Founded in 2007, Innovate UK is a non-profit organization based in Swindon, UK. It supports businesses across various economic sectors by offering funding services to promote science and technology innovations.
The EIC Accelerator is a Horizon Europe funding program that provides assistance to start-ups and SMEs that have an innovative, game-changing product, service, or business model that has the potential to create new markets or disrupt existing ones, and have the ambition and commitment to scale up, are seeking substantial funding, but the risks involved are too high for private investors to invest alone
MassChallenge is a global startup accelerator supporting early-stage entrepreneurs across various industries. Founded in 2009, it provides mentorship, resources, and networking opportunities through its programs worldwide.
Founded in 1995, SOSV is a global venture capital firm headquartered in New Jersey. It focuses on seed-to-growth stage investments in deep tech innovations, primarily in bio-tech/life sciences and hardware/robotics sectors, with a commitment to human and planetary health.
The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency in the United States that funds and supports research and education in science and engineering. It funds fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering and administers non-dilutive funding programs to aid early‑stage technology development, helping translate discoveries into commercially viable products and services. Through grants and fellowships, the NSF supports researchers, educators, and startups, contributing to innovation and U.S. competitiveness. The agency operates with a substantial budget to advance science, engineering, and STEM education nationwide.
Brinc is a global venture acceleration firm headquartered in Hong Kong. It operates multidisciplinary accelerator programs across seven countries, focusing on startups in blockchain technology, AI, connected hardware, robotics, climate tech, food technology, and IoT. Brinc also supports corporations with innovation strategies and Web3-enabled businesses.
Meta is a social technology company that facilitates connections among individuals, communities, and businesses. Originally founded as Facebook in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg in Menlo Park, California, the company rebranded to Meta on October 28, 2021, to reflect its broader focus beyond social networking. Meta operates various applications and services, positioning itself as a leader in the social media landscape, with over 1.32 billion monthly active users. The company has continuously evolved, integrating features that enhance user engagement and community building. Meta's strategic initiatives also include partnerships aimed at advancing marketing and commercial efforts in the digital and mobile sectors. As it explores new technologies, including virtual and augmented realities, Meta aims to redefine how people interact and share experiences online.
New Enterprise Associates is a venture capital firm founded in 1977 and based in Menlo Park, California, with offices in the United States, India and China. It makes investments across technology and healthcare startups at multiple stages, from seed to growth, including software, cloud, data, internet services, fintech, AI, e-commerce, and enterprise technology, as well as healthcare information technology, life sciences, medical devices, and biopharma. It also considers energy technology and infrastructure opportunities, such as solar, batteries and smart grids. The firm pursues a global approach, with activity in the United States, Asia and other regions, and supports companies through rounds of financing ranging from small to sizable investments as they scale. NEA focuses on building portfolios in software, IT services, consumer technology, and healthcare technology, backing ambitious entrepreneurs across sectors and geographies.
LAUNCH is a California-based organization that supports entrepreneurs and fosters innovation within the technology sector. Established in 2010, it encompasses multiple initiatives, including the LAUNCH Fund, which focuses on early-stage investments in technology-related companies. Additionally, LAUNCH operates an incubator designed to nurture startup development. Its flagship event, the LAUNCH Festival, attracts over 12,000 participants, including venture capitalists, angel investors, founders, and industry professionals, serving as a premier platform for startups to showcase their innovations. The organization also produces the podcast "This Week in Startups," which discusses trends and insights in the startup ecosystem. Through its various endeavors, LAUNCH aims to empower founders and promote the growth of emerging companies.
Google is a multinational technology company renowned for its search engine, offering services such as Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, and YouTube. It specializes in advertising solutions through Google Ads and mobile operating systems with Android, while actively innovating in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Microsoft is a multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells software products and services. Its offerings include the Windows operating system, Microsoft Office suite, server products like Windows Server and SQL Server, business solutions such as Dynamics, cloud services through Azure, hardware devices like Surface and Xbox, and online advertising platforms.
Founded in 2021, FOV Ventures is a European deep tech investment firm headquartered in Espoo, Finland. It focuses on early-stage companies operating in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, spatial computing, and robotics.
Founded in Tokyo in 1998, Global Brain is a venture capital firm focusing on seed to late-stage investments across various sectors globally. They have invested in over 300 startups, facilitating 25 IPOs and 61 M&As through hands-on support services.
Presence Capital is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 that concentrates on early-stage investments in startups developing virtual reality and augmented reality technologies. It supports entrepreneurs applying VR and AR to transform how people communicate, work, and participate in entertainment, helping advance the VR/AR ecosystem.
Anorak Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco that invests early and dilutes alongside founders, helping secure smart capital for every stage of company growth. The firm backs companies across business products, business services, consumer products and services, and information technology, including hardware and software, with a focus on early-stage opportunities in diverse sectors. Its portfolio comprises about 40 investments, with roughly $250 million raised in follow-on funding, contributing to an aggregate portfolio market capitalization of about $1.8 billion.
Founded in 2000, Qualcomm Ventures is the investment arm of Qualcomm Incorporated. As a global corporate venture capital fund, it invests in early-stage technology companies, focusing on mobile and adjacent industries. With over $4 billion under management, Qualcomm Ventures has invested in more than 350 companies across 15 countries.
Luminate is a startup accelerator based in Rochester, NY, funded by New York State, and focused on advancing next-generation optics, photonics, and imaging-enabled companies. The company is looking for visionary entrepreneurs working on solutions in areas such as augmented and virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, machine vision, and biophotonics. With a specific focus on difficult problems in the industry, Luminate provides support and resources to help these companies succeed in the optics and imaging capital of the world.
Founded in 2016, Super Ventures is a San Francisco-based firm focused on investing in early-stage startups that specialize in Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies. The company aims to accelerate industry growth by supporting innovative solutions that enhance human experiences.
Niantic is a developer of augmented reality games that promote outdoor activity and social interaction. The company creates products that encourage movement and exploration, fostering face-to-face engagement among users. Niantic is best known for its popular games, including Ingress and Pokémon GO, which utilize its augmented reality platform to enhance mobile gaming experiences. This platform integrates features such as shared state, communication, security, and mapping, allowing users to interact within virtual environments that are seamlessly connected to the real world. Through its innovative approach, Niantic aims to enrich gaming by blending digital experiences with physical exploration.
Snap Inc. is a United States technology and social media company best known for Snapchat, a multimedia messaging app that enables users to send ephemeral photos and videos, share Stories, and access augmented reality features. The company also offers Camera, Chat, Memories, Discover, and Snap Map to enhance communication and content discovery, and has produced Spectacles, a line of wearable camera hardware. Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Snap Inc. was founded in 2010 and focuses on camera-based experiences that blend messaging, AR effects, and interactive media for a global audience.
Alumni Ventures Group is a venture capital firm based in Manchester, New Hampshire, with offices across North America. It provides access to venture investing for individual accredited investors, particularly alumni networks, by offering diversified portfolios of venture opportunities and allowing members to invest alongside fellow alumni in ventures led by peers. The firm backs early-stage and later-stage opportunities across technology, consumer, healthcare, financial services, and other sectors, with a sector- and geography-agnostic approach. It typically invests between $10,000 and $3 million per deal and emphasizes the involvement of alumni connections and an institutional lead investor in opportunities. Alumni Ventures also offers focused funds to broaden participation, enabling accredited investors to access venture portfolios diversified by type, sector, stage, and geography. The model aims to democratize access to venture capital while maintaining rigorous selection standards through alumni networks.
Founders Fund is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that backs science and technology companies across multiple stages, from seed to late-stage. It pursues transformative technologies and follows a founder-friendly investment approach that provides substantial support with minimal interference. The firm invests in ventures solving difficult problems across sectors such as aerospace and transportation, artificial intelligence, advanced computing, energy, healthcare, biotechnology, cybersecurity, fintech, consumer internet, software, robotics, and related technology fields. It has backed notable companies early, including SpaceX, Palantir, and Facebook, reflecting a history of partnering with ambitious founders to scale breakthrough technologies.
Infinite Reality is a company that develops immersive experiences for audiences, brands, and creators. It offers powered virtual experiences that let brands and creators control content distribution, audience engagement, monetization, and community communication. With deep Hollywood production expertise, Infinite Reality builds metaverse experiences and oversees custom platform builds through its Technology, Entertainment, and Content Creation teams. Its Los Angeles studio supports the production of original content and live events. The agency unit cultivates client audiences, while its digitally native brands, including esports franchises Rogue and London Royal Ravens and TalentX Entertainment, promote awareness and adoption of Web3 opportunities.
Founders, Inc. is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm established in 2020. It focuses on early-stage and seed investments in emerging technologies, including web3, cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, hardware, virtual and augmented reality, real-time video, computer vision, robotics, drones, and autonomous machines. In addition to funding, the company incubates technology ventures, supporting founders through early development and market entry.
Boost VC is an early-stage venture capital firm based in San Mateo, California. Founded in 2012 by Adam Draper and Brayton Williams, the firm focuses on deep tech startups across the United States, including aerospace, robotics, hardware and software, bio/health, energy and climate, crypto, defense, space, artificial intelligence, and immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality. It typically participates in pre-seed and very early rounds, often leading initial investments in technology companies at the earliest stages of development, and it manages around $200 million in assets.
Founded in 1968, Intel designs, manufactures, and sells essential technologies for cloud, smart, and connected devices worldwide. Its product portfolio includes platform products like central processing units and chipsets, along with non-platform products such as accelerators, boards and systems, connectivity products, and memory and storage products. Intel serves original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, and cloud service providers.
Bpifrance is a financial institution dedicated to supporting companies throughout their development stages, particularly those preparing for stock market listing and seeking credit equity. The organization provides a range of financial solutions, including financing, innovation assistance, and capital investment. By integrating various entities such as OSEO and CDC Entreprises, Bpifrance aims to deliver tailored financial support that addresses the specific needs of businesses. The institution is committed to fostering innovation and helping companies transition toward sustainable growth, ensuring they are well-equipped to face future challenges.
Animoca Brands is a venture capital firm focused on driving digital property rights to gamers and internet users through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It leverages gamification and blockchain technology to develop, market, and invest in mobile applications, games, and additional products centered around educational learning, ensuring transparency, security, and new business models.
BITKRAFT Ventures is a global venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Jens Hilgers. It maintains a multi-city team with offices in Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, London, Madrid and Lisbon, and focuses on early-stage investments in videogames, esports and related immersive digital entertainment. Positioned as a global investment platform, it pursues opportunities across video gaming, immersive technology, interactive media, Web3 and AI, with activity spanning North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Startup Wise Guys is an accelerator and early-stage program based in Tallinn, Estonia, founded in 2012. It runs intensive up to five-month programs that validate and develop products and prepare founders to sell to business customers, culminating in demo days before venture capitalists and angel investors. The company focuses on B2B software as a service, fintech, cybersecurity, sustainability, and related tech sectors across Europe, and has accelerated more than 300 startups with a startup survival rate above 80%. It operates with a network of over 200 mentors who guide startups through product validation, market entry, and fundraising, and maintains a 300+ startup alumni community spanning more than 40 countries, with ongoing alumni events for business development and fundraising.
Samsung NEXT is an innovation group within Samsung Electronics that focuses on identifying and pursuing new growth opportunities. Through Samsung NEXT Ventures, it acts as the company’s venture capital arm, investing in early-stage startups and technologies with potential to redefine multiple industries. The group targets areas including artificial intelligence, fintech, blockchain, health technology, infrastructure, media technology, software, and related fields such as robotics and drones. By combining internal startup acceleration with external investments, Samsung NEXT aims to accelerate technology adoption and create scalable platforms that complement Samsung’s hardware and software ecosystems.
Right Side Capital Management is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage, pre-seed technology startups in underserved segments of the ecosystem. It invests in a high-volume, capital-efficient portfolio, typically funding rounds of 50,000 to 500,000 and making roughly 75 to 100 investments per year. The firm targets opportunities across the United States and internationally, including Canada, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and Western Europe, prioritizing companies with scalable products and prudent capital use outside major metro hubs. Since its inception, it has built a broad portfolio across many states. It commits to a fast decision process, often delivering a yes or no within two weeks to help founders establish momentum.
Lightspeed Venture Partners is a global venture capital firm that backs startups across enterprise software, consumer technologies, fintech, healthtech, and cleantech from seed through growth stages. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, it maintains offices in Beijing, Shanghai, New Delhi, and Herzliya to engage markets in the United States, Asia, and Israel. The firm focuses on technology-enabled businesses and has supported companies across software, mobile, data, e-commerce, and services, spanning early-stage to expansion rounds. It offers strategic guidance, network access, and capital, and has historically included debt financing as part of its investment approach. With a multi-region footprint and a broad multi-stage mandate, Lightspeed seeks to partner with entrepreneurs to scale innovative companies globally.
Insight Partners is a global software investor that partners with growth-stage technology and software companies. The firm focuses on growth-stage software, internet, and data services, with emphasis on fintech, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and machine learning, DevOps, and healthcare. Based in New York City with offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto, Insight Partners has backed more than 750 companies worldwide and has more than 55 portfolio companies that have achieved an IPO. As of 2022, the firm reports over $75 billion in assets under management. It seeks to fund and work closely with visionary executives, providing practical, hands-on software expertise to support growth from initial investment through to IPO.
Colopl Next is the corporate venture capital arm of Colopl, a leading Japanese gaming company. Headquartered in Japan, it invests globally in diverse internet businesses, prioritizing innovative entrepreneurs across sectors like B2C services, lifestyle, health, gaming, and emerging technologies.
Founded in 2012, Berkeley SkyDeck is a global startup accelerator based at UC Berkeley. It offers a six-month cohort program for startups founded by UC Berkeley students, alumni, and faculty, providing up to $100,000 in funding divided into two tranches. The accelerator is industry-agnostic and supports around 120 startups annually.
Incubate Fund is an independent venture capital firm founded in 2010 and based in Tokyo, Japan. It specializes in seed and early-stage investments in technology startups, backing entrepreneurship across Asia. The firm has built a portfolio of more than 300 companies and has delivered multiple exits, including 12 initial public offerings and 20 mergers and acquisitions since its inception. It maintains a broad sector focus that spans business products and services, consumer products and services, information technology and the Internet of Things, as well as media, entertainment, games, commerce, logistics, medical, financial services, real estate, automobiles, and housing-related innovation. Through its regional presence in Asia, the firm supports founders from early development through scaling, aiming to back ambitious teams with potential for significant growth.
Established in 2017, Imec.xpand is a Belgium-based venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage innovations within the domains of deep tech, health, and agtech. The company aims to foster nanoelectronics-based innovation globally.
EASME is a European Union executive agency that supports small and medium-sized enterprises and promotes innovation in Europe. It manages projects in the areas of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the environment, energy, and maritime sectors, funded by COSME, LIFE, and EMFF. EASME organizes the European Sustainable Energy Week and serves industries such as environmental management, energy production, and maritime activities.
WXR Fund is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that backs early-stage startups led by gender-diverse teams developing immersive technologies and artificial intelligence. It makes investments in North America across sectors including information technology, entertainment, education, healthcare, retail and training services from pre-seed to Series A. The firm prioritizes minority- and women-owned companies and minority stake investments, and it seeks opportunities at the intersection of immersive technologies and AI to drive inclusive innovation.
Shunwei Capital is a Beijing-based venture capital firm founded in 2011 that focuses on early to mid-stage investments in the local internet industry and related technology sectors. It emphasizes incubation and growth capital for startups across information technology, internet services, high technology, new media, games, internet finance, and rural internet, with cross-border interest in opportunities between China and India. The firm targets investments in mobile internet, IoT, smart hardware, and other internet-enabled platforms to support scalable digital economy ventures. Its investor base includes sovereign wealth funds, fund of funds, university endowments, and family offices, reflecting a diverse backing for its venture activities.
Chiratae Ventures is a Bengaluru-based venture capital firm that operates a global network of five independent partnerships managing funds across North America and Asia, investing on behalf of limited partners including IDG. The firm has funded a portfolio of more than 220 companies and manages billions of dollars in capital. It focuses on early-stage technology startups across mobility, software as a service, education technology, consumer technology, health technology, climate technology, fintech, agricultural technology, B2B and deep technology, leveraging international reach and local market expertise to help portfolio companies scale and succeed.
The Venture Reality Fund is a California-based venture capital firm founded in 2016 that backs early-stage technology startups. It specializes in immersive technologies, including augmented, virtual, and mixed reality, and in artificial intelligence and spatial computing, with investments spanning gaming, media and entertainment, and various enterprise sectors. The firm supports companies developing information technology, AI and machine learning, healthcare, and consumer and business products and services. Geographically, it pursues opportunities across North America and Japan, with additional activity in Europe. The Venture Reality Fund seeks to nurture innovative companies at formative stages that aim to advance immersive experiences and AI-enabled solutions.
Khosla Ventures is a California-based venture capital firm founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla. It provides capital and strategic guidance to startups across stages, focusing on technology-driven companies in areas such as artificial intelligence, climate and sustainability, enterprise software and services, fintech, digital health, medical technology and diagnostics, therapeutics, consumer products, and frontier technologies. The firm backs bold ventures with the potential to disrupt markets and improve lives, supporting companies from early to growth stages and working closely with entrepreneurs to apply science, technology and innovative business models. While primarily investing in North American technology companies, Khosla Ventures pursues opportunities globally and emphasizes experimentation and impact alongside financial returns. The firm also maintains related impact initiatives that support entrepreneurs addressing socio-economic challenges in emerging markets.
Outlier Ventures is a London-based venture capital firm and accelerator focused on Web3 and blockchain technology. Founded in 2014, it was among the first to invest in the crypto ecosystem and supports early-stage startups across DeFi, NFTs, infrastructure and metaverse use cases. The firm runs Base Camp, an accelerator launched in 2019 that provides launchpad support and incubation space for pre-seed projects. Through its investments and accelerator activities, Outlier Ventures has supported more than 220 portfolio companies and helped raise over $350 million in seed funding. It maintains a blockchain-agnostic approach and collaborates with leading ecosystems, including Aptos, Filecoin/IPFS, Polygon, and Polkadot, to host dedicated accelerator tracks. The firm aims to accelerate the development of Web3 technologies and the Open Metaverse by backing global projects and fostering interoperable infrastructures.
Established in 2020, the European Innovation Council supports innovative startups and researchers with promising ideas, focusing on early-stage companies with positive environmental, social, or governance impacts. It co-invests alongside private investors.
Founded in 2013, North-East Venture is a corporate venture capital firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It focuses on investing in innovative startups across various sectors including fintech, e-commerce, consumer lifestyle and sustainability, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
Sure Valley Ventures is a UK and Ireland–focused venture capital firm founded in 2017 that backs early-stage AI software companies. The team consists of former founders who became investors, bringing entrepreneurial experience to identifying and supporting promising founders. The firm concentrates on software ventures that use foundational AI technologies to solve real-world industry problems, offering funding and guidance to help companies grow in the UK and Ireland.
SBI Investment is the corporate venture capital arm of SBI Holdings, based in Tokyo, Japan. It funds and supports the growth of private venture companies by managing venture capital funds and attracting capital from institutional partners. The firm backs a broad range of technology-driven sectors, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, fintech, information technology, cybersecurity, e-commerce, biotechnology, life sciences, healthcare, and environmental energy. Through regional operations such as SBI Investment Korea, it engages with startups in Korea and focuses on sectors including healthcare, consumer, ICT, entertainment, information services, and manufacturing. SBI Investment aims to create value by helping portfolio companies scale, form strategic partnerships, and pursue exits via initial public offerings or acquisitions, reinforcing its role in fostering innovation and core industries in the 21st century.
Shasta Ventures is a California-based venture capital firm founded in 2004 that invests in early-stage software companies in the United States, typically from seed to Series B. The firm is headquartered in Portola Valley, with a presence in Menlo Park, and focuses on software-related sectors such as software as a service, cybersecurity, infrastructure, data intelligence, and consumer subscription models. Shasta Ventures supports startups through an agile, founder-focused approach, offering resources and guidance tailored to early-stage needs.