioritize your focus, time, and energy. Not what to measure – measure everything. But what to actually optimize for.
That’s what a North Star metric does. It’s the one number that tells you whether you’re making progress through the noise.
In the very early days, your North Star is incredibly simple: How many customers have you spoken with?
Not sold to. Not demoed to. Spoken with. Real conversations where you’re learning about their problems, testing assumptions, and figuring out whether what you think matters actually matters to them.
You set a difficult, but achievable goal: Talk to 100 potential customers this month. The number should feel uncomfortable – like you’re not sure you can hit it, but you believe it’s possible if you’re disciplined.
This is the only way to learn what to build. Every conversation de-risks an assumption. Every conversation teaches you something about the problem, the customers who have it, and whether they’ll pay for a solution.
We’ve seen founders across the ecosystem resist this. They want to start building, start shipping, start getting traction. But if you don’t talk to your customers, you’re guessing. And guessing is expensive.
So at this stage, your North Star is simple to define: 100 customer conversations by the end of Q1. Make it bold enough that you have to change your behavior to hit it.
At some point – usually after you’ve talked to enough customers to see patterns – you make a decision. This is what we’re building. This is the product. This is the problem we’re solving and this is how we’re solving it.
The moment you do that, your North Star changes.
You’re still talking to customers (that never stops), but now your North Star reflects usage, adoption, or value creation:
Pick a number that measures whether the thing you decided to build is actually creating value. And make it bold – a number that would meaningfully change your business if you hit it, a number that would make your next fundraise obvious.
This is the shift from learning to validating. You made a bet. The North Star tells you whether the bet is working.
If the number isn’t moving, you might need to adjust what you’re building, who you’re building for, or how you’re delivering value. The metric doesn’t tell you what to change (that’s where customer conversations come back in), but it tells you that change is needed.
This is why the North Star matters. It’s not a productivity tool. It’s a reality check.
Once you have your North Star, you need structure. This is the framework we use:
One North Star. Three supporting goals.
The three goals should answer:
These aren’t separate priorities. They’re the three dimensions you need to move for your North Star to improve.
Early on, your technology goal is about getting to a working product: “Ship MVP and get 10 customers live by Q2.”
As you mature, it becomes about making the product better, faster, or more reliable:
The technology goal should answer: what must be true about our product for customers to get value?
And it should connect directly to your North Star. If your North Star is “15 units in commercial production,” your technology goal might be “achieve 99% uptime in customer environments.” If your North Star is “30 teams shipping code with our SDK,” your technology goal might be “reduce integration time from 2 weeks to 2 days.”
The connection should be obvious.
Revenue is the lagging output. Your GTM goal should focus on the behavior that creates it.
At the earliest stages: “Complete 200 customer discovery calls by June.” You’re still learning.
As you put a stake in the ground: “Convert 20% of demos to pilot agreements.” Now you’re testing whether people will actually try what you built.
As you scale: “Generate $5M in qualified pipeline by Q4” or “Convert 30% of pilots to paid contracts within 90 days.”
Other examples: “Sign 8 pilot deployment agreements with target facilities by Q3” or “Achieve 40% conversion from pilot to production contract.”
The goal should be something you control. Not “close $X in revenue” – that depends on customer timing and budget cycles. Instead: “Run 100 qualified demos by Q4” or “Sign 10 pilot agreements by Q2.”
Those are the inputs. Revenue is what happens if you get the inputs right.
At the idea stage: “Recruit technical co-founder by Q2” or “Bring on advisor with 10+ years experience in target market.”
As you grow: “Hire first sales hire with $5M+ enterprise ARR track record by Q1” or “Hire Head of Field Operations with deployment experience by Q2.”
The team goal should answer: who do we need, and what capabilities must they have, for us to hit our other goals?
If your GTM goal is “generate $5M in pipeline,” you probably need someone who knows how to do that. If your technology goal is “deploy 15 units in production,” you need field operations expertise.
Here’s how we pressure-test goals:
The number test: Is your North Star actually a number? “Get more customers” isn’t a North Star. “50 active production customers” is.
The bold test: Does your North Star feel ambitious? If you’re 90% confident you’ll hit it, it’s not bold enough. Aim for 60-70% likely – possible but not guaranteed.
The causation test: If you hit all three supporting goals, would your North Star obviously improve? If not, you picked the wrong goals.
The control test: Are you measuring things your team can directly influence?
The evolution test: Do these goals make sense for where you are right now? Or are you setting goals for the company you wish you were?
We see founders across the ecosystem set goals that would make sense for a Series B company when they’re still pre-seed. They want to “achieve $5M ARR” when they haven’t validated product-market fit. They want to “hire a VP of Sales” when they don’t have a true customer pull or repeatable sales motion yet.
Your goals should reflect reality. Where you are. What you need to learn. What’s actually blocking you from the next stage.
By December, you’ll have run dozens of experiments. You’ll have tried features, tested messaging, explored customer segments, iterated on pricing.
Most of those experiments will fail. That’s startup life.
The founders who succeed aren’t the ones who never fail. They’re the ones who can recognize the failures quickly, who can look at all the noise and say: “Here’s what we learned. Here’s what actually moved the needle.”
Your North Star tells you which experiments created value. Your three goals tell you whether your actions are actually moving you forward.
Here’s the exercise:
Our North Star for 2026 is [specific metric and number].
To get there:
If you can write that paragraph clearly and all the pieces connect, you have goals.
If you can’t, you have a to-do list.
It’s still early in the year. Get your goals set right.
In 2026, startups are building and deploying faster than ever. Founders move from idea to MVP in weeks by leveraging cloud-native infrastructure, open-source frameworks, and AI-assisted development. Small technical teams now engage real customers and validate demand far earlier in a company’s lifecycle.
This acceleration has changed what it means to raise pre-seed capital. With a compressed “0 to 1” timeline, early decisions matter more, and the choice of a pre-seed partner can shape a company’s trajectory. It’s not enough to be writing checks; founders look for VC partners who bring judgement, pattern recognition, and domain expertise.
At Outlander VC, we’ve been investing in idea-phase founders for over 15 years. Along the way, we’ve worked alongside talented pre-seed VCs–actual pre-seed VCs–who are backing founders at the earliest stage and partnering for the long haul.
Here’s a list of 26 pre-seed VCs that you should know in 2026.
Outlander VC is laser-focused on the one factor that drives startup success–the founder. After more than 15 years of investing, our team has backed over eighteen unicorns as a lead or early investor, including Scale, Lyft, Gusto, Wish, HavocAI, and more.
Stage: Pre-seed, Seed
Check Size: $500K – $2.5M
Focus: Generalist; Software, AI/ML, Robotics & Autonomy, Industrial Tech, Defense
Website: https://outlander.vc/
Manufacturing and industrial automation–focused investors backing AI-driven production systems and smart factory technologies, with a specialization in vertical SaaS platforms that apply AI to industrial use cases.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$400K
Focus: AI-Driven Production, Vertical SaaS, Smart Factory Tech
Notable Investments: Melrose, Aurelius, Pet’s Table
Website: https://640oxford.com/
Apply: Contact form on their website
Highly active, residency-focused accelerator with a growing US presence in New York City, San Francisco, and Austin.
Stage: Pre-seed, Inception
Check Size: <$500K
Focus: Generalist
Highlighted Investments: Airalo, Lovable
Website: https://www.antler.co/
Early-stage venture capital firm that backs pre-seed and seed companies—especially product-led founders and “technical storytellers”—across work, play, and future-facing tech in the U.S., with quick, transparent decision making.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K
Focus: SaaS, Hardware, Applied AI
Highlighted Investments: Maneva, Statusphere
Website: https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/
A hybrid venture capital firm and startup studio that has been building and investing in startups since 2008, with a knack for backing transformative internet infrastructure (e.g. Hugging Face). Currently accepting applications for AI camp.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$750K
Focus: AI/ML, Web3, Decentralization
Highlighted Investments: Airbnb, Kickstarter, Tumblr
Website: https://www.betaworks.com/
Inception-stage investors focused on accelerating technology adoption in the backbone industries of the economy, with a strong orientation toward Pacific Northwest founders while remaining broadly US and Canada agnostic.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K-1M
Focus: SaaS, Fintech, Real Economy
Highlighted Investments: Myriad, Empirium
Website: https://www.breakwater.vc/
Early-stage investor specializing in deep tech and frontier tech pre-seed deals, averaging one deal per week.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $500K
Focus: Deep Tech
Highlighted Investments: Coinbase, Volley
Website: https://www.boost.vc/
Operator-led venture fund that pairs capital with operational support, investing in companies that reshape how people live and business thrive.
Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed
Check Size: $500K
Focus: Consumer Tech, Health Tech, Connected Hardware & Robotics
Highlighted Investments: Peloton, Ro
Website: https://www.cadeventure.com/
Inception-stage investors who pair early conviction with a 1000+ member community of founders and operators through the Comma Collective as a core part of their value-add.
Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed
Check Size: $250-500K
Focus: SaaS, AI/ML, Dev Tools, Fintech, Digital Health
Highlighted Investments: Convoke
Website: https://comma.vc/
Inception-stage firm partnering with exceptional students solving real-world problems.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $50K–$250K
Focus: Impact (e.g. Climate, Accessible Healthcare, Economic Mobility)
Highlighted Investments: General Galactic, Mobius Industries
Website: https://www.critical.vc/
Industry-and-geography-agnostic investors, renowned for a founder-friendly 6-day decision process. Investing out of Fund III with over $200M in committed capital.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $200K–$1M
Focus: AI/ML, All Technology Sectors, Data-Driven Companies
Highlighted Investments: STRATxAI, GigEasy, Paratus Health
Website: https://www.goaheadvc.com/
A diversity-focused pre-seed fund backing underrepresented founders, with increasing activity in AI/ML and a reputation for founder-friendly processes and fast decision-making.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $50K-$750K (Sweet Spot $150K)
Focus: AI/ML, FinTech, Healthcare
Highlighted Investments: Webflow, NerdWallet, Branch
Website: https://www.hustlefund.vc/
Ultra-selective fund known for early investments in transformative companies like OpenAI, Slack, and Airbnb. They focus on enterprise applications and AI/ML solutions, requiring warm introductions to gain an audience.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $100K-$750K (Sweet Spot $400K)
Focus: AI/ML, Healthcare, SaaS, Enterprise Applications
Highlighted Investments: OpenAI, Slack, Lyft
Website: https://www.k9ventures.com/
Early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, investing solely in tech startups headquartered in the Midwest.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K-$1M
Focus: AI/ML, HealthTech, FinTech, Vertical SaaS
Highlighted Investments: Astronomer, Arrellio, Prediction Guard
Website: https://www.m25vc.com/
Early stage investors backing Gen Z founders as early as inception.
Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed
Check Size: $100-150K
Focus: Generalist, AI/ML, Data
Highlighted Investments: Mercor
Website: https://www.neweraventures.com/
High-frequency investors backing students in US universities.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $50K
Focus: Generalist
Highlighted Investments: Hardshell, Vala
Website: https://notyet.vc/
Pre-seed fund investing in software and AI/ML, focused on helping technical founders develop as B2B sales leaders.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $250K–$500K
Focus: SaaS, Enterprise, AI/ML
Highlighted Investments: EcoMap, ResultID
Website: https://www.paxmv.vc/
Apply: Pitch Us form
Pre-seed and seed investors backing community-building companies in software industries.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $100-250K
Focus: SaaS, Enterprise, Consumer, AI/ML
Highlighted Investments: Clay, Superpower
Website: https://www.parkrangerscap.com/
High-volume pre-seed fund known for backing underrepresented founders, leading first institutional rounds across B2B and B2C software with a strong emphasis on diverse founding teams.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$500K
Focus: B2B Software, B2C Software, Connected Hardware
Highlighted Investments: The Athletic, Bobbie, Carrot Fertility, Modern Health, Clearco
Website: https://precursorvc.com/
Specialists in emerging technology; invests with “scout checks” at earliest stages and leads early-stage rounds.
Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed
Check Size: Up to $1M
Focus: Software, AI/ML, Consumer, Fin Tech, Blockchain
Highlighted Investments: Exowatt, Momentum Labs
Website: https://www.protagonist.co/
Founder-friendly VC that prioritizes the resilience of entrepreneurs over pedigree.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$500K
Focus: Generalist
Highlighted Investments: dScribeAI, Trially
Website: https://redbud.vc/
Generalist fund investing in transformative and overlooked founders–not the trendy.
Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed
Check Size: $250-500K
Focus: Generalist
Notable Investments: Arden, Milkify
Website: https://www.southloop.vc
Early-stage investors backing emerging categories with decades-long horizons.
Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed
Check Size: $250-500K
Focus: Fintech, Vertical Software, Applied AI
Notable Investments: Beehiiv, Windsor
Website: https://www.spicecapital.xyz/
Investing in the earliest of pre-seed startups and unafraid of rolling up their sleeves. Untapped looks for founders outside of typical networks.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $100K–$250K
Focus: AI/ML, Emerging Tech
Notable Investments: General Intelligence Company, Woz
Website: https://untapped.vc/
Early-stage investors backing ideas making physical industries more profitable, efficient, and resilient.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $100K–$750K
Focus: Energy, Mobility, Manufacturing
Notable Investments: Actual, Futureproof
Website: https://www.virtaventures.co/
Wischoff Ventures invests in relentless early stage, high growth technology companies.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $500K–$1M
Focus: Legacy Industries
Notable Investments: Checkmate
Website: https://www.wischoff.com
On November 7th, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced sweeping changes to how the Department of War buys technology. The centerpiece: rebranding the Defense Acquisition System (DAS) as the Warfighting Acquisition System (WAS), with an explicit mandate to push authority downward and move faster. The old system was built around compliance and process. The new system treats acquisition as a warfighting function and prioritizes speed to fielded capability. As the memo puts it: “Speed to capability delivery is now our organizing principle.”
The reforms also introduce Portfolio Acquisition Executives (replacing the old PEO structure), incentive-based compensation tied to delivery timelines, and a stated preference for commercial solutions. For founders, the signal is clear: the Department wants to buy from you faster.
So in your next strategy meeting, you’re probably asking: “Should I focus on winning OTAs now instead of SBIRs?”
Here’s the bottom line.
OTAs are a powerful tool. They move faster than traditional contracts and can lead to sticky production agreements. But SBIRs remain the best entry point for most startups because they help founders learn how to sell into the Department—not just pitch to it. They force you to nail down a user, a requirement, and a mission. And they make it far easier to graduate into larger contracting instruments later.
Think of SBIR as the beachhead. OTA is the ramp. The goal is not to stack non-dilutive grants forever. The goal is to reach procurement money—and eventually O&M funds—as fast as possible. That’s where real scale and enduring revenue live.
An OTA (Other Transaction Authority) is a non-Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based contracting instrument. In plain terms, it allows the government to buy, prototype, and scale technology without the full weight of traditional acquisition rules.
OTAs matter because they can be awarded faster, allow more commercial-style deal structures, bridge prototype to production, and convert real demand into real dollars. They sit in that critical middle zone between pilot and full procurement, giving your early champion more leverage to pull you through the system.
Under the new WAS framework, OTAs are likely to become even more prominent as the Department leans into speed and flexibility.
But there’s a catch.
Sometimes a unit or program office will use an OTA to buy a single prototype for an upcoming exercise. On paper, that looks like a win. But if it’s your first engagement with the Department, you’ve landed in the deep end without scaffolding—no built-in transition support, no structured portfolio shepherding.
OTAs can absolutely work as a first touch point, especially if you have a government champion with real operational urgency. But SBIR offices have something OTAs don’t: a mandate to transition what they fund. They bring resources, contracting support, portfolio leads, and workflows designed to help companies mature inside the DoW ecosystem. Even if you enter through an OTA, you should leverage SBIR and innovation networks to connect with requirements owners, align to the right Program Elements (PEs), and build a transition plan that leads to actual procurement.
OTAs aren’t bad. You just usually need the support structure around them to turn a prototype sale into something enduring.
SBIR forces discipline. It requires you to define the specific operational pain, the exact end user, and how your capability maps to mission execution. It also gives you support infrastructure, contracting help, and transition-focused resources.
In short, SBIR teaches you how to sell inside the Department—not just pitch outside of it.
It de-risks and matures your product before it reaches the warfighter, and it gives you credibility with every other buyer and contracting pathway you’ll encounter.
SBIR is how you build the muscle memory of how Warfighting Acquisition actually works.
Here’s something founders often overlook: the customer you’re talking to needs access to a Program Element (PE) with money aligned to your maturity level and use case. A PE is essentially a budget line that defines what Congress authorized that money to be spent on. If your champion doesn’t have the right PE, they literally cannot pay you—even if they want to.
This is why SBIR is so powerful early. It bypasses PE constraints because it’s congressionally carved-out RDT&E (Research, Development, Test & Evaluation) funding.
It’s also why founders often experience the Department as “interested” but not buying. They’re talking to officers and GS civilians who genuinely want the capability, but their PE is the wrong color of money at the wrong time of year.
If you’ve never sold to the government, SBIR is the cleanest on-ramp.
If you already have validated demand and operational pull, OTAs can accelerate your path to production and procurement.
Here’s a simple framework for running your Warfighting Acquisition OODA Loop:
SBIR is the ignition. OTA is the accelerant.
Use both.
Why Outlander VC?
We back pre-seed founders building for national security – and help them navigate their first DoW contracts. If you’re looking to raise outside capital, we’d love to chat. Apply here.
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.
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
How Space Startups can Start Working with the Government
Guest: SpaceWERX Director Arthur Grijalva
Host(s): AJ Smith, Donavan Moss
This is the first episode of Outlander Overmatch, our new series built to give founders fast, actionable insight straight from real DoD buyers, innovators, and operators. In this conversation, we sat down with Arthur Grijalva, Director of SpaceWERX, to talk about how space startups can successfully work with the U.S. government.
If you have not heard of SpaceWERX, they are the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force. Each year, they invest over $460M in startups tackling the most urgent challenges in space. Their mission is to bring game-changing commercial capabilities into national security. If you are building for space and want your technology to move from prototype to government procurement, understanding how SpaceWERX operates is a critical first step.
Watch the full interview below and read on for five takeaways from our conversation with Arthur.
SpaceWERX takes early risks, backing ideas as early as the white-paper stage. They might seed your concept with about $75K to prove feasibility or fund $1.25M–$2.25M to build a prototype through a Phase II. Larger opportunities come later through Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) awards, which combine SpaceWERX, program office, and private capital into efforts that can reach $60M+. At every step, they focus on whether your tech can scale into an operational capability for the Space Force.
Arthur breaks dual-use into “little C” (mostly defense-focused with private capital interest) and “big C” (commercially ubiquitous, like GPS). Both can work. The point is to avoid relying entirely on the government as your only customer. A credible commercial path (even if it’s just on your future roadmap) gives you staying power.
One of the biggest mistakes SpaceWERX sees is poor timing; companies showing up only when they need funding. Instead, engage early. Attend events, join programs, and build relationships before you ask for money. If they already know you and your tech, it is far easier to get pulled into funded opportunities.
If you can help the Space Force with space superiority, orchestration of proliferated satellite constellations, or AI/ML for space operations, you are solving high-priority problems right now. These are areas where funding and partnerships are actively being built.
SpaceWERX designs every award with a transition partner in mind, but only a fraction of projects make it across the finish line. Founders who keep transition pathways front and center from the beginning have a much better chance of success.
This is just the start. In future episodes, we will be speaking with other stakeholders across the DoD to go deeper on how to navigate defense procurement, secure funding, and scale inside this ecosystem.
If you are at the beginning of your journey and building technology with potential to serve both defense and commercial markets, apply for funding at www.outlander.vc.
And follow us on LinkedIn to get alerts for future value-add content like this!
There’s a moment in every founder conversation where the air in the room changes. With Aaron Chow of Vixiv, it happened when he casually mentioned that his platform had just generated twelve optimized drone component designs in 108 seconds. The engineers from the lab watching the demo had gone silent. “That would have taken us three months,” they finally said. “For one design.”
Edison’s famous quote about finding a thousand ways not to make a light bulb? That’s not historical trivia. That’s Tuesday at Northrop Grumman. That’s every hardware startup burning through runway trying to optimize a critical component.
Consider this mathematical reality: Between an empty space and a solid brick exists an infinite number of possible geometries. Traditional engineering is essentially random sampling from this infinite space, guided by intuition and experience. Even our fastest “move fast and break things” engineers are making educated guesses in a solution space too vast for human comprehension.
Engineering today:
The math is brutal: Optimizing for both thermal and mechanical performance doesn’t double your test matrix – it squares it. Add modal analysis for vibrations? Cubed.
Imagine if this entire process could be inverted and if engineers could navigate directly to viable solutions. No guessing. No checking. Just rapid convergence on designs that work.
That’s what Vixiv has built. A physics-based prediction engine trained on actual material behavior, not theoretical models.
How? They built tens of thousands of physical components and destructively tested every single one. This isn’t synthetic data or simulation results. It’s ground truth about how materials actually behave in the real world.
When base iteration drops from months to minutes, that squared or cubed matrix becomes tractable. You can explore the entire solution space, not just the corner your budget allows. This is how step-functions happen that change industries.
We’re entering an era where industrial leadership won’t be determined by who has the biggest factories or the most engineers. It will be determined by who can iterate fastest and deliver results. The race is on. And Vixiv is helping fuel that future.
To learn more about Vixiv, watch my interview with Aaron (below) or head on over to www.vixiv.net to request private beta access.
We’re witnessing the most consequential shift in enterprise software since the cloud migration. As compute costs plummet and GPU access becomes commoditized, a massive value capture opportunity is evolving in enterprise applications. Meta’s recent multi-billion dollar stake in Scale AI (a company we backed with their first VC check in 2016) signals what insiders already know: while infrastructure consolidates, the application layer is wide open for disruption.
But here’s the challenge every enterprise AI founder faces: navigating the fundraising maze at the idea stage. You’ll pitch dozens of firms, get enthusiastic meetings, only to hear “we love this, but you’re too early for us.” Many funds simply don’t write checks until seed or later, regardless of how compelling the opportunity.
The Outlander VC team has been backing idea-stage startups for 15 years. So, to help founders out there building towards an amazing vision…who want to know which VCs are actually cutting the early checks, we’ve put together a list of twenty-five VC funds backing enterprise AI companies at the pre-seed.
The Outlander VC team is known for making bold, founder driven bets pre-product and revenue, and has been a first or early investor in more than 15 unicorns, including Scale AI. As the first check in Scale AI in 2016, Outlander VC is a true pre-seed lead and has had a finger on the pulse of the enterprise AI space for a while and is actively deploying out of their third fund now.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $750K–$2.5M
Focus: AI/ML, SaaS, Defense Tech, FinTech, Consumer Tech
Notable Investments: Scale AI, Rinse, Coco Robotics
Website: https://outlander.vc/
Apply: Click Here
A thesis-driven fund focused on exponential technologies including AI, deep tech, and automation. They back technical founders building enterprise solutions that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $300K–$600K
Focus: AI/ML, Fintech, Deep Tech, Health and Bio
Notable Investments: Airspace Link, Aerdome, GlossGenius
Website: https://www.2048.vc/
Apply: Click Here
Manufacturing and industrial automation investors focused on AI-driven production and smart factory technologies. They specialize in vertical SaaS solutions that leverage AI for industrial applications.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$400K
Focus: AI-Driven Production, Vertical SaaS, Smart Factory Tech
Notable Investments: Melrose, Aurelius, Pet’s Table
Website: https://640oxford.com/
Apply: Contact form on their website
Originally focused on gaming, a16z’s accelerator program has expanded to include AI and tech companies, now investing up to $1M per company (increased from $750K). Their 12-week program has backed companies like Hedra (AI video creation) and k-ID, with applications open for their Fall/Winter 2025 cohort.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $750K-$1M
Focus: AI, Gaming, Entertainment, Creative Tools
Notable Investments: k-ID, Hedra, Flat2VR Studios
Website: https://speedrun.a16z.com/
Apply: Click Here
Technical investors focused on AI/ML, SaaS, and FinTech with a particular emphasis on enterprise applications. They back founders building AI-powered solutions for business workflows and financial services.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $500K–$2M
Focus: AI/ML, SaaS, FinTech
Notable Investments: Highlight, Kubecost, Factor
Website: https://www.afore.vc/
Apply: Apply
Founded by Andrew Ng, this unique venture studio doesn’t just invest—they co-found companies from scratch with entrepreneurs. With $370M+ raised and 35 portfolio companies, they actively participate in strategy, coding, and recruitment, recently launching companies like Gaia Dynamics (AI tariff compliance) and SkyFire AI (autonomous drones).
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$1M
Focus: AI/ML, Enterprise Applications, Industry-Specific AI
Notable Investments: Gaia Dynamics, SkyFire AI, Workhelix, Profitmind
Website: https://aifund.ai/
Apply: Click Here
Enterprise technology investors with deep expertise in AI/ML, SaaS, and cybersecurity. They focus on technical founders building intelligent enterprise software and have a strong track record in AI applications.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $500K–$3M
Focus: AI/ML, SaaS, Cybersecurity
Notable Investments: Hex, Hightouch, Runway
Website: https://www.amplifypartners.com/
A $150M pre-seed and seed stage fund dedicated to backing the most ambitious founders.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $500K-$3M
Focus: AI/ML, B2B SaaS
Notable Investments: Jamix, Planette
Website: https://www.audacious.co/
Specialists in three specific vectors: Human Machine Interaction (HMI), Machine-to-Machine Learning (M2ML), and Biological Machines (BioM). Recent enterprise AI and industrial automation investments include companies like TensorStax and Sourcetable that align perfectly with their thesis.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $500K-$1.5M
Focus: HMI, M2ML, BioM
Notable Investments: TensorStax, Sourcetable, Deepscribe
Website: https://beepartners.vc/
Apply: Click Here
A hybrid venture capital firm and startup studio that has been building and investing in startups for over a decade. They focus on AI/ML applications and have a track record of early investments in platforms that became foundational internet infrastructure.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$750K
Focus: AI/ML, Web3, Decentralization
Notable Investments: Airbnb, Kickstarter, Tumblr
Website: https://www.betaworks.com/
Apply: Click Here
SaaS and enterprise tooling investors with growing focus on AI applications through their operator community. They leverage their network of operators to identify and support AI-powered enterprise solutions.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $100K–$1M
Focus: SaaS, FinTech, Digital Health, AI Enterprise Tools
Notable Investments: Pylon, Cassidy, Inngest
Website: https://comma.vc/
Platform economy and enterprise B2B investors with increasing focus on AI-powered tooling. They invest in companies building intelligent business solutions and AI-enhanced enterprise platforms.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Series A
Check Size: $500K–$3M
Focus: Platform Economies, FinTech, Enterprise B2B, AI Tooling
Notable Investments: Firsthand (AI agent platform), Rubie, DocJuris
Website: https://www.crossbeam.vc/
Enterprise AI specialists focusing on data science, ML infrastructure, and cybersecurity applications. They have deep technical expertise and focus on B2B companies building AI-powered enterprise solutions.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$1M
Focus: Enterprise AI, Data Science, ML Infrastructure, Cybersecurity
Notable Investments: Ocrolus, Reonomy, EdgeIQ
Website: https://www.differential.vc/
B2B enterprise software investors with growing emphasis on AI/ML applications. They focus on technical founders building intelligent business solutions and have backed several AI-focused companies in their portfolio.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $100K–$1M
Focus: B2B Enterprise Software, AI/ML
Notable Investments: Monterey AI, Coactive, LastMile AI, Gradient Labs
Website: https://www.exceptionalcap.com/
First Round has made 17 investments already in 2025 and focus exclusively on earliest-stage companies. With 14 unicorns in their portfolio including Notion and Uber, they back founders when they often have just an “imagine if.”
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$1M
Focus: Enterprise, AI/ML, B2B SaaS, Hardware
Notable Investments: Notion, Uber, Roblox
Website: https://firstround.com
Enterprise-focused investors specializing in AI, cybersecurity, and B2B solutions. They partner with technical founders building intelligent enterprise software and have deep domain expertise in AI applications for business.
Stage: Seed, Series A
Check Size: $1M-$5M
Focus: AI/ML, B2B Enterprise, Cybersecurity
Notable Investments: Ship Angel, Retrocausal, Telmai
Website: https://glasswing.vc/
A people-first fund that leads ~40 deals per year with a founder-friendly 6-day decision process. They focus on pre-seed and seed companies across all technology sectors, with particular interest in AI/ML and data-driven companies, and have raised over $200M+ in committed capital.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $200K–$1M
Focus: AI/ML, All Technology Sectors, Data-Driven Companies
Notable Investments: STRATxAI, GigEasy, Paratus Health
Website: https://www.goaheadvc.com/
Google’s AI-focused venture fund that invests in early-stage startups building with artificial intelligence. They provide unique access to Google’s AI research, infrastructure, and technical expertise.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $750K–$8M
Focus: AI/ML, Automation, Enterprise AI
Notable Investments: Lambda, Streamlit, FlutterFlow
Website: https://www.gradient.com/
A diverse-focused fund that backs underrepresented founders at the pre-seed stage. They’ve been increasingly active in AI/ML investments and pride themselves on being founder-friendly with quick decision-making.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $50K-$750K (Sweet Spot $150K)
Focus: AI/ML, FinTech, Healthcare
Notable Investments: Webflow, NerdWallet, Branch
Website: https://www.hustlefund.vc/
Apply: Click Here
A boutique fund known for early investments in transformative companies like OpenAI, Slack, and Airbnb. They focus on enterprise applications and AI/ML solutions, requiring warm introductions due to their selective approach.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $100K-$750K (Sweet Spot $400K)
Focus: AI/ML, Healthcare, SaaS, Enterprise Applications
Notable Investments: OpenAI, Slack, Lyft
Website: https://www.k9ventures.com/
M25 is an early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, investing solely in tech startups headquartered in the Midwest.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K-$1M
Focus: AI/ML, HealthTech, FinTech, Vertical SaaS
Notable Investments: Astronomer, Arrellio, Prediction Guard
Website: https://www.m25vc.com/
Early-stage investors focused on emerging technologies including AI/ML, blockchain, and health tech. They back technical founders building innovative solutions across these verticals.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $400K–$750K
Focus: AI/ML, Blockchain, Health Tech
Notable Investments: Alice, Parsec, Solana
Website: https://notation.vc/
The pre-seed arm of Pear VC, focusing on the earliest stage investments in technical founders. They back companies at the idea stage with strong technical teams building in AI/ML, SaaS, and climate technology.
Stage: Pre-Seed
Check Size: $250K-$2M
Focus: AI/ML, SaaS, Climate Tech
Notable Investments: Affinity, Aurora, DoorDash
Website: https://pear.vc/pearx/
Apply: Get notified when applications open
Known for backing underrepresented founders and making 75-100 investments per fund, they focus on first institutional rounds for B2B and B2C software applications with a particular emphasis on diverse founding teams.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $250K–$500K
Focus: B2B Software, B2C Software, Connected Hardware
Notable Investments: The Athletic, Bobbie, Carrot Fertility, Modern Health, Clearco
Website: https://precursorvc.com/
London-based early-stage fund with 20+ years of experience backing breakthrough companies like Revolut, Rippling, and Just Eat. While known for consumer successes, they actively invest in enterprise applications and recently backed AI companies like SponsWatch, with 10 investments in 2024 and continued deployment in 2025.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $500K-$2M
Focus: Enterprise Applications, Consumer Tech, AI/ML
Notable Investments: Revolut, Rippling, Just Eat, SponsWatch
Website: https://venrex.partners/
AI is evolving quickly, and the best investors are the ones who are willing to commit before the rest of the world catches on. The firms listed here are backing real companies, at the very beginning, with capital and conviction. If you are building something ambitious with artificial intelligence at its foundation, we at Outlander VC would love to hear about it. Apply now.
Here at Outlander VC, we have a simple philosophy: pedigree doesn’t predict success.
Often the most transformational companies are built by visionaries who might not fit the traditional venture capital mold. That’s why we’re committed to backing exceptional founders from Day Zero—regardless of where they’re building, what city they call home, or whether they have fancy generational legacy degrees.
We don’t invest in credentials. We invest in vision, execution, intelligence, and character.
If you’re building something extraordinary—especially if you’ve been underestimated or overlooked—we created this list specifically for you.
We’ve curated 25 VC funding sources for underrepresented founders in 2025. These early-stage funds truly understand what it means to back brilliance early, and they’re actively investing in women, people of color, LGBTQ+ founders, immigrants, veterans, and others who’ve historically been left out of the conversation.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $750K–$2.5M
Focus: Visionary founders building software or hardware-enabled software. We’re spending time thinking about AI applications, autonomy, Future of Work, consumer tech, energy, infrastructure, health, and more (just no crypto, gaming, biotech/pharma, or CPG)
What Makes Us Different: We couldn’t care less where you went to school or who’s in your network—we care about your ability to build something world-changing.
Website: https://outlander.vc
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: Varies, $250K-$750K
Focus: Diverse Founders, Software, Healthcare, SaaS
Website: https://www.january.ventures/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Check Size: Varies, $250K-4M
Focus: Underrepresented Founders, Female Founders, LGBTQ+
Website: https://precursorvc.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Seed, Series A
Check Size: Varies, 500K – $750K.
Focus: Female Founders in B2B, Consumer, Healthcare, and Fintech
Website: https://femalefoundersfund.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Seed
Check Size: $1M
Focus: Female Founders, healthcare and climate
Website: https://truewealthvc.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Seed
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female Founders in health, education, climate, and consumer
Website: https://www.bbgventures.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: Varies, $500K-$1.5M
Focus: Underrepresented Founders, Healthcare, Consumer, Tech Agnostic
Website: https://www.chingona.ventures/
Apply:Click Here
Stage: Seed, Series A
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female Founders, B2B Saas
Website: https://www.hearstlab.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $300K average
Focus: Black and Latinx Founders, Sector Agnostic
Website: https://www.levelupventures.com
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: $750K-$1.5M pre-seed, $2M Seed+
Focus: Underrepresented Founders, Consumer
Website: https://westboundequity.com/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies, ~$500K
Focus: Female Founders, Impact
Website: https://www.contextvc.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies, ~250K-$1M
Focus: LGBTQ+ and allies
Website: http://gaingels.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies, ~$500K
Focus: Female Founders, Impact
Website: https://thehelm.co/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies, $25K-$400K
Focus: Female Founders
Website: https://grahamwalker.com/
Apply:Click Here
Stage: Seed
Check Size: Varies, $150K first check
Focus: Underrepresented Founders, Consumer, SaaS
Website: https://www.hustlefund.vc/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female Founders
Website: https://chai-ventures.com/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: Varies, $500K-$1M
Focus: Underrepresented Founders
Website: http://harlem.capital/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female founders, FinTech
Website: https://ecosystem.anthemis.com/female-innovators-lab/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed to Series A
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Underrepresented Founders
Website: https://macventurecapital.com/
Apply:Get in Touch
Stage: Seed
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Latinx, Underrepresented Founders
Website: https://vamosventures.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Seed
Check Size: $2-5M
Focus: Veteran Founders
Website: https://www.scout.vc/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Seed
Check Size: $750K – $1.5M
Focus: Diverse tech founders in fintech, commerce, and caretech
Website: https://www.theartemisfund.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed to Series A
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female Founders
Website: https://gingerbreadcap.com/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Seed, Series A
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Underrepresented founders
Website: https://www.wellington.com/en-us/intermediary/capabilities/wellington-access-ventures
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Early-Stage
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Underrepresented founders
Website: https://www.serenaventures.com/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $100-$200K
Focus: Women and wealth
Website: https://www.swizzle.vc/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage, Pre-Seed-Series A
Check Size: $1-2M
Focus: US Latinx entrepreneurs
Website: https://lattitudeventures.com/
Apply: Click Here
The future of innovation depends on the diversity of those shaping it.
It’s not enough to just say “anyone can be a founder.” We need to back that belief with real capital. These 25 funds (and many more) are doing exactly that—tearing down barriers, challenging outdated norms, and funding tomorrow’s leaders today.
And if you’re one of those founders with a world-changing vision? We want to hear from you.
Pitch us: Here
Ever wondered how Scale AI grew to $14B by mastering government contracts? In this candid panel discussion, we sit down with Scale’s Director of Public Sector Deployment Strategy and veteran defense specialists to reveal their playbooks for success.
Why Watch:
Featuring Scale AI’s Shaliya Dehipawala, Frontera Group’s Thomas Williams, and Washington Office’s Evan Burfield, this is the guide we wish existed for every founder eyeing the federal market.
Watch now to unlock the full federal playbook.