25 active Series A investors in San Francisco backing early-stage companies in 2026

San Francisco deployed $8.6B across 680+ Series A rounds in 2025. Average round size hit $18M. Most capital went to AI infrastructure, enterprise SaaS, and developer tools. You need $1M+ ARR or 50K+ active users to get Series A meetings here.

Series A investors want to see product-market fit. They're not funding prototypes anymore. They want to see organic user growth, revenue momentum, or strong engagement metrics. If you're pre-revenue, you better have extraordinary team pedigree or technology that's clearly 10x better than alternatives.

The hardest part about raising Series A in San Francisco is standing out. Every fund sees 1,000+ companies per year. Most pass after looking at your deck for 90 seconds. Your growth chart needs to be undeniable. Flat or declining metrics won't get meetings no matter how good your story sounds.

Quick list

Why San Francisco for Series A funding

San Francisco has 80+ active Series A funds. You can run your entire fundraising process within a 10-mile radius. That density means faster feedback cycles and more competitive tension if your metrics are strong. You'll know within 3-4 weeks if you have genuine investor interest or need to improve your business.

The challenge is expectation inflation. San Francisco investors see the best companies globally. Your growth rate competes with every AI infrastructure company, every vertical SaaS startup, and every consumer product hitting viral growth. Average isn't fundable here. You need to be top decile in your category to raise Series A.

Series A valuations compressed 30% from 2021 peaks. Enterprise SaaS companies now get $40-60M pre-money versus $80-100M two years ago. AI companies still command premium valuations but only with proven technical differentiation. Consumer companies struggle unless you have 10M+ users or clear monetization at scale.

Picking the right San Francisco Series A investor

Local presence: Most Series A investors take board seats and expect quarterly in-person meetings. They want to meet your team, visit your office, and understand your culture firsthand. Remote companies raise from San Francisco funds but face extra scrutiny on team cohesion and hiring plans. Funds prefer investing within 30 minutes of their office for frequent check-ins.

Portfolio companies: Look at their last 20 Series A investments. If they backed five companies in your category, they understand your metrics and customer acquisition motion. If they've never invested in your space, you'll spend meetings educating them instead of negotiating terms. Check if portfolio companies are thriving or struggling - that tells you how helpful the fund actually is.

Check sizes: Series A rounds in San Francisco average $15-20M. Top-tier funds like Sequoia and Benchmark can lead with $15-20M checks. Mid-tier funds write $10-15M. Smaller funds participate with $3-5M. Know who can anchor your entire round versus who needs syndication partners. Don't waste time with funds that can't write big enough checks for your needs.

Value beyond capital: Series A investors should help with go-to-market strategy, executive recruiting, and customer development. Ask portfolio CEOs what their lead investor actually does. Some VCs introduce you to your first 10 enterprise customers. Others just attend board meetings and offer generic advice. The best Series A partners act as extensions of your founding team.

Communication: Use Ellty to send your Series A deck with unique tracking links to each fund. You'll see which partners spend time on your traction slides versus those who glance at your deck for 60 seconds. San Francisco Series A investors review 100+ decks per week. Most decide within 2 minutes whether to take a first meeting. Track engagement to focus your energy on investors who are genuinely interested.

Follow-on capacity: Most Series A funds reserve capital for Series B. Ask about their typical ownership targets and follow-on strategy. If they want 15% at Series A, they'll probably participate in Series B to maintain ownership. If they only take 8%, they might not have room for follow-on. Understanding this early helps you plan your cap table through multiple rounds.

How to find and approach San Francisco Series A investors

Research relevant funds: Filter Crunchbase for Series A rounds $10M+ in your category over the last 24 months. Check who led versus participated. Focus on funds that led rounds in companies similar to yours in business model, customer type, and go-to-market motion. Don't pitch consumer funds with enterprise SaaS or infrastructure funds with horizontal SaaS.

Get warm intros: Your seed investors should intro you to 10-15 Series A funds. If they won't, your metrics aren't ready. Your advisors, customers, and portfolio founders can also make intros. Warm intros get 80% meeting rates. Cold emails get 5%. Spend two weeks getting proper introductions before you start pitching.

Build relationships at seed stage: Take exploratory meetings with Series A partners when you're at $300K ARR. Share quarterly metrics updates even when you're not fundraising. By the time you hit $1M ARR and start your Series A process, you'll have 8-10 funds who know your trajectory. Upload quarterly updates to Ellty with tracking links. You'll see which funds actually follow your progress versus those who ignore your emails.

Attend focused events: SaaStr Annual, Dev Tools Summit, and AI Conference bring Series A investors to San Francisco. Book 15-20 meetings in advance through event apps. Conference serendipity rarely works - scheduled meetings do. Avoid pitch competitions. Partners don't write checks based on 3-minute stage pitches. Pitch decks become vulnerable once they leave a founder’s inbox.

Connect with recent portfolio founders: Find CEOs who raised Series A from your target funds in the last 12 months. Ask them about partner involvement, board meeting dynamics, and post-investment support. Most founders honestly share which investors are helpful versus which disappear after wiring money. These conversations help you prioritize where to spend time.

Prepare data room early: Set up an Ellty data room before taking meetings. Include financial model, customer cohorts, unit economics, product roadmap, competitive analysis, and cap table. San Francisco Series A investors want to see metrics that prove product-market fit. Having organized materials shows you understand what growth-stage investors need to make decisions.

Understand fundraising timeline: Series A rounds take 6-10 weeks from kickoff to close. First partner meetings in weeks 1-2. Follow-up meetings and diligence in weeks 3-5. Partner presentations in weeks 6-7. Term sheet negotiation in week 8. Documentation in weeks 9-10. Faster rounds happen when you have multiple competing term sheets, but don't expect it.

Run a focused process: Pitch 12-18 funds maximum. Don't spray and pray to 50 funds. That signals desperation and word spreads fast. Start with 6-8 top choices. If you're not getting traction after 3 weeks, analyze why. Usually it's metrics, timing, or market concerns. Fix those issues before pitching the next batch. Structured workflows help reduce risk as teams scale their operations.

San Francisco Series A considerations

Series A investors expect 2-3x year-over-year growth minimum. Enterprise SaaS needs $1M+ ARR with 15%+ month-over-month growth. Developer tools need 50K+ developers using your product or $750K+ ARR. AI infrastructure needs paying customers and clear technical differentiation. Consumer products need 5M+ monthly active users or $500K+ monthly revenue.

Dilution at Series A typically runs 20-25%. If investors want 30%+, you're either too early or your valuation expectations are unrealistic. Most founders give up one board seat to the Series A lead. Choose carefully - this person influences major decisions for years. Bad board members slow down your company. Great ones accelerate it.

San Francisco Series A investors now prioritize capital efficiency over growth at all costs. Show them you can get to $10M ARR on reasonable burn. In 2021, burning $1M/month at $1M ARR was acceptable. In 2026, they want burn multiples under 2x. Have a plan that shows responsible growth even if you could grow faster with more capital.

25 top Series A investors in San Francisco

1. Sequoia Capital

Top-tier VC leading $12M-$25M Series A rounds in category-defining companies.

• Recent Deals: Pilot ($40M Series B, 2023), Ramp ($115M Series B, 2021), Faire ($400M Series G, 2021)
• LinkedIn: Roelof Botha
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, fintech, infrastructure, AI, consumer
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2800 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: sequoiacap.com

2. Benchmark

Boutique VC with equal partnership leading $10M-$20M Series A rounds.

• Recent Deals: Cerebras ($250M pre-IPO, 2024), Uber (Series A, 2011), Snapchat (Series A, 2012)
• LinkedIn: Peter Fenton
• Sector Focus: Infrastructure, consumer, marketplaces, AI hardware
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: 2965 Woodside Road, Woodside
• Website: benchmark.com

3. Accel

Traditional VC leading $10M-$22M Series A rounds with global reach.

• Recent Deals: Superhuman ($33M Series B, 2020), Webflow ($140M Series C, 2022), Atlassian (Series A, 2005)
• LinkedIn: Rich Wong
• Sector Focus: Developer tools, enterprise SaaS, security, infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 500 University Avenue, Palo Alto
• Website: accel.com

4. Greylock Partners

Established VC leading $12M-$25M Series A rounds in enterprise and consumer.

• Recent Deals: Workday (Series A-B, 2008), Discord ($100M Series E, 2020), Palo Alto Networks (Series B, 2010)
• LinkedIn: Reid Hoffman
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, security, consumer, AI infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2550 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: greylock.com

5. Andreessen Horowitz

Mega-fund with $35B+ AUM leading $15M-$30M Series A rounds with platform.

• Recent Deals: OpenAI (early rounds), Databricks (Series A), Instacart (Series A, 2011)
• LinkedIn: Marc Andreessen
• Sector Focus: AI infrastructure, crypto, enterprise, consumer, bio
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2865 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: a16z.com

6. Lightspeed Venture Partners

Multi-stage fund writing $12M-$25M Series A checks into category leaders.

• Recent Deals: Nutanix (Series A before IPO), Affirm (Series A before IPO), Epic Games ($1.25B Series E, 2020)
• LinkedIn: Ravi Mhatre
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, consumer, fintech, gaming
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2200 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: lsvp.com

7. Index Ventures

European-US fund leading $15M-$30M rounds in infrastructure and dev tools.

• Recent Deals: Ramp ($115M Series B, 2021), Figma (Series A, 2016), Datadog (Series A before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Mike Volpi
• Sector Focus: Infrastructure, dev tools, security, fintech
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: 650 Townsend Street, San Francisco
• Website: indexventures.com

8. Founders Fund

Contrarian VC backing frontier tech with $12M-$30M Series A checks.

• Recent Deals: Anduril (Series A-E, $14B+ valuation), Palantir (Series A-C), SpaceX (Series A-B)
• LinkedIn: Peter Thiel
• Sector Focus: Defense tech, space, AI infrastructure, frontier tech
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 580 California Street, San Francisco
• Website: foundersfund.com

9. General Catalyst

Multi-stage fund with $25B+ AUM backing transformative companies.

• Recent Deals: Stripe ($20M Series B, 2012), Airbnb (Series B, 2011), Gusto (Series A, 2015)
• LinkedIn: Hemant Taneja
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, fintech, health tech, infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 548 Market Street, San Francisco
• Website: generalcatalyst.com

10. Kleiner Perkins

Historic Silicon Valley VC leading $10M-$25M Series A rounds.

• Recent Deals: DoorDash (Series A, 2014), Slack (Series C, 2014), Beyond Meat (Series E before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Mamoon Hamid
• Sector Focus: Consumer, enterprise SaaS, fintech, health tech
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2750 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: kleinerperkins.com

11. Redpoint Ventures

Enterprise-focused VC leading $10M-$20M Series A rounds in B2B software.

• Recent Deals: Snowflake (Series B before IPO), Looker (Series A before Google acquisition), Twilio (Series A)
• LinkedIn: Tomasz Tunguz
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, data infrastructure, dev tools, security
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2270 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: redpoint.com

12. Battery Ventures

Growth equity fund also writing $12M-$25M Series A checks in B2B software.

• Recent Deals: HubSpot (growth rounds before IPO), Gainsight (Series A-B), Bazaarvoice (Series A-B before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Neeraj Agrawal
• Sector Focus: B2B SaaS, dev tools, cybersecurity, infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, growth equity
• Office Location: 535 Mission Street, San Francisco
• Website: battery.com

13. CRV

Multi-stage VC leading $10M-$20M Series A rounds in enterprise and consumer.

• Recent Deals: DoorDash ($17.3M Series A, 2014), Twitter (Series B, 2008), Airtable (Series A, 2015)
• LinkedIn: Saar Gur
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, consumer, fintech, health tech
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2500 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: crv.com

14. NFX

Network-focused VC leading $8M-$18M Series A rounds in network-effect businesses.

• Recent Deals: Lyft (Series A, 2013), Patreon (Series A, 2016), Trulia (Series A before acquisition)
• LinkedIn: James Currier
• Sector Focus: Marketplaces, social, consumer, fintech
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, seed, Series A
• Office Location: 575 High Street, Palo Alto
• Website: nfx.com

15. Bessemer Venture Partners

Century-old VC with cloud expertise leading $12M-$25M Series A rounds.

• Recent Deals: Shopify (Series A before IPO), Twilio (Series A before IPO), LinkedIn (Series A before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Byron Deeter
• Sector Focus: Cloud infrastructure, SaaS, fintech, dev tools
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 950 Tower Lane, Foster City
• Website: bvp.com

16. Mayfield Fund

50+ year old VC backing enterprise infrastructure and AI applications.

• Recent Deals: Palo Alto Networks (Series B, 2010), HashiCorp (Series A before IPO), Marketo (Series A before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Navin Chaddha
• Sector Focus: Infrastructure, AI/ML, enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2484 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: mayfield.com

17. Norwest Venture Partners

Multi-stage fund with $12.5B+ AUM backing enterprise and consumer.

• Recent Deals: Plaid (Series A, 2016), Udemy (Series B, 2014), HubSpot (Series A-B before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Jeff Crowe
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, fintech, consumer, edtech
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 525 University Avenue, Palo Alto
• Website: nvp.com

18. GGV Capital

US-Asia crossover fund backing marketplace and enterprise companies.

• Recent Deals: Slack (Series C, 2014), Affirm (Series A-B before IPO), HashiCorp (Series B-C)
• LinkedIn: Hans Tung
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, consumer, marketplaces, fintech
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: 280 Second Street, San Francisco
• Website: ggvc.com

19. Initialized Capital

Early-stage fund co-founded by Garry Tan leading $3M-$12M Series A rounds.

• Recent Deals: Coinbase (Series A, 2013), Instacart (Series A, 2012), Flexport (Series A, 2014)
• LinkedIn: Garry Tan
• Sector Focus: Fintech, infrastructure, developer tools, marketplaces
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, seed, Series A
• Office Location: 251 Rhode Island Street, San Francisco
• Website: initialized.com

20. Felicis Ventures

Multi-stage fund backing infrastructure and consumer companies.

• Recent Deals: Shopify (early rounds before IPO), Cruise Automation (seed), Adyen (Series A before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Aydin Senkut
• Sector Focus: E-commerce, fintech, infrastructure, dev tools
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 2882 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: felicis.com

21. Data Collective (DCVC)

Deep tech VC leading $10M-$25M Series A rounds in frontier technology.

• Recent Deals: Boom Supersonic (Series B, 2019), Recursion Pharma (Series A-C before IPO), Planet Labs (Series A-B)
• LinkedIn: Matt Ocko
• Sector Focus: AI/ML, aerospace, biotech, climate tech
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 505 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto
• Website: dcvc.com

22. 8VC

Multi-stage fund backing healthcare, fintech, and infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: Cityblock Health (Series A, 2018), Oscar Health (growth rounds before IPO), Ocrolus (Series B, 2020)
• LinkedIn: Joe Lonsdale
• Sector Focus: Health tech, fintech, infrastructure, gov tech
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: 600 California Street, San Francisco
• Website: 8vc.com

23. Emergence Capital

SaaS-focused VC leading $10M-$20M Series A rounds in B2B software.

• Recent Deals: Zoom (Series A, 2013), Salesforce (early rounds before IPO), Box (Series A-B before IPO)
• LinkedIn: Jason Green
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, workflow tools, vertical software
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: 160 Bovet Road, San Mateo
• Website: emcap.com

24. Menlo Ventures

Multi-stage fund leading $12M-$25M rounds in enterprise infrastructure.

• Recent Deals: Uber (Series B, 2011), Roku (Series B-C before IPO), Harness (Series A-C)
• LinkedIn: Venky Ganesan
• Sector Focus: Infrastructure, AI/ML, cybersecurity, dev tools
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: 2800 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park
• Website: menlovc.com

25. Craft Ventures

Operator-led VC founded by David Sacks leading $8M-$20M Series A rounds.

• Recent Deals: Tessian ($13M Series A, 2018), SpaceX (growth rounds), Affirm (Series B-C before IPO)
• LinkedIn: David Sacks
• Sector Focus: Enterprise SaaS, fintech, infrastructure, security
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 580 California Street, San Francisco
• Website: craft.co

Start tracking your San Francisco Series A outreach

These 25 investors led or participated in Series A deals across San Francisco and the Bay Area in 2023-2025. Before you start your Series A process, get your tracking set up properly.

Upload your Series A deck to Ellty and create a unique link for each investor. You'll see which partners actually spend time on your traction metrics and which ones skim past your growth slides. San Francisco Series A investors make quick judgments based on your numbers. Track engagement to understand who's genuinely interested before you waste time on follow-up meetings.

When investors request your financial model, customer references, or product roadmap during diligence, organize everything in an Ellty data room. Your unit economics, cohort retention, and competitive positioning in one secure place with view analytics. You'll know exactly which partners did thorough diligence versus those who made snap judgments without reviewing materials.

Common questions

Do I need to be based in San Francisco to raise Series A from SF investors?

No, but it helps significantly. About 65% of Series A deals from SF funds involve Bay Area companies. Remote companies successfully raise here but expect questions about hiring, culture, and team building. Most Series A investors want to meet your team in person during diligence.

How does San Francisco compare to New York for Series A funding?

San Francisco has 3x more Series A capital available. Average rounds are $18M in SF versus $12M in NYC. SF investors better understand SaaS metrics and developer tools. NYC investors excel in fintech, media, and direct-to-consumer. For enterprise software or infrastructure, SF is still the dominant market.

What's the average Series A round size in San Francisco?

$18M in 2025, down from $24M in 2021. Most rounds have one lead investor writing $12-15M and 1-2 participants writing $3-5M each. Insider participation from seed investors adds another $2-4M typically. Dilution averages 20-25%.

Should I raise Series A locally or run a national process?

Focus on San Francisco first if you're enterprise SaaS, dev tools, or infrastructure. Add NYC and Boston funds if you're fintech or vertical SaaS. Don't pitch 40 funds randomly. Target 12-15 funds that actually invest in your category and stage. Geographic diversity matters less than fund fit.

Do San Francisco Series A investors take board seats?

Yes, almost always. The Series A lead expects a board seat. Some seed investors keep their seats, others step down. Expect 3-5 board members after Series A - 1-2 founders, 1-2 investors, sometimes 1 independent. Board composition matters more than you think. Choose people you want to work with for years.

What metrics do Series A investors care about most?

Revenue growth rate, gross margin, CAC payback period, and cohort retention. Enterprise SaaS needs 15%+ month-over-month growth. Developer tools need 50K+ active users. Consumer needs 5M+ MAU or clear monetization. Most deals die because growth is too slow or retention is too low. Fix those before fundraising.

How long does Series A fundraising take in San Francisco?

6-10 weeks from first meetings to closed round. Week 1-2 for initial partner meetings. Week 3-4 for follow-ups and diligence. Week 5-6 for partner presentations. Week 7-8 for term sheets and negotiation. Week 9-10 for documentation. Faster rounds happen with multiple competing offers, but that's rare. Plan for 8 weeks minimum.