Best Pre-Seed Fintech & Payments + Biotech & Life Sciences Investors 2026

Balderton Capital backs European-founded technology companies with visionary founders building transformative businesses. The firm combines patient capital, operational expertise, and founder support to enable European entrepreneurs to build world-class companies.

Mission-driven founders building transformative companies. FPV backs missionaries, not mercenaries—founders with genuine conviction in solving hard problems and willingness to pursue 100-year visions. Focus on founders who are misunderstood initially but recognized as geniuses for changing the world. Founder service is their North Star—they aim to be the founder's first phone call with operational support from experienced partners.

Spark Capital backs transformative products built by creators with genuine vision and technical depth. We believe that the best way to evaluate a founding team is not through credentials or market analysis, but by experiencing their product firsthand. Product comes first, and everything else follows.

Backing transformative founders building exceptional companies across all sectors

Back ambitious 'go-all-in' founders building defensible B2B software at pre-seed and seed, and support them intensively through the journey to Series A. Focus on AI, infrastructure, health, TechBio, open source, and marketplaces.

Identifying culturally resonant, consumer-focused companies with differentiated products and founder teams that will capture global attention. We invest across technology, consumer behavior, entertainment, and culture—seeking to spot emerging trends before they reach mainstream awareness. We operate as a partnership combining rigorous deal selection with exceptional founder support, creative marketing, and deep understanding of consumer psychology.

First-check crypto fund backing founders at inception stage — before the idea is obvious to everyone. Invests in both tokens and equity globally, with conviction that the best crypto companies are built to export value beyond the crypto echo chamber.

Back founder-operators with prior venture-scale exits solving hard technical problems in non-obvious, regulated deep-technical verticals including AI infrastructure, blockchain, biotech, and communications infrastructure. Co-invest alongside quality partners to maintain flexibility and focus on deep operational support and strategic value-add.

Exceptional founders with strong conviction deserve capital, mentorship, and partnership from day one. We back category-defining companies at the earliest stages.

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.

Artificial intelligence will reshape every industry. We partner with technical founders building the next generation of AI applications, infrastructure, and tools across every layer of the AI stack.

The biggest companies of the century will be built solving the world's most pressing problems. We champion ambitious founders using technology to reshape civilization around climate, health, and inclusive capitalism.

Olive Tree Capital invests in groundbreaking technology and life sciences companies guided by the Golden Rule philosophy. As an evergreen vehicle without asset class limitations or holding period constraints, OTC can be a long-term partner to founders across any stage and geography.

Pre-seed fund investing in technical founders building developer-facing tools and infrastructure. Focused on curiosity, velocity of learning, and rapid building. Believe the world is shaped by unique insights at the intersection of art/culture and math/science.

We invest in transformative frontier science and technology that most VCs avoid. Our focus is on biotech, deep tech, psychedelics, brain-computer interfaces, life extension, and infrastructure bets in undercapitalized global markets. We believe the biggest winners in biotech are companies producing quality-adjusted life years (QALYs).

We back determined builders working on hard problems in critical domains. Real innovation is non-obvious at first and often misunderstood. We support contrarian founders during frontier exploration when they need it most.

Apply AI and data science to identify and invest in N-of-1 companies with 10-100x potential. Back founders who expand individual freedom and decentralize power. Invest in companies that embody principles from the Bill of Rights (voice, fair process, proportionality, user power) and Bitcoin whitepaper (trust-minimized, verifiable, aligned incentives, open access).

Quantitative, data-driven investing at the Pre-VC stage. We invest in capital-efficient technology startups with $5K–$30K+ MRR at $1.5M–$4M valuations. Fast decisions (one week), no gatekeepers, no BS.

Early-stage Latin American entrepreneurs solving critical healthcare, environmental, and societal challenges using science and technology. We provide capital, Silicon Valley networks, and operational expertise to build transformational companies.

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.

Montage Ventures aims to support radical thinkers who are bringing new ideas and platforms to foster change within the financial services, commerce and health sectors, leveraging AI as a key transformative agent.

Founders building the possibly impossible deserve capital plus marketing support. Great technology combined with exceptional storytelling and narrative development creates world-changing moonshots. We provide both the capital and the story-telling expertise to help founders achieve escape velocity.

We invest in mission-critical infrastructure serving women and working families. Many essential systems have been dismissed as too complex or too human to solve, but technology and AI advances make transformation possible. This is a $1 trillion opportunity and generational economic growth driver.

The AI-first transformation of business will be as big as digital, mobile, and cloud combined. We invest in companies building the AI-first technology stack: data foundations, AI tools, autonomous applications, and product-led growth companies that accelerate adoption. Founders building at any layer of this stack can reach goals and uncover opportunities previously unattainable.

CEE founders (Polish, Ukrainian, Romanian, etc.) are building the next generation of global software companies. We partner with experienced operators who combine deep industry expertise with serial entrepreneurship. Geographic arbitrage: exceptional technical talent in CEE with lower burn rates, global ambition. We provide early capital plus connections to Silicon Valley for follow-on funding (80% of portfolio follow-ons from SV/Europe/Asia). Goal: $500M+ exits in 8-10 years.

Canadians have built over $1 trillion in enterprise value globally, yet were initially backed by US VC not Canadian investors. We back founders with Canadian roots—regardless of where they build—because exceptional talent from Canada represents a sustainable, quantifiable selection edge.

Early investors and long-term partners. We back exceptional founders solving real problems across sectors. When you hit a bump in the road, we're there solving problems alongside you with operational expertise and network leverage.

We invest in category-defining companies at Pre-Seed and Seed stages founded by entrepreneurs with authentic passion. Focus on founders working in climate, food, healthcare, AI automation, and frontier technologies. Philosophy: when the world says No, go toward the Yes as hard as you can.

Back outlier founders with unconventional ambition and deep-rooted urgency operating outside conventional wisdom. We believe the best companies are built by rare entrepreneurs who can filter out 95% of typical VC advice and construct exceptional talent and culture.

Investing at the intersection of for-profit and for-good. Companies that make the world better AND deliver strong financial returns. The Villain Test ensures both impact and profit alignment.

Partner with exceptional founders solving hard technical problems in fintech, AI, and science that require intense curiosity, intellectual depth, and scientific innovation. Focus on defensibility through hard technical feats, network effects, and solutions in complex, highly regulated industries.

Technology can have a highly disruptive impact on society. We back founders on the forefront of innovation with clear vision towards positive change, leveraging domain expertise to ensure value creation. Founder-first approach with operational support.

As founder-operators, we see returns in relationships. We back ambitious founders with exceptional vision at the earliest stages with capital, mentorship, and network access.

Invest in companies addressing fundamental societal needs. Provide Talent/Capital/Attention platform via in-house content and advisory network. Mission-driven investments with specialized expertise in healthcare, climate, robotics, and deep tech.

Partner with visionary founders to turn bold ambitions into world-changing breakthroughs in life sciences, technology, healthtech, and crypto. Distinctive 'technical-risk-yes, regulatory-risk-no' filter ensures clear pathways to success.

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.

Partner with spiky founders building category-defining companies using novel technological approaches. Focus on AI-driven innovation across alternative architectures, custom software, research assistants, TechBio, infrastructure, and enterprise applications. Provide capital, operational support, strategic guidance, and network access for founders with unique insights and deep technical expertise.

Identify and invest in the world's top talent before they start a company. Build lifelong relationships through a proprietary university scout network at Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and other elite universities. Back exceptional founders within 1-3 years of graduation before they are widely recognized.

Support visionary founders building transformative technologies across blockchain, AI, and biotechnology. Provide capital, technical resources, and access to Binance's 300M+ user base and infrastructure. Partner for long-term value creation with founder-centric approach.

Story invests in the building blocks of automated systems across three interconnected layers: sensory systems (data capture), data processing (organization and structure), and machine intelligence (applications and decision-making). We believe the most impactful problems require the most innovative solutions, and we partner with founders pursuing audacious, challenging businesses because that's what it takes to create lasting impact.

Women founders represent an overlooked asset class that delivers superior returns. Women-founded companies earn 26% more for investors, yet receive only 2% of venture funding. We invest exclusively in women-founded companies, providing capital, network access, and operational support to drive transformative change.

Partner with visionary founders to build category-defining companies in healthcare, enterprise software, fintech/insurtech, and deep technology. Provide deep operational support, board participation, and access to domain expert network. Focus on companies solving problems in regulated or data-rich industries. Leverage Allianz's unique vantage point on risk, data, and regulation to identify opportunities at intersection of innovation and regulatory necessity.

Southern California's original seed-stage venture capital fund, focused on capital-efficient technology startups with differentiated competitive advantages targeting large, addressable and growing markets outside the Bay Area. Active, hands-on management with emphasis on venture fundamentals and disciplined investment strategy.

Invest in deep science and disruptive technology companies that solve fundamental human problems—inequality, health, climate adaptation. We back founders with vision, instinct, and drive to scale impact.

We democratize venture capital by providing individual accredited investors with professional-grade access to elite venture opportunities. We leverage our massive 850,000+ community network and 11,000+ investors to create unique value for founders, sourcing and diligencing deals alongside top-tier VCs (a16z, Sequoia, Khosla) without leading rounds. Our network is our competitive advantage—it compounds value for all stakeholders.

Backs inception-stage technical founders across Europe and Israel building solutions for hard markets including AI infrastructure, space/aerospace, advanced manufacturing, energy, biology, and other deep-tech verticals.

Back mission-driven founders addressing significant global challenges through leading-edge technology. Provide flexible and patient capital, leveraging our time, resources, and networks to support portfolio company success. Focus on founders with authentic social and environmental missions alongside commercial viability.

Invest in talented people solving challenging problems. We back extraordinary founders building products that people want with speed, efficiency, and operational excellence.

We back outliers of the outliers - founders with unreasonable ambition who can filter out 95% of conventional VC advice. We seek category-defining companies aiming for $10B+ outcomes, not incremental improvements. Our conviction is deep, selective, and global. We don't meddle - we provide brutal honesty, talent upgrades, and capital for survival through near-death moments.

K5 Global backs category-defining companies from inception to IPO. The firm leverages exceptional networks across media, entertainment, politics, finance, and technology to provide strategic value beyond capital. We believe the best companies are built by founders who can access world-class talent, capital, and strategic relationships.

Exceptional founders living in the future deserve operators who provide more than capital. We partner with founders on go-to-market, brand, storytelling, and team building.

We combine world-class AI analytics with industry-leading networks to identify exceptional companies and make rapid investment decisions. Great companies, regardless of sector or geography.

Day 0 venture capital applied by a deep operator. Better Capital invests at the earliest stage where ambiguity is highest and operator judgment adds the most value. Solo GP model keeps conviction high and enables deep engagement with 20-25 companies at critical inflection points.

We back technically ambitious founders building tomorrow's most iconic companies in frontier sectors like AI, hardtech, robotics, healthcare, and fintech. We believe great companies come from founders willing to tackle complex problems that generalist funds avoid.

Back wild hearts with the wildest ideas from the very beginning. Invest in companies, not rounds — following exceptional founders from pre-seed through all subsequent stages. Focused on ANZ founders building globally ambitious companies across any sector.

Backs globally ambitious technology companies from pre-seed and seed through selected growth rounds using specialist EMEA sector teams and a platform model for capital, customers, talent, follow-on investors, and operational support.

Operator-led capital for global pre-seed and seed technical founders building AI, robotics, defense, developer tools, AI-native applications, and adjacent deep-tech companies where rapid execution and distribution matter.

NEA partners with ambitious founders at every stage of company building, from pre-seed through IPO. They invest at the intersection of technology and healthcare, believing the most transformational innovation occurs where deep domain expertise meets world-class technical founders. NEA serves as both capital provider and active operator.

Backing the builders of the next layer of computing across AI infrastructure, defense, biotech, and American dynamism. Former 'Software is Eating the World' thesis evolved to 'AI is Eating Software'. Partners with technical founders building foundation models, cloud systems, and infrastructure for the AI era.

Back exceptional founders early, globally. Self-funded model enables founder-first alignment, rapid deployment, and direct support. We believe the best companies come from the best founders, regardless of background or current stage.

Partner with exceptional founders to build generational companies that define the world's most critical industries. We provide not just capital but assemble teams of the highest caliber through our 5,000+ member builder community and deep operational expertise.

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.

Backing immigrant entrepreneurs building companies in Europe. Immigrants account for ~50% of US and ~40% of UK unicorns. NLV spots and supports this talent before the market catches up, investing unconditionally as the first check before lead VCs are in place.

Back exceptional Kiwi founders building globally transformative companies, from day one to IPO. New Zealand founders represent a significantly undervalued asset class, and Icehouse provides capital plus an ecosystem of 3,000+ investors and deep operational support.

Battery Ventures operates as a stage-agnostic firm backing technology-driven category leaders across all growth stages from seed to buyout. The firm believes the best tech investments span the entire founder journey, and they practice collaborative, research-focused investing with embedded operational support through their Portfolio Services platform. They seek technical founders with deep domain expertise and experienced operators building in four core sectors: Application Software, Infrastructure Software, Consumer, and Industrial Tech + Life Science Tools.

Extraordinary founders execute faster when isolated from distractions and provided intensive on-site support. We seek junkyard dogs with high agency, non-obvious vision, delusional optimism, and execution discipline. Category matters far less than founder quality.

We help mission-driven pioneers win by harnessing the power of storytelling, art and culture. We back early-stage companies with customer obsession in their DNA and accelerate the mass adoption of technologies they create. Founders need more than capital—they need strategic support in building their narrative and leveraging media to accelerate adoption.

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.

Emerson Collective invests in entrepreneurs and innovators driven by purpose, seeking consequential companies that deliver both generational impact and venture-scale returns. The firm targets sectors where biggest market opportunities meet meaningful impact levers: energy & environment, digital health, fintech, education, work, and media.

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 back bold founders and AI-enabled, game-changing innovations that improve planetary and population health. We target capital-efficient, highly scalable startups reimagining sectors like agri-food, climate, fintech, life sciences and nutrition through deep tech and proprietary IP. We engineer outcomes through operational support, strategic partnerships, and sector expertise.

AI is a milestone in data maturity progression, not a product category. Argonautic invests in founders building data-centric solutions across infrastructure (horizontal) and vertical markets. Multi-fund structure allows pre-seed to Series B deployment with unified thesis: recognizing verticals at different data adoption stages and deploying capital to those crossing inflection points into AI operationalization.

Founder-led seed fund investing at the intersection of healthcare/biotech and fintech, where GPs Linhao Zhang (Formation Bio, AI drug discovery) and Jake Cahan (January, fintech) bring deep operator experience to back early-stage founders in their domains.

We invest in the technologies that are transforming our lives, now and into the future. Founded by a successful entrepreneur and former tech journalist, Supernode backs exceptional founders building innovative technology companies across all sectors, from pre-seed through Series A and beyond.

First-check investors to exceptional founders building category-defining companies and to emerging venture funds reshaping the industry. Formation-stage specialists operating as partners from inception, not simply deploying capital.

We invest in mission-driven companies that dare to tackle impossible challenges, striving to transform industries and create lasting societal impact. We seek founders with audacity to dream big, resilience to persevere, and potential to build forever companies that shape human history.

HOF Capital invests in relentlessly ambitious founders building world-changing technologies that accelerate abundance: sustained technological progress that expands access to opportunity, health, and economic prosperity. Its current public thesis emphasizes AI and agentic systems as amplifiers of discovery, engineering, and knowledge creation, alongside frontier infrastructure and applications that can shorten scientific and technological invention timelines.

Early-stage venture capital for IT and Biotech companies in Colorado Front Range and Mid-Atlantic. Focus on experienced founding teams solving important problems with potential for significant financial returns. Patient capital approach with operational support and deep regional networks.

Invest in bold, visionary founders building transformational businesses long before the world believes in them. We back founders solving impossible-seeming problems across frontier sectors: AI/robotics, crypto, biotech, aerospace, and unconventional ideas.

Back European technical founders building globally ambitious deeptech and critical technology companies at pre-seed and seed, with concentrated first-check conviction and Paris/San Francisco/Berlin support.

We invest in technical breakthroughs that overcome the world's greatest challenges. We partner at inception with technically brilliant dreamers who see past impossible to inevitable. We evaluate scientific opportunities through both commercial potential and human impact lenses.

We invest in companies organized around five concrete objectives: improving worldwide health and happiness, promoting resource sustainability, increasing human potential and productivity, increasing knowledge/empathy/connectedness, and disrupting industries that resist these goals. We operate as both investors and company-builders, providing operational expertise and hands-on support far beyond capital.

Invest in companies with compelling stories to tell. We couple capital deployment with media storytelling through the Not Boring newsletter, creating a unique flywheel that amplifies both company and fund narrative.

Sand Hill Angels backs seed-stage, high-tech companies with large and growing markets, well-defined problems, disruptive solutions, defensible technology, and strong teams with demonstrated ability to execute. The group leverages 145+ experienced angels to provide capital, mentorship, and network access across the Silicon Valley ecosystem.

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 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.

Backing the best founders, not just the best-connected. We assess founders on their qualities, not CV or past experience. We focus on founders building solutions for climate equity, economic empowerment, and healthy ageing.

Investing in the picks and shovels of volatility caused by convergent forces (AI, Web3, Deep Science) intersecting with demographic shifts and climate change. We seek to create venture-scale returns by backing bold founders building more equitable, beneficial, transparent, and accessible structures.

Lead pre-seed and seed rounds in Canadian B2B software and AI-enabled vertical workflow companies with an initial product in market, early product-market-fit signals, and ambition to scale across North America or globally.

The primary constraint for seed-stage, science-based entrepreneurs is access to experienced business judgment. CDL provides objective-based mentoring from accomplished entrepreneurs, angels, and scientists to help founders prioritize tasks and de-risk their businesses.

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.

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.

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.

MaC backs visionary founders building category-defining companies with deep understanding of cultural shifts, technological advancements, and emerging market trends. Founders must demonstrate authentic insight into why their problem needs solving now, combined with ability to see how the world is changing. Particular focus on founders paying attention to shifts others might miss.

Startups positioned as transformation partners with Fortune 500 corporates create the most impactful solutions. We believe the next generation of market leaders will emerge through collaborative innovation between startups and incumbent enterprises, supported by global expertise and capital.

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.

Invest in early-stage tech companies addressing world's largest market opportunities and solving humanity's biggest challenges. Leverage global distributed team to source, evaluate, and support transformational founders.

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.