Best Pre-Seed E-commerce & Marketplaces + Security & Cybersecurity Investors 2026

Backing transformative founders building exceptional companies across all sectors

Go-to-market is your moat. We back gritty, early, conviction-driven founders building the next generation of enterprise software with deep domain expertise and contrarian viewpoints. We work side-by-side with you from day one, providing hands-on GTM support, sales playbooks, and access to our NYC enterprise ecosystem.

Global venture capital firm investing in lifestyle consumer brands and technology companies that positively disrupt large and growing markets. Great investments require deep industry expertise, hands-on operational support, and access to strategic partners.

Investing in the next generation of badass founders. The firm identifies founders whose backgrounds uniquely position them to create transformative businesses in rapidly growing markets that are often overlooked by mainstream venture capital. Focus on the 'Chingona Factor': market fluency, lived experience, and sheer will.

Community-driven VC led by active operators who simultaneously build and invest. Best support for founders comes from operators understanding current market challenges firsthand, not just history. Invest in category-defining technology companies.

GFR Fund invests in pre-seed to Series A companies building emerging digitally-native communities in gaming, entertainment, and consumer tech. They seek founders who deeply understand community-building, whether they have a product with an existing community or are in early stages of building one. Strong focus on execution, founder-market fit, and capital efficiency.

We partner with high-integrity, problem-obsessed, wildly interesting founders at early stage. We are long-term investors, backing founders at inception and continuing to invest until IPO. We have a single mandate: to help fledgling companies navigate the challenges of building generational businesses. Rather than being a traditional write-a-check fund, we provide full-stack partnership: capital, operational support, strategic introductions, recruiting, business development, and fundraising support.

Partner with exceptional founders building generational and disruptive companies. Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Entrée invests from pre-seed to Series A in AI, deep tech, quantum computing, fintech, cybersecurity, and crypto. New $300M funds (Nov 2025) doubling down on vertical AI, quantum, and contrarian industries with low historical software spend.

Transform financial services by increasing the ubiquity, movement, and security of capital. We partner with diverse founders building innovative solutions that expand access to capital, reduce friction in capital flows, and strengthen financial system confidence. We believe financial services is the most significant contributor to economic transformation and key to creating a more prosperous society for all.

Israel's leading pre-seed platform, backing first-time Israeli founders tapping into non-traditional industries. Invests $150K for 7.5% equity per company (up to $500K in the Digital Health track), paired with a 10-week intensive bootcamp and a 300+ person mentor network.

We support ambitious founders solving large problems through technology across all stages. Independent thinkers who challenge conventional wisdom are our ideal partners. We provide not just capital but operational expertise, global networks, and hands-on support from day one through scale.

EPIC Ventures backs early-stage technology companies building in the information economy, with a focus on enterprise SaaS, healthcare technology, cybersecurity, and future of work. The firm believes the best way to build lasting companies is through genuine partnership with founders — providing capital, strategic guidance, operational expertise, and deep network access. Founded in 1994, EPIC helped build the Utah tech ecosystem and continues to be the foundational VC of the Mountain West.

Invest in people over product at the earliest stage of the entrepreneurial journey. Write the first institutional check for the most promising software and hardware companies. Focus on long-term relationships with founders.

Back ambitious founders from Central and Eastern Europe and the diaspora building large-market, 10x-better products, favoring high-risk/high-upside bets over safer, modest-return opportunities, grounded in market data rather than intuition.

Back notable founders with global ambitions using technology to transform industries. We partner with exceptional teams to scale from seed through IPO, providing capital, operational expertise, and network access.

We invest in early-stage companies with great ideas and exceptional people behind them. The best teams have passion, perseverance, and proven execution capability. We look for genuine market problems, cost-effective solutions, clear paths to monetization, and teams that will execute relentlessly.

Backs ambitious tech founders from pre-seed to Series A through EIS/SEIS tax-efficient fund structures in the UK. Focus on Vertical AI, AI-enabled software, and FinTech 2.0. Founded by serial entrepreneur Mark Pearson, the firm brings operational expertise as entrepreneurs who have built and exited companies.

World-class founders at their earliest stages matter more than the stage of the business itself. We back sector-agnostic, high-ambition founders from pre-product through early revenue with candid advice, hands-on support, and a network of 1,200+ operators.

Venture capital is the most powerful economic engine the world has ever seen. We back audacious founders solving humanity's hardest challenges through category-creating innovations. We embrace big risks and reject short-termism, committing to 15+ year partnerships with founders who have long-term vision and relentless determination.

ISAI identifies capital-efficient French tech startups early—often as the first VC—backing SaaS and marketplace models with progressive ambition, blue ocean positioning, and category-leader potential. Increasingly an AI-focused investor using it as an enabling lens across all verticals. Their edge: a community of 500+ tech entrepreneur-LPs who open doors, advise, and validate.

Yellow Rocks! builds global bridges through billion-dollar talent, investing in fast-growing early-stage tech companies founded by talented entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world, aimed at global markets with potential to skyrocket in the next 5-8 years. Investing in AI since 2017.

New Zealand tech startups and creative companies have exceptional potential. We provide early-stage capital and operational support through our network of industry advisors to help exceptional founders achieve breakthrough results.

We back founders who combine emotional intelligence with business acumen and are on a mission to solve problems they deeply care about. We're often the first institutional check and provide mentorship, community, and long-term partnership support.

The future belongs to those who build. JSV convenes and connects the next generation of AI-native founders, drawing on its all-partner team of former founders and operators to back software and marketplace companies from seed through growth.

Exceptional founders backed at pre-seed and seed with both capital and hands-on operational support—talent, GTM, fundraising—build the most enduring companies. Pear is founder-first: founders-and-operators turned investors who have been in founders' shoes.

Technology companies are becoming intertwined with the global economy more so than ever before. The most compelling founders build businesses through a broader world view. White Star Capital backs globally ambitious entrepreneurs at Series A, B, and Seed stages across North America, Europe, and Asia, helping them scale internationally through deep local presence on three continents.

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.

Invest in scalable, capital-efficient tech and tech-enabled startups at the Seed stage led by exceptional founders. We identify companies showing early traction that can achieve significant scale with disciplined capital deployment.

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.

Lightbank invests in disruptive technology companies led by great founders in dynamic markets with world-class products. The firm believes exceptional founders and opportunities exist everywhere, especially in overlooked geographies like the Midwest. We partner with early-stage founders and provide operator-heavy support beyond capital.

Investing in subject matter experts shaping the future of their industries. We lead with our values and build trust through action. We believe the best founders have deep industry expertise and need tireless operational support, not just capital. We partner with founders for the long term, staying engaged 24/7.

Backing exceptional people at the very start of their journey. We support founders from inception to scale through our global residency programs, providing capital, mentorship, and access to a network of 1,500+ companies across six continents.

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.

Rule30 uses a fully algorithmic decision engine to identify outlier founders at pre-seed and seed stages across Europe and North America. The fund removes human bias by analyzing founder experience, educational background, network evolution, and career trajectory — excluding names and photos. The algorithm ranks founders into top 10%, 3%, and 0.1% tiers. An index-style strategy of 75-85 bets targets ≥3x minimum returns with 97.5% confidence.

We build category-defining companies through a combination of design, product, operations, and capital. We identify market gaps, pair brilliant founders with Expa's studio resources, and help them build companies that reshape entire industries.

First-check VC backing Baltic founders (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) at inception and pre-seed stages, with a strong focus on AI-first software. Backs founders who don't fit traditional VC criteria—no FAANG background or Ivy League degree required. Seeks undervalued talent before mainstream investor recognition.

Cherry backs ambitious, resourceful, resilient founders with a novel insight ("anomaly") and a coherent, feasible path to an underexplored shared need ("the red thread"), investing industry-curiously across Europe often before product or revenue exist.

Mucker Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in technology companies from pre-seed through Series B. We partner closely with founders building scalable businesses, often providing a company’s first institutional check and continuing to support them through later stages. Mucker has offices in Venice, California, Austin, and Toronto, and primarily invests across the United States and Canada, with the ability to back exceptional founders in other markets.

Back founders building things the world hasn't seen yet, at the moment before the crowd believes. Combine capital with extraordinary operational support through largest Portfolio Impact team at any NYC seed investor. Focus on technical founders solving real problems with clear product-market fit signals.

Elevate Ventures partners with innovation-driven founders to provide strategic capital, mentorship, and ecosystem access. Founded by a former founder (Governor Mitch Daniels), the firm believes the best founders exhibit grit, creativity, and coachability. They invest across all sectors and geographies but maintain primary focus on Indiana and Great Lakes Region entrepreneurs building cross-sector innovations.

Network effects are the #1 way to create defensibility in digital businesses. We invest in visionary founders building defensible businesses with network effects embedded in their core product.

We are a stage-agnostic venture capital firm investing in exceptional founders building the companies that shape our world.

Leading global companies that leverage technological innovation across public and private markets. Proven founders (especially ex-Googlers, AWS, Stripe) with large TAMs (billions+), product-led growth, and global ambitions. Conviction-based investing post-2022 correction emphasizing quality over quantity.

Act is a long-term early-stage generalist that backs exceptional teams who truly understand their market and can become category-defining companies. The firm wants mission-driven founders, is willing to lead early, and stays with companies through expansion.

Global venture capital that invests where talent is abundant but capital and opportunity are not. 500 Global backs technology founders with global ambitions across underinvested, fast-growing markets using Silicon Valley expertise combined with deep local knowledge. Core belief: The best founders and innovation emerge globally, not just Silicon Valley.

Entrepreneur-centric private investment firm backing Israeli-related seed to early-stage ventures across diverse technology areas. Patient partners who allow founders to build global tech companies at their own pace.

Empowering entrepreneurs to reimagine the way we live and work by investing in daring technology companies challenging the status quo with permanent capital, lifelong sparring partnership from pre-seed through IPO and beyond.

Equity of access and representation in venture capital delivers positive returns. Diverse and underrepresented (including LGBTQ+) leaders of high-growth companies deserve capital access. When these founders succeed, they influence ecosystems and open doors for historically excluded groups.

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.

Democratize access to venture capital by building large syndicates of non-traditional LPs. Invest across all stages, sectors, and geographies based on founder quality and market conviction, not category restrictions. Enable 2,000+ diverse co-investors to participate alongside marquee firms like Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz while maintaining founder-friendly economics.

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.

High-conviction seed fund focused on alignment and partnership. Blake invests in technical founders building enduring companies across gaming, hardware, creator economy, and emerging tech. Core belief: VC is a service business where concentrated ownership creates genuine incentives for hands-on support.