Active Pre-Seed AI Investors in October 2026: 90 With Dated Deals

Last updated: 23 October 2026. First edition, built on the Active Investor Index list as of 19 October 2026.

As of 19 October 2026, the SeedForge Active Investor Index lists 90 pre-seed AI investors with a publicly evidenced deal in the last six months, meaning a deal with a public announcement you can open. Twenty are recorded as lead or co-lead, meaning they helped organise the round.

Among those leads, Drive Capital, Heavybit and Early Game Ventures each led a pre-seed AI round in September or October. This page reads the list for a founder raising a pre-seed AI round. The live version sits on the pre-seed AI page of the Active Investor Index, free to use and to cite and rebuilt every week, so check it for this week's names.

Which pre-seed AI investors are active right now?

Ninety investors made the October list, and 84 of them are venture funds; the rest are accelerator programmes. Each investor is there because of one named, dated deal: a startup, an announcement inside the last 180 days (about six months), and a public post you can open from the list. Once an investor's latest deal is older than that, the weekly rebuild drops it.

Here is the 19 October edition in numbers.

The 90 investors backed 70 startups, and 16 of those startups brought two or three investors from the list into the same round, so one funding announcement can teach you about several firms at once. The role field is blank or unknown for 38 investors. The table below checks the readable announcements behind the 20 entries labelled lead or co-lead.

The pre-seed AI leads on the October list

These are the funds whose public announcement says, in so many words, that they led or co-led a pre-seed AI round. Sixteen of the 20 recorded leads are here. The other four are left out of this table: three of their announcements say a fund backed the company without saying it led, and one evidence page did not open when this page was checked on 23 October. Each startup name links to the announcement the Index recorded.

The table is a snapshot of 19 October, and the live Index page adds newer leads as they are announced. A fund that led once has shown it can lead. Whether it is open to your round this month is something only a conversation tells you. Read each announcement before you decide to write.

What can a dated deal tell you about an investor?

A fund's sector page describes its stated interests. A dated deal shows a specific company, stage and investment date. Use both to decide whether to contact the fund.

Carolina de Oliveira at KPMG International, its Global Lead of Emerging Giants, put the market's version of this plainly in KPMG's Venture Pulse for the third quarter: "AI isn’t really a standalone investment theme anymore." She described it as spreading into almost every sector, from healthcare and financial services to energy and infrastructure. That breadth makes the recent deal a useful way to check stage and sector fit.

A dated deal settles the question with evidence. You can open the announcement, see the company, the stage and who else was in the round, and judge whether your company sits close to it. The Index leans toward leaving investors out. One that invests quietly and never announces will be missing, and absence from the list never means it has stopped investing.

For the full process of building a list from nothing, our guide to building an investor target list covers stage, sector, list size and ordering. This page is narrower on purpose: the investors who have already shown, in public and recently, that they back AI companies at pre-seed.

What does the 2026 AI funding market mean for a pre-seed founder?

AI takes most venture money in 2026, and most of it goes into very large rounds. Crunchbase News reported that AI-driven startups raised $102 billion in the third quarter of 2026, 64% of all global venture capital, and Crunchbase's European count put AI at 75% of Europe's funding for the quarter, $18.8 billion, the highest proportion on record.

The Stanford AI Index 2026 reported that the number of newly funded AI companies rose 71% in 2025. For your shortlist, check which investors have a recent deal at your stage and whether your company fits their focus.

How big are pre-seed AI checks on the October list?

Thirty-two investors on the list publish a check-size entry in their recorded profile. Half state a minimum of about $120K or less, and 16 of the 32 state a minimum of $100K or less. Of those entries, 29 include an upper limit; the median stated upper limit is $1.5M, and 20 entries reach $1M or more. These are the amounts funds say they write. Public round announcements give the total round size, so use the announced round as context and confirm the fund's own check size directly.

Roles matter as much as size. A lead or co-lead has shown it will set terms and anchor a round, often the hardest commitment to get at pre-seed. The 32 recorded participants are also worth considering, especially those that invested alongside a lead you are already speaking with. The accelerator programmes on the list are worth reading differently: their check usually comes with a programme and a cohort of other companies.

Three deals from the October list, read closely

These three show how to read a lead, each with the round amount stated in its public announcement.

Drive Capital led Ocular AI's $2 million pre-seed round, announced in October 2026, with Y Combinator among the participants. Ocular AI builds training data and benchmarks for AI developers. For a founder, the deal shows a pattern worth noticing: a venture fund leading a small pre-seed round with an accelerator in the same round.

Heavybit led Antfly's $2 million pre-seed round in September 2026, with 8-Bit Capital participating. Antfly, based in Portland, builds a retrieval engine that connects AI agents to company data. Heavybit's recorded check range is $500K to $5M. The announcement documents its backing of developer infrastructure for AI at pre-seed.

Early Game Ventures led Kyndred's €500,000 pre-seed round in September 2026. Kyndred, based in Romania, builds AI companions with voice and memory. Early Game's recorded check range is $500K to $2M. The announcement documents a fund leading a consumer AI company's pre-seed round.

How should you read an investor's entry before you reach out?

An entry is a starting point. Use it in this order.

1. Open the announcement. Read what the company does, the round size and who else invested. Ask whether your company would look like a natural next deal for that fund.

2. Check the role. A lead or co-lead goes to the top of your list. A participant goes next, grouped with the lead it followed.

3. Read the date. Note when the deal was announced and confirm the fund's current investment focus before you write.

4. Compare the check size. If the fund states a range, compare it with your round. A fund whose range starts at $1M is unlikely to anchor a $600K round.

5. Find the person. Announcements often name the partner who led the deal. That partner is your contact, and the deal is the reason you are writing.

6. Look at the co-investors. Funds that sat in the same round once may share a deal again. If you know one of them, ask for an introduction to the other.

The fifth step gives you a specific first line: "I saw you led Antfly's pre-seed round." Our guide to what investors read in a first email shows how to build the rest of the message. If you can reach a portfolio founder, ask for a warm introduction to the investor.

A checklist for working the October list

• Start with the 16 leads in the table above, then open the pre-seed AI list and sort by the latest deal for anything newer.

• Read each announcement in full and note the partner it names.

• Group participants with the lead they invested beside.

• Compare each stated check range with the size of your round.

• Check the seed AI list too, since a round one outlet calls pre-seed can appear elsewhere as seed.

• Write a first line for each fund that names its recent deal.

Founders in financial technology can use the same method on our October list of pre-seed fintech investors.

What should you have ready before you contact these funds?

An investor who led a pre-seed AI round in September already knows what a strong AI company at that stage looks like, so the questions come quickly: what the product does today, who uses it, what the technical edge is beyond a model anyone can call, how much you are raising and what it buys. Our guide to how much to raise at pre-seed helps with the last two.

This is where SeedForge fits. You upload your pitch deck and documents, and SeedForge builds a profile investors can explore before your first call, shared through one link. When you update the profile, the same link shows the latest version, so a fund that comes back in three months reads where the company is then.

Create a separate link for each fund on your shortlist. Give Drive Capital and Early Game Ventures different links. On Share your Profile, you can see which link was opened, how often it was opened and how far the deck was read.

When your profile is complete, your matched investor list unlocks for free with a drafted introduction for each partner. SeedForge can also run outreach from your own LinkedIn, with every message approved by you first: straight to matched investors, and to founders those investors already backed, asking them for a warm intro to the investor.

The next step is one action: upload your deck at seedforge.com and make one link for each fund on your shortlist.

How the Active Investor Index builds this list

Each investor in the Index needs one named, dated participation in a financing announced in the last 180 days, backed by a public source the list links to: a news article, a press release, or the company's or investor's own dated announcement. Sector and stage come from the deal itself. The list is rebuilt weekly; when an investor's newest evidence passes 180 days, it ages out. Check sizes, where shown, come from the fund's recorded profile and are labelled as such.

The method has limits worth stating. Investors that never announce their deals are missing. A role can be blank when the announcement does not say who led. And a stage label comes from the announcement, so a round one outlet calls pre-seed and another calls seed can sit on either list. Read the evidence before you rely on a single label. The Active Investor Index hub explains the method and links every sector and stage list.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which pre-seed AI investors are active in October 2026?

As of 19 October 2026, the SeedForge Active Investor Index lists 90 pre-seed AI investors with a publicly evidenced deal in the last six months. Twenty are recorded as the lead or a co-lead of their round, including Drive Capital (Ocular AI), Heavybit (Antfly), Early Game Ventures (Kyndred), Credo Ventures (Minerva Humanoids) and TEN13 (Bower). The live list on seedforge.com is rebuilt weekly, with each deal's date and source.

How does the Active Investor Index decide that an investor is active?

The Index needs proof of one recent deal: a named startup, a financing announced within the last 180 days, and a public source you can open from the row. Each weekly rebuild drops investors whose newest deal has passed that window. Firms that invest without announcing are missing, and a missing firm may still be investing.

How much do pre-seed AI investors write per check in 2026?

Of the 90 investors on the October list, 32 publish a check-size entry. Half state a minimum of about $120K or less; 29 entries include an upper limit, and the median stated upper limit is $1.5M. These are amounts funds say they write, so confirm the fund's own check size before you plan your round around it.

Should I contact the funds that led a round or the ones that participated?

Start with the funds that led or co-led a recent pre-seed AI round, because they have shown they will set terms and anchor a round. The Index records 20 lead or co-lead roles; the table above includes 16 supported by explicit announcement wording. Participants come next, especially those that invested beside a lead you are already talking to, since funds that shared a round before may share deals again.