The Q4 2025 Pre-Seed Watchlist: 25 VCs Actively Funding in 5 Key Sectors
The Great Re-Allocation: Where Capital is Concentrating in Late 2025
In late 2025, a disciplined venture market is deploying a record $299 billion in "dry powder". Capital is concentrating in five key sectors with undeniable tailwinds: AI, D2C, SaaS, Health Tech, and Climate Tech. The "growth-at-all-costs" era is over; sustainable unit economics are now paramount from day one.
Thesis-driven, specialist VCs now command a premium, making targeted pitches more critical than ever. Pre-seed expectations have risen; it's no longer about an idea, but early, quantifiable traction. This list decodes investor "superpowers" and priority metrics to give you a strategic fundraising advantage.
The Pre-Seed Watchlist: An Index of Active Investors
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Investor Firm | Key Personnel to Contact | Typical First Check Size & Lead Status | Known "Value-Add" Superpower | Key Metric They Prioritize at Pre-Seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Lightspeed Venture Partners | Varies; Leads or Co-Leads | Deep sector expertise and global team for Indian startup expansion. | Bold founders building innovative AI for unique Indian market needs. | |
Peak XV Partners (Surge) | Up to $3M; Leads or Co-Leads | Scale-up program with mentorship from iconic founders and global network access. | AI-first ventures with strong teams and the ambition to scale globally. | |
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) | $500K–$3M; Co-Leads | Deep platform ops for LLM training/infra. | Rapid iteration on customer pilots. | |
3one4 Capital | $200K – $5M; Co-Leads | Supports building a responsible, ecosystem-conducive approach to investing in India. | Homegrown innovation for regionally-relevant AI that can scale globally. | |
Accel (Atoms) | Up to $1M; Leads or Co-Leads | Pre-seed 'Atoms' program with capital and mentorship for Indian founders. | Founders with global ambition building for enterprise or vertical AI applications. |
2. Direct-to-Consumer (D2C)
Investor Firm | Key Personnel to Contact | Typical First Check Size & Lead Status | Known "Value-Add" Superpower | Key Metric They Prioritize at Pre-Seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fireside Ventures | Varies; Leads | Hands-on support for digital-first brands, from GTM to building brand love. | Founders with strong consumer insight into a large, growing Indian market. | |
Verlinvest | $1M-$5M; Leads or Co-Leads | Global expertise in building category-defining brands & accelerating expansion. | Proven customer love (high retention & repeats) with profitable unit economics. | |
DSG Consumer Partners | Up to $5M; Leads or Co-Leads | Playbook for building capital-efficient 'insurgent brands' in India & SEA. | Brands playing on long-term consumer themes with path to capital efficiency. | |
Blume Ventures | Varies (small checks); Participates | 'Discovery Program' offers capital and platform support to promising founders. | Founders with compelling stories and intriguing ideas in consumer brands. | |
Prosus Ventures | $5M-$25M+; Co-Leads or Follows | Unmatched global scaling support & access to a vast operator network. | Path to category leadership in a huge market, proven by high growth & strong unit economics. |
3. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
Investor Firm | Key Personnel to Contact | Typical First Check Size & Lead Status | Known "Value-Add" Superpower | Key Metric They Prioritize at Pre-Seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nexus Venture Partners | $100K – $10M; Leads or Co-Leads | India-US fund helping Indian SaaS companies win global markets. | Product-first companies with deep tech built for global customers. | |
Together Fund | Up to $1M; Participates | Founder-led fund (Freshworks) providing deep context and capital for SaaS. | AI-first SaaS products with a moving product-market fit. | |
Pentathlon Ventures | $500K-$2M; Leads or Co-Leads | Operator-led GTM, product & scaling guidance for B2B SaaS building from India. | Strong founding team, clear problem-solution fit & early signs of B2B customer traction. | |
Z47 (Matrix Partners India) | Varies; Leads | Operator-led VC providing hands-on GTM and hyper-scaling guidance. | Founders with deep 'earned secrets' and an unfair industry advantage. | |
Accel (Atoms) | Up to $1M; Leads or Co-Leads | 'Atoms' & 'Founder Stack' programs providing capital and knowledge. | Potential to build large, venture-backable SaaS companies from India. |
From Watchlist to Term Sheet
In the disciplined market of late 2025, successful fundraising is no longer a numbers game of mass emailing investors. It is a game of precision, strategy, and deep alignment. This watchlist is your first move—identifying the specialist investors who not only have the capital but also the conviction and expertise to understand your vision. The next move is execution. After pinpointing the right partners from this list, use Backrr's intelligent platform to manage your targeted outreach, track engagement, and build the meaningful relationships that turn a promising conversation into a signed term sheet.