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Venture Capital

Venture Capital

OPEN

OPEN

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Redbud VC – Pre-Seed for Nontraditional Founders

Redbud VC – Pre-Seed for Nontraditional Founders

Undisclosed pre-seed checks; portfolio examples show $150k investments.

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Rolling submissions; no set deadline.

AMOUNT

Undisclosed pre-seed checks; portfolio examples show $150k investments.

AMOUNT

Undisclosed pre-seed checks; portfolio examples show $150k investments.

DEADLINE

Rolling submissions; no set deadline.

DEADLINE

Rolling submissions; no set deadline.

FUNDING TYPE

Venture Capital

CAN YOU GET THIS?

Any founder building a tech company at pre-seed or earlier can pitch — no warm intro or pedigree required.

Any founder building a tech company at pre-seed or earlier can pitch — no warm intro or pedigree required.

Redbud is generalist across tech industries and explicitly open to first-time founders, immigrants, and founders outside major hubs. The only real filter is that you're building a large-scale tech company.

Redbud is generalist across tech industries and explicitly open to first-time founders, immigrants, and founders outside major hubs. The only real filter is that you're building a large-scale tech company.

YOUR REAL ODDS

Redbud makes roughly 12 new investments per year across a rolling pipeline.

With 44 portfolio companies and 12 investments annually, competition is real but the firm actively seeks nontraditional founders — 61% of their portfolio are first-time entrepreneurs, which signals genuine openness to outsiders.

WHAT IT TAKES

  1. Submit a pitch directly via redbud.vc — no intro needed — 30–60 minutes to prepare

  2. Initial conversation with the team if they're interested — 1–2 weeks after submission

  3. Diligence and term discussion — Varies; they emphasize responsiveness

WORTH KNOWING

Redbud highlights being the first institutional believer in over 60% of their portfolio, meaning they're genuinely comfortable investing before there's much to show — a narrative around resilience and founder background may matter as much as traction.

Apply on the funder’s site →

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$2,000 (Fall, women-owned) or $2,500 (Winter/Spring, all businesses); awarded twice per year

Small businesses in the Fox Valley/Heart of the Valley area that are chamber members can apply twice a year for cash awards.

MaC Venture Capital

$1M–$4M equity investment per deal

Pre-seed and seed-stage founders globally, with MaC collecting ethnicity and demographic data as part of its intake process.

Astia Investment

Amount not specified; Astia manages $65M+ AUM across 180+ investments.

Women-led high-growth companies in health, climate, or prosperity sectors can apply globally.

This is 1 of 1,600+ open opportunities.

This is 1 of 1,600+ open opportunities.

$50B+ in available capital across grants, VC funds, CDFIs, and accelerators. Filter by your industry, stage, and region, and see everything you qualify for.

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