Finding the right investor for your startup can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, but the right partner can change everything. Firms like Sequoia Capital and Accel have each backed over 2,200 companies, showing just how much capital is out there for promising ideas.
And it's not just the giants; firms like Andreessen Horowitz have made nearly 1,800 investments since starting in 2009. With so many active firms, knowing where to start is often the hardest part.
Below is our list of the best 300 Early Stage VC firms.
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Buy It For $97 $297 →Andreessen Horowitz operates on the belief that software is eating the world, backing technology founders at every stage from seed to late-stage growth. The firm has backed some of the most defining companies of the last decade, including Coinbase, Lyft, and Github, supporting them from early ideas to global scale.
| Headquarters | Menlo Park, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 2009 |
| Founders | Ben Horowitz, Marc Andreessen |
| Total Funding | $32.4B |
| Average Check Size | $1M |
| Industries | Biotech, Healthcare, Crypto & Blockchain, Consumer, Enterprise, Fintech, Gaming |
| Investment Stage | Early Stage, Late Stage, Seed |
| Nº of Investments | 1791 (808 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 266 (43 IPO'd) |
| Top Portfolio Startups | Coinbase, Lyft, Github |
| Contact | menlopark-info@a16z.com / (650) 798-5800 |
Menlo Ventures provides capital to technology companies from seed to early growth stages, with a focus on consumer, enterprise, and life sciences. Their market-driven analysis has helped build a portfolio that includes iconic brands like Uber, Roku, and Siri.
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 1976 |
| Founders | Henry DuBose Montgomery |
| Total Funding | $3.7B |
| Average Check Size | $20M |
| Industries | Consumer, Enterprise, Healthcare, Internet & Mobile, Marketplace, Cloud, SaaS, Fintech, Life Sciences, Productivity |
| Investment Stage | Early Stage, Late Stage, Seed, Series A |
| Nº of Investments | 856 (304 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 193 (20 IPO'd) |
| Top Portfolio Startups | Uber, Roku, Pliant Therapeutics |
| Contact | investors@menlovc.com / +1 650-854-8540 |
Tribe Capital applies data science and artificial intelligence to find and fund high-growth “N-of-1” companies in the venture and crypto spaces. Beyond capital, they provide portfolio companies with AI-driven tools to measure product-market fit and accelerate growth, having backed businesses like Carta, Docker, and Kraken.
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 2018 |
| Founders | Alex Chee, Arjun Sethi, Jake Ellowitz, Jonathan Hsu, Ted Maidenberg |
| Investment Stage | Early Stage, Late Stage, Seed |
| Nº of Investments | 248 (65 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 13 (1 IPO'd) |
| Contact | hello@tribecap.co |
Backing founders from seed to growth, General Catalyst provides capital and strategic guidance to build resilient companies with a focus on applied AI. Their collaborative approach has helped launch category-defining businesses like Airbnb, HubSpot, and Vroom.
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 2000 |
| Founders | David Fialkow, David Orfao, Joel Cutler |
| Total Funding | $8.6B |
| Average Check Size | $2M |
| Industries | Consumer, Enterprise, AI & ML, Cloud, Marketplace, SaaS, Developer Tools |
| Investment Stage | Convertible Note, Debt, Early Stage, Late Stage, Post-Ipo, Private Equity, Seed |
| Nº of Investments | 1586 (667 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 238 (33 IPO'd) |
| Top Portfolio Startups | Vroom, Hubspot, Airbnb |
| Contact | gcinfo@generalcatalyst.com / +1 415-659-5000 |
Pear VC partners with founders at the earliest stages, providing seed funding for companies across consumer, SaaS, deep tech, and healthcare. Their portfolio includes early investments in breakout companies like DoorDash, Dropbox, and Gusto, reflecting a history of helping founders build transformative businesses from the ground up.
| Headquarters | Menlo Park, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Mar Hershenson, Pejman Nozad |
| Total Funding | $5M |
| Average Check Size | $3M |
| Industries | Consumer, SaaS, Internet & Mobile, Fintech, Deep Tech & Hard Science, Healthcare, Climate & Sustainability, Crypto & Blockchain |
| Investment Stage | Convertible Note, Early Stage, Late Stage, Seed |
| Nº of Investments | 432 (81 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 40 (4 IPO'd) |
| Top Portfolio Startups | Xilis, Valar Labs, Muni Tienda |
| Contact | info@pear.vc / (650) 272-6466 |
Accel backs entrepreneurs at the early and growth stages, helping build companies that define next-generation industries from the cloud to consumer tech. Its portfolio contains some of the most recognized names in technology, including Facebook, Spotify, Slack, and Dropbox.
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 1983 |
| Founders | Arthur Patterson, Jim Swartz |
| Total Funding | $18.3B |
| Average Check Size | $500M |
| Industries | Cloud, Cybersecurity, Consumer, Media, Fintech |
| Investment Stage | Convertible Note, Early Stage, Late Stage, Private Equity, Seed |
| Nº of Investments | 2269 (938 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 411 (72 IPO'd) |
| Top Portfolio Startups | Discord, Hootsuite, 1Password |
| Contact | 650-614-4800 |
Sequoia Capital helps daring founders build legendary companies from the seed stage onward across a wide range of industries. Their work has helped launch some of the world's most transformative companies, including Apple, Google, and Nvidia.
| Headquarters | Menlo Park, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 1972 |
| Founders | Donald Valentine, W. M. Coughran |
| Total Funding | $22B |
| Average Check Size | $1M |
| Industries | AI & ML, Consumer, Crypto & Blockchain, Enterprise, Fintech, Healthcare, Internet & Mobile |
| Investment Stage | Crowdfunding, Early Stage, Initial Coin Offering, Late Stage, Post-Ipo, Seed, Growth |
| Nº of Investments | 2241 (838 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 440 (132 IPO'd) |
| Top Portfolio Startups | Google, Nvidia, Apple |
| Contact | +1 650-854-3927 |
This research-driven firm invests in crypto companies and protocols from their earliest stages, with a portfolio that includes MoonPay. Beyond providing capital, they actively contribute to the ecosystem's growth through open-source software development and strategic guidance.
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 2018 |
| Founders | Fred Ehrsam, Matt Huang |
| Total Funding | $2.5B |
| Industries | Crypto & Blockchain |
| Investment Stage | Early Stage, Initial Coin Offering, Late Stage, Seed |
| Nº of Investments | 141 (101 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 8 (2 IPO'd) |
| Top Portfolio Startups | Limit Break, Mad Realities, MoonPay |
| Contact | info@paradigm.xyz |
As a global software investor, Insight Partners backs growth-stage technology companies across sectors like Fintech, Cybersecurity, and AI/ML. Their partnership approach has helped build a portfolio that includes category-defining companies such as Twitter, Docusign, and Shopify.
| Headquarters | New York, New York, United States |
| Year Founded | 1995 |
| Founders | Jeff Horing, Jerry Murdock |
| Total Funding | $46.1B |
| Average Check Size | $20M |
| Industries | Crypto & Blockchain, Cybersecurity, Devops, E-Commerce, Education, Fintech, Government Technology, Healthcare, Supply Chain & Logistics, Proptech & Real Estate, Future of Work, AI & ML, API, Food & Beverage, Marketplace, Legal, Infrastructure |
| Investment Stage | Convertible Note, Debt, Early Stage, Late Stage, Private Equity, Seed, Series A, Growth |
| Nº of Investments | 1209 (786 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 263 (53 IPO'd) |
| Top Portfolio Startups | Twitter, Docusign, Shopify |
| Contact | growth@insightpartners.com / 212-230-9200 |
As a venture investment syndicate for the LGBT+ community and its allies, Gaingels invests in companies with LGBT+ founders and C-suite leaders at any stage of growth. The network also helps its portfolio companies build more inclusive teams by recruiting diverse talent for their C-suite and board leadership.
| Headquarters | Burlington, Vermont, United States |
| Year Founded | 2014 |
| Founders | David Beatty, Paul Grossinger |
| Investment Stage | Early Stage, Late Stage, Seed |
| Nº of Investments | 967 (10 as Lead Investor) |
| Nº of Exits | 87 (8 IPO'd) |
| Contact | +1 212 404 7343 |
290 Additional Early Stage VC Firms Worth Pitching
Our top picks are a great starting point, but they are only part of a much larger story. The firms that follow have collectively invested in tens of thousands of startups and celebrated over 6,000 exits.
This group includes investors from all over the world, each looking for the next great idea. Here are the other venture capital firms funding what's next.
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