Spacecadet:  A Venture Collective

Identifying appropriate investors is hard. Here's a curated list of Seed investors (in alphabetical order) who actually lead rounds.

Top 37 Seed Investors

Identifying appropriate investors is hard. Here's a curated list of Seed investors (in alphabetical order) who actually lead rounds.

  • 01

    Alexis Ohanian

    776

    Check Size:
    $776K - $25M

    Focus:
    Generalist

    Pitch Advice:
    Make something people love: be obsessed with shipping & talking to customers.

  • 02

    Andrew Parker

    Spero Ventures

    Check Size:
    $2M - $4M

    Focus:
    We invest in the things that make life worth living. This is 3 areas of focus: Wellness, Sustainability, Learning/Work/Play.

    Pitch Advice:
    The biggest thing I look for in an investment is signs of customer love and product engagement, so emphasize those areas when pitching me.

  • 03

    Andy McLoughlin

    Uncork Capital

    Check Size:
    $1.25M - $2M

    Focus:
    I'm 100% focused on B2B software - developer tools and infrastructure, vertical SaaS, productivity and operations, B2B FinTech.

    Pitch Advice:
    Very happy to receive well-researched and interestingly-written cold emails! Please do the research though in terms of what I invest in, stage, etc. Lots of info on our website.

  • 04

    Anna Barber

    M13

    Check Size:
    $1M - $3M

    Focus:
    eCommerce infrastructure and future of work

    Pitch Advice:
    I look for businesses with both a grand vision and a focused, narrow go to market strategy. It’s okay if there’s a gap between where you want to be and what the next year will look like, but you have to have both.

  • 05

    Antonio Osio

    Animo

    Check Size:
    $500K - $2.5M

    Focus:
    Pre-seed and seed, sector agnostic

    Pitch Advice:
    We like to first hear about your personal story and the why you are building this.

  • 06

    Ben Lerer

    Lerer Hippeau

    Check Size:
    $1M - $3M

    Focus:
    We're generalist investors with a portfolio split equally across enterprise and consumer companies.

    Pitch Advice:
    We invest in good people with great ideas, so it's important to us to get to know you. At the same time, it's critical for founders to demonstrate keen financial acumen, even and especially at a company's earliest stages. And, our community matters hugely to us, so we'll want you to be a strong addition to the group.

  • 07

    Darian Shirazi

    Gradient

    Check Size:
    $1M - $10M

    Focus:
    AI, SaaS

    Pitch Advice:
    I'm a former founder/CEO and software engineer so be real with me! Tell me about your operational challenges and what you need help with. Show me how you work with customers.

  • 08

    David Samuel

    Freestyle

    Check Size:
    $1.5M - $2.5M

    Focus:
    Internet Software

    Pitch Advice:
    Not surprising: you must be able to describe what your startup is doing in 1-3 sentences. We VCs have a very short attention span. We hear hundreds of pitches each month. Succinct.

  • 09

    Gabby Contro

    Crosslink

    Check Size:
    $1M - $4M

    Focus:
    Marketplaces, SaaS, FinTech, Commerce, Healthcare, Logistics/Supply Chain

    Pitch Advice:
    I love hearing about the founder’s story, the genesis for their idea, and why they deserve to win!

  • 10

    Hadley Harris

    Eniac

    Check Size:
    $500K - $2.5M

    Focus:
    Generalist but current themes are SaaS products built on recent developments in AI, products that get data into the hands of more people in an organization, infra that makes web3 actually work and modernizing the healthcare stack.

    Pitch Advice:
    Include as much information as possible so investors can self select if there might be a fit without wasting lots of your time.

  • 11

    Ian Rountree

    Cantos

    Check Size:
    $400K - $1M

    Focus:
    Deep tech! All hardware and wetware in climate, life-sci, and aerospace.

    Pitch Advice:
    KISS! At least for the teaser deck. Complicate it when you've secured interest and have a VC realtime. The pre-read should be children's book simple!

  • 12

    Jessica Lin

    Work-Bench

    Check Size:
    $3M

    Focus:
    Enterprise/B2B

    Pitch Advice:
    Most Seed-stage founders present their current wedge into the market and short-term plan (ie. what they’ve done to-date and what they're going to do over the next one to two years). But to make the pitch even stronger, share a "10 Year Vision" slide on how you plan to take on the bigger market / competitors over time.

  • 13

    Leo Polovets

    Susa Ventures

    Check Size:
    $1M - $2M

    Focus:
    We love companies that can build strong moats, and we focus on enterprise SaaS, healthcare, fintech/insurtech, and logistics/supply chain.

    Pitch Advice:
    Cold emails are great. Just tell us what you're working on and/or include a deck.

  • 14

    Meka Asonye

    First Round Capital

    Check Size:
    $2M - $4M

    Focus:
    SaaS, FinTech

    Pitch Advice:
    Be sure to talk about founder-market fit and why you are the right team to work on this problem. I also prefer founders who are direct and address key risks and competition head on.

  • 15

    Mike Maples, Jr.

    Floodgate

    Check Size:
    $750K - $3M

    Focus:
    Consumer, Crypto, Enterprise, FinTech.

    Pitch Advice:
    We like to have a good answer to two questions (1) what is your fundamental insight, why is it not obvious, and why is now the time? (2) why is your team the team that will win?

  • 16

    Mo Koyfman

    Shine

    Check Size:
    $1M - $10M

    Focus:
    Seed and Series A

    Pitch Advice:
    The tighter, the better. If you need more than 10 slides to tell your story, you are not crisp enough on the opportunity and what you plan to de-risk with the incremental capital.

  • 17

    Morgan Beller

    NFX

    Check Size:
    $1.5M - $3M

    Focus:
    Network effects as a whole. For me, specifically focused on companies and networks building something that is uniquely enabled by crypto or uniquely leverages crypto.

    Pitch Advice:
    Create a BriefLink! It is totally private to the founders until they send a link to me or another person... like DocSend or DropBox would be but designed for startups. That will help me and other investors take a look at the metadata and decide whether it makes sense to take their time with a meeting. Like moving straight into a second meeting rather than a generic intro.

  • 18

    Nikhil Basu Trivedi

    Footwork

    Check Size:
    $1.5M - $5M

    Focus:
    Consumer + Consumerization of Enterprise. Thesis areas we're spending time on right now: eCommerce infrastructure, consumer subscriptions, mental health, climate tech / sustainability. What won't be invested in? Probably not the best fit for something in infrastructure software, security software, or deep tech.

    Pitch Advice:
    We like to see some early signs of product-market fit - e.g. a handful of customers who are raving about the product, a distribution channel that seems very promising - and will rarely invest pre-launch.

  • 19

    Parul Singh

    Initialized Capital

    Check Size:
    $2M - $4M

    Focus:
    We are generalists with a software-first thesis and believe software will disrupt every industry. I particularly like health and analytics.

    Pitch Advice:
    Always looking for founders who are agile, fierce and relentless. Be real. And my DMs are open - I respond as much as I can.

  • 20

    Rick Zullo

    Equal

    Check Size:
    $1.5M - $2.5M

    Focus:
    Climate, Insurance, Commerce Enablement and Supply Chain

    Pitch Advice:
    Don’t pitch, find partners for your business that don’t need the market explained to them. Those will be the investors that will have true conviction in you and will add the most value over the life of your company.

  • 21

    Semil Shah

    Haystack

    Check Size:
    $500K - $1M

    Focus:
    No thesis.

    Pitch Advice:
    Show a demo and get a strong/warm intro.

  • 22

    Sheel Tyle

    Amplo VC

    Check Size:
    $1M - $2M

    Focus:
    Companies that matter. Global. Fintech, Software, etc.

    Pitch Advice:
    Just be yourself!

  • 23

    Sunil Nagaraj

    Ubiquity

    Check Size:
    $1M

    Focus:
    Software beyond the screen — solving real world physical problems using smart hardware or machine learning.

    Pitch Advice:
    Focus on what the product is in simple terms. I also have 2 short blog posts on exactly this topic.

  • 24

    Toni Schneider

    True Ventures

    Check Size:
    $2M - $3M

    Focus:
    Sustainability and Climate Tech

    Pitch Advice:
    Tell me how your startup is something that only you can do.

  • 25

    Tx Zhuo

    Fika Ventures

    Check Size:
    $1M - $2M

    Focus:
    We focus on the following verticals: Enterprise Software, Fintech, Marketplaces and Healthcare IT. Within those spaces, we are excited about enterprise tech that has strong product-led adoption, insurance and payments within fin tech and delivery models and businesses that support the movement towards fee for value (instead of service) for Healthcare IT. We won't invest in commerce brands and social companies. Ad-tech is unlikely too.

    Pitch Advice:
    Be authentic.

  • 26

    Angela Tran

    Version One

    Check Size:
    $1M - $1.5M

    Focus:
    We like crypto, climate, and AI but optimize for founders.

    Pitch Advice:
    We're always looking to answer the questions why *this* team and why now? :)

  • 27

    James Gettinger

    Gutter Capital

    Check Size:
    $1.5M - $3M

    Focus:
    Saas, Marketplace. We believe that big businesses are built in response to big problems.

    Pitch Advice:
    Use a deck! It's hard to give a bad pitch, when you cover all the key points you wanted to cover.

  • 28

    Shuo Yang

    Lowercarbon Capital

    Check Size:
    $500K - $5M

    Focus:
    Everything climate, especially the really early stage stuff where we can be catalytic.

    Pitch Advice:
    The word pitch is too one sided - I want to have conversations with founders where we discover the unfair advantages each of us can bring forward to save the world.

  • 29

    Kobie Fuller

    Upfront

    Check Size:
    $3M - $5M

    Focus:
    Enterprise Software aligning with the FABRIC framework (fast, addictive, bold, rewarding, integrated and community driven).

    Pitch Advice:
    Be human and be your authentic self. These are long journeys so the more an investor can get to know the real you (and vice versa) the more you will know whether the partnership makes sense!

  • 30

    Meghan Moreland

    Riot Ventures

    Check Size:
    $2M - $5M

    Focus:
    Pre-seed and seed stage companies building companies to modernize our critical industries such as AI, defense, aerospace, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain, cybersecurity, and robotics.

    Pitch Advice:
    Spend time talking about the customer problem you are solving and what customers have been saying in early discussions about what you’re building – a founders ability to get to the right customers and listen results in a great and defensible product in the long run.

  • 31

    Josh Constine

    SignalFire

    Check Size:
    $500K+ at Pre-Seed, $1M - $5M at Seed

    Focus:
    I concentrate on consumer, while our fund SignalFire's core sectors include dev tools, cybersecurity, healthcare, and vertical SAAS — all with an emphasis on AI and infrastructure.

    Pitch Advice:
    Tell us your superhero origin story. What makes you determined to solve this problem and gives you the superpowers to win. And if you hire strong talent, our Beacon AI data platform that helps us source investments will spot you!

  • 32

    Lee Edwards

    Root Ventures

    Check Size:
    $2M - $3M

    Focus:
    I focus on founders who understand our website (https://root.vc) - which ends up being a lot of developer tools, software infrastructure, AI and machine learning, tools for data scientists and data engineers…and other hard problems in software.

    Pitch Advice:
    I want to have a conversation, not be talked at or presented to. The deck is a good background for me to read ahead of time, and maybe it’s a good outline for you while we chat. I think your pitch is the story of what you’re doing, who you are, and an argument for why I should invest.

  • 33

    David Goldberg

    Alpaca VC

    Check Size:
    $750K - $2M

    Focus:
    We are thematic investors, focusing on the sectors we know best: Consumer software, Commerce Enablement, PropTech, Marketplaces, and Web3.

    Pitch Advice:
    Don’t overthink it. Come prepared, be authentic, make it clear that you’re the right team to tackle a massive opportunity.

  • 34

    Kiyan Yazdi

    Crosscut Ventures

    Check Size:
    $500K - $3M

    Focus:
    Generalists (software and internet)

    Pitch Advice:
    Warm and cold intros both welcome. I'm looking to learn from and have powerfully informative conversations with founders. You should be the expert in effectively communicating the value proposition to the customer and TAM of the pain point. Highlight strong indicators of product-market-fit (ie no/low churn + proven, scalable, and economical go-to-market) or, if not quite there yet, illustrate what customer discovery you've done to get to conviction. Finally, tell me why you and your team are the right ones to do it.

  • 35

    Byron Ling

    Twelve Below

    Check Size:
    $1M - $2M

    Focus:
    We invest in software-enabled businesses in fintech, healthcare and energy.

    Pitch Advice:
    Have a unique insight about why you can attack a market in a differentiated way.

  • 36

    Astasia Myers

    Quiet Capital

    Check Size:
    $500K-$15M

    Focus:
    Solutions that sell into technical audiences including AI/ML, data, open source, developer tools, infrastructure, and security

    Pitch Advice:
    We recommend emphasizing your story and why you have founder-market fit for the product you are building. What is the unique insight you have that others don't know yet?

  • 37

    Kanyi Maqubela

    Kindred Ventures

    Check Size:
    $500K-$3M

    Focus:
    Regulated industries (fintech, health), supply chain/logistics, and the frontier

    Pitch Advice:
    Practice altitude switching. Pay as much attention to the detail 12 weeks from now as the vision 12 years from now.