Best Seed Developer Tools & Infrastructure + Marketing & Adtech Investors 2026

AI and data science can dramatically improve venture capital decision-making. We use proprietary software to discover, evaluate, and support the most promising European startups while providing hands-on operational support.

Storm Ventures backs early-stage B2B enterprise software companies with a focus on AI-native applications, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure. They employ a 'paddling to surfing' growth methodology and have deep expertise in taking companies from inception to $100M+ ARR. Their philosophy: 'the interface layer will disappear. The infrastructure layer will compound.'

Partner with exceptional teams building transformative technology companies across all stages

Exceptional entrepreneurs with clear thinking and strong execution capability, backed by operational mentorship and management discipline. We invest in founders who value learning and can benefit from hands-on advisory support rooted in operating experience.

We invest in bold technical founders building the autonomous enterprise. Before you build your team, before you write your first line of code—that's when boldstart gets to work. We collaborate with technical founders at Inception, lead pre-product rounds, and help turn bold ideas into category-creating companies.

Human-scale venture capital focused on early-stage enterprise software. Partner with great teams in love with big problems at the inflection point of customer validation, providing smart money, storytelling support, and the right connections through a network of 20+ accomplished Northeast entrepreneurs.

Ideas are meaningless. Validated ideas are priceless. We invest in differentiated B2B and B2B2C companies with real product-market fit. We look for founders who can cold call a customer at 9 PM and get them excited in one sentence. We like weird ideas that create new categories.

We identify exceptional operators with proven track records at scale (ex-Facebook, Google, Stripe) and catalyze their transition into founders. Periods of rapid societal behavior change spur dramatic innovation. We invest in the future of work and consumer utility, providing not just capital but operational expertise, network access, and proven playbooks from building at Facebook/Meta scale.

Hilariously early pre-seed/seed investing. We back hustlers at concept stage—fast, scrappy, first-principles founders who act before market consensus.

Thesis-driven firm backing software companies that turn technology discontinuities into durable go-to-market advantages. Core focus: The Decade of Data — AI-native enterprise software, modern data stack evolution, and web3 data infrastructure.

Network-powered startups connecting people and businesses through software tools and platforms

Low volume, high conviction early-stage investing in 10 thematic areas where vertical AI is reshaping regulated, complex industries: healthcare, fintech, capital markets, industrial operations, security, and government. Back strongly opinionated founders building category-defining companies with direct operator support from a team with deep fintech and growth scaling experience.

Invest in the future of software built on AI. We partner with technical founders to provide capital, unfair shortcuts, and operational support to accelerate their learning and help them reach their potential. We position ourselves as the first institutional investor for v0.9 stage founders.

Emerging tech and AI are changing the commerce landscape. We power the future of commerce by investing in cutting-edge enablement technologies that support retailers, brands, creators, and manufacturers serving Black and Latinx founders and consumers. We pair platform investments with CPG investments with explicit racial equity mandate.

Non-dilutive growth capital for B2B software companies. Alternative to venture capital focused on sustainable, capital-efficient growth that preserves founder equity and optionality. Fills gap between traditional bank lending and venture financing.

Companyon backs a small number of capital-efficient, founder-led B2B software companies at the seed-to-Series-A transition and pairs capital with hands-on GTM, talent, and fundraising support.

Beginnings matter. We work with founders exclusively at the earliest stages of company building, often when all they have is an 'imagine if.' We look for compelling and contrarian insights into how the world works—what do you understand about a market that others miss? Our role is to accelerate the path from idea to product-market fit through embedded partnership.

The hardest thing in seed is finding product-market fit. We help you find it. If you already have product-market fit, we will help you scale. We partner with exceptionally ambitious founders for the long run and provide capital combined with operational expertise through our 100+ member Product Council.

Backs early-stage B2B founders building vertical AI solutions that automate administrative and operational workflows in underserved industries. Focuses on seed-stage companies with strong founder-market fit and clear unit economics.

Sierra believes enterprise software is being fundamentally transformed by cloud computing and AI. They invest in technical founders building the next generation of enterprise solutions that deliver superior ROI through better efficiency, automation, and capability. The firm particularly focuses on infrastructure, security, healthcare innovation, and emerging deep tech.

NYC has tremendous entrepreneurial talent but lacked a structured environment for early-stage founders. ERA provides capital, intense mentorship, and network access to help founders build market-leading companies. Every sector deserves innovation.

Champions exceptional founders to build lasting companies through experience, community, and capital. Generalist technology investor whose edge is network depth — Joe Montana's unmatched rolodex and 800+ portfolio company network enables introductions that most seed funds cannot provide.

We back disruptive founders building category-defining companies. Our approach is founder-first, long-term, and deeply operational. We take the longest view in the room, operate with excellence and integrity, stay curious at the bleeding edge, and invest heavily in building community.

Data is the defensible moat in technology. We invest in companies that build proprietary data assets, analytics capabilities, or machine learning advantages to dominate their categories. Founded on 'information arbitrage' thesis - applying hedge fund quantitative discipline to early-stage venture.

We invest at the Bridge-to-Series A stage—the critical inflection point for companies with real market adoption and product-market fit that are not yet ready for traditional Series A rounds. We partner with exceptional entrepreneurs to build game-changing companies while maximizing investor flexibility and returns.

We invest in world-class founders solving significant problems. We prioritize founder quality, founder-problem fit, and values-aligned partnerships. We help exceptional founders become category leaders early, before they become obvious trends.

Believe in innovation, risk-taking, and young talent. Best entrepreneurs are rare and precious. Provide quick capital, friendly terms, genuine commitment. Help but don't complicate. Monthly founder support.

Inception-stage VC backing experienced founders building B2B autonomous agentic AI from day zero. Leverages Salesforce alumni network to provide portfolio companies with enterprise distribution and operational support.

At the intersection of generational talent and transformative artificial intelligence. Evantic backs exceptional founders building AI-first B2B software, infrastructure, and platform businesses with the potential to become global market leaders.

Back the brightest early-stage founders under 30. We provide capital, mentorship, and network access to accelerate ambitious young entrepreneurs who graduate from our League of Innovators program or demonstrate exceptional founder quality.

Back ambitious teams with strong learning and execution capacities across all sectors, stages, and geographies. Technology-enabled businesses preferred. Volume-based, founder-centric investment philosophy.

We partner with gritty and determined entrepreneurs leveraging emerging technologies to create or disrupt huge markets. We invest in people first, second, and third—founders with passion, obsession, and vision. Only partners with founders when we believe their company alone can return our entire fund or more.

Venture capital should be accessible to exceptional entrepreneurs anywhere. Great companies can be built outside Silicon Valley with the right capital, operational expertise, and network support.

Serious founders building must-have technology for mission-critical industries. We focus on B2B software companies digitizing legacy industries and transforming established workflows. Specializing in seed-stage, where hands-on operational support, sales acceleration, and capital strategy matter most.

Category creating companies with few to no competitors, defensible business models, and unit economics that are starting to work. Invest across all technology sectors except healthcare. Require 50x return potential. Primary value-add is helping raise Series A from the best possible investor.

Great startups can be built anywhere. We believe in founder-centric investing with operational support from a team of successful founders. We serve undernetworked geographic regions.

Culture-Tech companies that disrupt and define how we live, work, play, and interact with the world every day. We invest in passionate founders building transformative products that change cultural behaviors.

Operator-led fund investing in ambitious founders building transformative AI applications. We partner with technical founders who understand AI/ML deeply and are solving real customer problems with capital efficiency. Great product is always the best marketing.