36 VC firms investing in fintech & payments and semiconductors & hardware at the Pre-Seed stage.
F4 Fund tracks 36 VC firms that actively invest in fintech & payments + semiconductors & hardware at the Pre-Seed stage, with check sizes ranging from $100K – $200M (median: $3.1M – $3.1M). As of June 2026, and 92% lead or co-lead rounds. Rankings are based on F4's proprietary analysis of 1,356+ researched VC firms, scored by data completeness, portfolio depth, investment recency, and stage alignment.
| # | Firm | Check Size | Portfolio | Leads? | Activity | Decision | Intro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ▶ Protagonist Back early-stage founders building the next paradigm in emerging technologies. We operate like a product studio—contributing code, designing token economics, and providing hands-on partnership rather than just capital. Miami | $1M – $10M | 28 | Both | Active | ~2 wks | Open |
| 2 | ▶ Abstract Ventures Backing transformative founders building exceptional companies across all sectors San Francisco | $100K – $1M | 275 | Both | Active | — | — |
| 3 | ▶ Cota Capital Cota Capital invests in 'net new' technologies — visionary ideas that either were never before possible or solve problems that didn't exist before. Knowledge is the true capital. The firm backs early-stage enterprise technology companies where deep operational expertise, competitive intelligence, and network access can provide compounding advantage beyond the check. San Francisco | $1M – $15M | 63 | Both | Active | ~1 mo | Open |
| 4 | ▶ Matrix Partners We invest in founders with deep technical expertise and a specific vision of the future. As former founders and company builders ourselves, we provide not just capital but steady partnership through early stages. We are contrarians who invest with conviction. San Francisco | $250K – $5M | 58 | Both | Active | ~2 wks | Open |
| 5 | ▶ Tribe Capital 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). Menlo Park | $500K – $5M | 60 | Leads | Active | ~1 wk | Open |
| 6 | ▶ Ground Up Ventures We're a different type of venture firm. We wake up every morning and ask ourselves how we can help our portfolio companies move the needle. From in-the-weeds to twenty thousand feet, we are partners at every level. We serve as an extension of founder headcount, sitting in portfolio company Slack channels, maintaining weekly calls, and proactively helping with hiring and customer introductions. New York | $250K – $1.5M | 49 | Follows | Active | ~2 wks | Req'd |
| 7 | ▶ Nomads 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. | $500K – $50M | 32 | Leads | Active | ~2 wks | Req'd |
| 8 | ▶ Morgan Creek Digital Digital innovation across four themes (AI, Blockchain, Computing Infrastructure, Big Data) will define the next generation of transformative companies. Busan | $250K – $10M | 20 | Leads | Active | — | Req'd |
| 9 | ▶ Cyphr Cyphr provides seed capital to founders building the Intelligence Renaissance: startups focused on exponential learning, infrastructural excellence, and bold impact. San Francisco | $250K – $10M | 4 | Both | Active | ~2 wks | Req'd |
| 10 | ▶ MVP Ventures Partner with elite, early-stage teams building differentiated and defensible technology. Provide Most Value Per dollar on founders' cap tables through capital and operational support. Menlo Park | $1M – $3M | 15 | Leads | Active | ~1 mo | Open |
| 11 | ▶ Story Ventures 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. New York | $500K – $5M | 41 | Both | Active | ~1 mo | Req'd |
| 12 | ▶ Failup Ventures In this time of radical change, we back the best technical founders solving system-level problems. We invest early in the people reinventing work, life, and play for the AI era. | $200K – $2M | 51 | Leads | Active | — | Req'd |
| 13 | ▶ Alumni Ventures 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. Manchester, NH | $250K – $5M | 58 | Follows | Active | ~2 wks | Open |
| 14 | ▶ Notation Capital Increase odds of success for product-obsessed founding teams on day zero. Invest in initially fringe markets that can become mainstream, large markets that feel broken, and science-fiction-like visions. Work with founders before market validation is obvious. Brooklyn | $250K – $750K | 21 | Leads | Active | ~1 mo | Open |
| 15 | ▶ Gobi Partners Bespoke Capital for Enduring Impact. Gobi invests where capital alone is insufficient — requiring deep local relationships, sustained engagement, and informed judgment across Asia's diverse and complex markets. They focus on technology companies solving structural inefficiencies across underserved Asian markets, from fintech to deep tech to sustainable infrastructure. Kuala Lumpur | $1M – $50M | 37 | Leads | Active | — | — |
| 16 | ▶ Dreamers VC Where capital becomes culture. Dreamers VC bridges established Japanese corporate investors with early-stage US companies by combining entertainment, sports, and technology expertise. The fund leverages celebrity networks, entertainment channels, and Japanese corporate partnerships to amplify storytelling and enable cross-cultural market expansion. Los Angeles | $250K – $5M | 43 | Both | Active | ~1 mo | Req'd |
| 17 | ▶ Hummingbird VC 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. London | $500K – $50M | 34 | Both | Active | ~2 wks | Open |
| 18 | ▶ Inspired Capital Partners 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. New York | $500K – $20M | 59 | Leads | Active | ~2 mo | Req'd |
| 19 | ▶ Drive Capital World-class technology companies can be built anywhere. Greatness is in our backyard. We invest in market-defining companies across the Driveway region (Hudson River to Rocky Mountains), partnering with founders from idea to IPO. Build where your talent is. Build where your customers are. Build where you're strongest. Columbus | $500K – $150M | 33 | Leads | Active | ~2 mo | Open |
| 20 | ▶ Blackbird 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. Sydney | $150K – $60M | 43 | Leads | Active | ~2 wks | Open |
| 21 | ▶ Andreessen Horowitz 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. Menlo Park | $1M – $200M | 48 | Both | Active | ~2 wks | Open |
| 22 | ▶ Human Capital 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. San Francisco | $250K – $200M | 25 | Both | Active | ~1 wk | Open |
| 23 | ▶ Soma Capital Soma invests in technical founders building innovative companies across all sectors. We believe in building deep friendships day 1 with brilliant superhumans pushing humanity forward. Our founder-first approach emphasizes non-dilutive capital, founder autonomy, and access to Fortune 500 networks for customer development. San Francisco | $100K – $2M | 31 | Leads | Active | ~1 wk | Open |
| 24 | ▶ Pear VC 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. Menlo Park | $250K – $6M | 43 | Leads | Active | ~1 mo | Open |
| 25 | ▶ Trousdale Ventures 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. Los Angeles | $5M – $25M | 30 | Leads | Active | ~1 mo | Open |
| 26 | ▶ HOF Capital 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. New York | $500K – $10M | 29 | Both | Active | ~2 wks | Req'd |
| 27 | ▶ Draper Associates 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. San Mateo, CA | $500K – $30M | 23 | Leads | Active | ~1 wk | Open |
| 28 | ▶ OVNI Capital 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. Paris | $250K – $2M | 18 | Both | Active | — | Open |
| 29 | ▶ Pillar VC 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. Boston | $100K – $10M | 22 | Leads | Active | ~2 mo | Open |
| 30 | ▶ Not Boring 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. New York | $100K – $2M | 9 | Both | Active | ~2 wks | Req'd |
| 31 | ▶ Founder Collective We invest at the earliest stages and partner with exceptional entrepreneurs from idea to IPO. We stay small by design to remain aligned with founders. We're sector-agnostic, conviction-driven, capital-efficient, and believe in founder/market fit and intrinsic value over hype. Boston | $250K – $3M | 29 | Leads | Active | ~2 wks | Open |
| 32 | ▶ Vibe Capital 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. New York | $250K – $500K | 22 | Both | Active | ~2 mo | Open |
| 33 | ▶ Tiger Global Management 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. New York | $1M – $100M | 21 | Leads | Active | ~1 wk | Req'd |
| 34 | ▶ Flucas Ventures 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. Miami | $250K – $5M | 17 | Follows | Active | ~1 wk | Req'd |
| 35 | ▶ VU Venture Partners 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. San Francisco | $100K – $1M | 16 | Both | Active | ~2 mo | Open |
| 36 | ▶ TheoryForge 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. | $200K – $500K | 38 | Both | Active | ~2 wks | Req'd |
Investors on this page also frequently invest in these sectors
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Firms that frequently co-invest with investors on this page
F4 Fund tracks 36 VC firms that actively invest in fintech & payments + semiconductors & hardware at the Pre-Seed stage. These firms are ranked using a composite score that weighs data completeness (30%), portfolio depth (30%), investment recency (25%), and stage alignment (15%).
Based on F4's analysis, the median check size for pre-seed fintech & payments + semiconductors & hardware investors is $3.1M – $3.1M, with a full range from $100K – $200M. The distribution breaks down as: 2 firms in the <$500K range, 4 firms in the $500K-$1M range, 5 firms in the $1M-$2M range, 8 firms in the $2M-$5M range, 6 firms in the $5M-$10M range, 11 firms in the $10M+ range.
Among the 36 firms tracked, 92% lead or co-lead rounds, and 8% typically follow. Founders seeking a lead investor should filter for firms marked "Leads" or "Both" in the rankings table above. Lead investors typically set deal terms and anchor the round.
The best pre-seed fintech & payments + semiconductors & hardware investors combine domain expertise with an active portfolio in the space. Among these firms, 38% prefer warm introductions, and the average firm has 40 portfolio companies. Look for firms whose check size matches your raise, whose stage preference aligns with yours, and who have a track record of supporting companies in your sector through multiple growth phases.
Firm profiles are continuously updated through F4's research pipeline, which combines LLM-powered web research, portfolio analysis, and transcript extraction. The ranking data refreshes every 12 hours. Editorial analysis is reviewed weekly. Individual firm profiles are re-researched on a 30-day cycle or when new information surfaces.