AI VCs capitalizing Seattle machine learning and enterprise AI in 2026

Seattle raised $5.8B in AI deals across 240+ rounds in 2025. Most capital went to enterprise AI applications, ML infrastructure, and AI developer tools. The ecosystem benefits from massive AI talent pools at Amazon, Microsoft, and the Allen Institute. You won't get Seattle AI investors interested without either strong technical founders from these companies or real enterprise revenue. They've funded too many "ChatGPT wrapper" companies that died in 2023-2024.

Quick list

Why Seattle works for AI fundraising

Seattle has 40+ active AI investors and the strongest AI talent pool outside the Bay Area. Amazon's Alexa team, Microsoft Research, and AI2 employ 15,000+ AI engineers. Average seed round is $3.8M, slightly higher than Seattle's overall average because AI companies need more compute budget.

The ecosystem strongly favors enterprise AI over consumer. Microsoft's partnership network means Seattle AI companies get early access to Fortune 500 customers through warm intros. That's worth more than an extra $2M in funding. Most successful Seattle AI companies are B2B SaaS with ML components, not pure AI research projects.

Seattle investors don't fund AI research disguised as startups. They want product-market fit within 18 months and paying enterprise customers by month 24. If your go-to-market is "we'll figure that out after we finish training the model," you won't raise here. The 2023-2024 AI winter killed 50+ Seattle AI startups that couldn't find revenue.

Picking the right Seattle AI investor

Local presence matters significantly for AI because talent competition is fierce. Seattle-based funds can intro you to engineers leaving Amazon or Microsoft, which is how most Seattle AI companies hire their first 10 technical employees. Remote funds can't help with this.

Portfolio companies reveal AI thesis depth. Check if their portfolio companies are actually using proprietary models or just wrapping OpenAI APIs. Investors who backed "AI companies" that were really just API integrations won't understand your technical moat. Look for funds that invested in companies building models, not just consuming them.

Check sizes for Seattle AI startups run $800K-2M for pre-seed, $3M-6M for seed, and $12M-20M for Series A. That's 40% higher than non-AI companies because compute costs are real. Seattle investors understand this better than most. Don't apologize for needing $5M at seed if you're training models.

Local network advantages include direct access to Microsoft Research collaborations, Amazon SageMaker partnership opportunities, and AI2 research talent. These matter enormously for Seattle AI companies. Share your deck through Ellty with tracking links so you can see which investors actually engage with your technical architecture slides versus skipping to financials.

Follow-on capacity is stronger in Seattle for AI than other sectors. Madrona can write $30M+ checks, and coastal funds like Greylock and NEA actively co-invest here. But if you're building foundational models needing $100M+ rounds, you'll still need to bring in Sequoia or a16z for Series B.

How to find and approach Seattle AI investors

Research local deals by monitoring GeekWire's AI coverage and checking Pitchbook for recent Seattle ML investments. The Allen Institute publishes research that often spins into startups. Track which VCs show up in those cap tables. Most active Seattle AI investors led 2-3 deals in the past 6 months.

Leverage local ecosystem through AI2 Incubator demo days, the Seattle ML meetup group, and University of Washington's CSE department events. Madrona and Gradient partners attend regularly. Microsoft hosts AI conferences at their Redmond campus where Seattle VCs scout deals. These aren't casual networking, actual partnerships form here.

Build relationships first because Seattle AI investors are extremely technical and skeptical of hype. They lived through the "AI winter" of 2023-2024 when 100+ AI startups shut down. Get warm intros from technical founders they've backed before. Cold emails about your "revolutionary AI" get ignored. Founders pitching in Seattle increasingly rely on screenshot protection to keep confidential strategy slides and creative materials from being shared beyond trusted investors.

Share your pitch deck using Ellty with unique tracking links for each investor. Seattle AI investors spend 3-5x longer reviewing technical architecture slides than consumer tech investors do. You'll see exactly which sections they care about. Most Seattle AI funds want to see your model performance benchmarks, not just business metrics.

Attend local events like the Seattle Machine Learning Conference, PAW (Predictive Analytics World), GeekWire Cloud Tech Summit, and Microsoft Build when it's in Seattle. Also check out the monthly Allen Institute colloquiums and UW's AI research presentations. Seattle AI investors actually attend these, unlike consumer tech events.

Connect with portfolio founders from Seattle AI companies that raised recently. LinkedIn search for founders at Orca Security, Bento, Algorithmia (before acquisition), or newer AI companies. They'll tell you which funds understand technical AI versus which just funded AI because it was trendy in 2023.

Organize due diligence materials in an Ellty data room including your model cards, training data documentation, and compute infrastructure plans. Seattle AI investors will dig deep into your technical approach during diligence. Have detailed model performance metrics, dataset provenance, and infrastructure costs ready from day one.

Understand local pace because AI deals take 8-12 weeks in Seattle versus 4-6 weeks for typical SaaS. Investors need technical diligence on your models, often involving outside AI experts or their portfolio CTOs. Don't expect term sheets after two meetings. Seattle AI investors move deliberately, especially after the 2023 hype cycle.

Seattle-specific AI considerations

Seattle AI investors strongly prefer companies with ex-Microsoft or ex-Amazon technical founders. The talent signal matters more here than almost anywhere else. If your founding team doesn't have FAANG AI experience, you need exceptional research credentials or paying enterprise customers to compensate.

The enterprise AI market is extremely strong in Seattle because of Microsoft's partnership ecosystem. If you're building developer tools, AI infrastructure, or enterprise AI applications, Seattle investors can connect you to Fortune 500 pilots faster than SF investors can. Consumer AI apps struggle here unless you have millions of users.

Compute costs are brutal and Seattle investors know it. Don't hide your burn rate or pretend you can train models for $50K. They've seen the AWS bills from their portfolio companies. Be honest about compute needs and show a path to reducing costs as you scale. Most successful Seattle AI companies spend 40-60% of seed funding on infrastructure.

20 top AI investors in Seattle

1. Madrona Venture Group

Seattle's premier AI investor with deep technical team and track record backing AI infrastructure before it was trendy.

• Recent Deals: Orca Security $550M Series C at $1.8B valuation (AI-powered cloud security, 2021), Algorithmia acquisition by DataRobot (ML deployment platform, 2021), Textio $62.8M total raised (augmented writing AI, 2019), Highspot $200M Series E (AI sales enablement, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Matt McIlwain
• Sector Focus: Enterprise AI, ML infrastructure, AI developer tools, computer vision, NLP applications
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B, growth
• Office Location: 999 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
• Website: madrona.com

2. Gradient Ventures

Google's AI fund with Seattle office exclusively backing AI/ML companies with technical founders from top research labs.

• Recent Deals: Rasa $26M Series B (conversational AI platform, 2020), Snorkel AI $85M Series C (data labeling platform, 2021), Weights & Biases $135M Series C (ML experiment tracking, 2022), several undisclosed Seattle AI infrastructure deals (2024-2025)
• LinkedIn: Darian Shirazi
• Sector Focus: ML infrastructure, AI developer tools, MLOps platforms, computer vision, NLP research commercialization
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Seattle office at 601 N 34th Street
• Website: gradient.com

3. Voyager Capital

Pacific Northwest fund with mixed AI track record, learned hard lessons from Convoy shutdown but still active.

• Recent Deals: Convoy $260M Series D before shutdown (AI logistics, 2022), Lexop $10M Series A (AI-powered debt collections, 2024), Shelf Engine $41M Series B (demand forecasting AI, 2023), Lightstep acquisition by ServiceNow (observability with ML, 2021)
• LinkedIn: Erik Benson
• Sector Focus: Enterprise AI applications, supply chain AI, business process automation, cautious on pure AI plays
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 1201 3rd Avenue, Suite 4800, Seattle, WA 98101
• Website: voyagercapital.com

4. Founders' Co-op

Seattle's most active pre-seed fund, backs AI technical founders before they have products built.

• Recent Deals: Cinder $5.2M seed (trust & safety AI platform, 2022), several undisclosed AI developer tool companies (2024-2025), Ockam $14.6M Series A (secure AI infrastructure, 2021)
• LinkedIn: Chris DeVore
• Sector Focus: AI developer tools, ML infrastructure, AI security, technical AI infrastructure
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, seed
• Office Location: 320 Westlake Avenue N, Seattle, WA 98109
• Website: founderscoop.com

5. Frazier Ventures

Healthcare-focused fund backing medical imaging AI, diagnostics AI, and clinical decision support platforms.

• Recent Deals: Arterys acquisition by Tempus (medical imaging AI, 2021), Imagen Technologies Series B (cardiovascular AI, 2022), PathAI $165M Series C (pathology AI platform, 2021), Whiterabbit.ai Series A (dental AI, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Patrick Heron
• Sector Focus: Medical imaging AI, diagnostics AI, clinical decision support, drug discovery AI
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: 601 Union Street, Suite 3200, Seattle, WA 98101
• Website: frazierventures.com

6. Amplify Partners

SF-based with Seattle office, backs AI infrastructure and developer tools for ML workflows exclusively.

• Recent Deals: Weights & Biases Series B (MLOps platform, 2020), Tecton $100M Series C (feature store platform, 2022), Hex Series B (collaborative data workspace with AI, 2022), Snorkel AI Series B (data labeling, 2020)
• LinkedIn: Paul Martino
• Sector Focus: MLOps platforms, AI developer tools, data infrastructure for ML, feature stores
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Seattle office at 2815 2nd Avenue
• Website: amplifypartners.com

7. Allen Institute for AI (AI2) Incubator

Non-profit incubator backing Seattle AI research commercialization, produces technical founders building real AI.

• Recent Deals: Semantic Scholar (AI research tool, ongoing), Aristo (question answering AI, research project), EvolveAI seed (NLP platform, 2023), several research commercialization projects annually
• LinkedIn: Oren Etzioni
• Sector Focus: NLP research, AI for scientific discovery, knowledge graphs, AI safety research
• Stage Focus: Incubation, pre-seed
• Office Location: 2157 N Northlake Way, Seattle, WA 98103
• Website: allenai.org

8. Flying Fish Partners

Early-stage Seattle fund backing AI infrastructure with technical diligence from ex-Amazon engineers.

• Recent Deals: Ockam $14.6M Series A (secure AI infrastructure, 2021), Algorithmia before DataRobot acquisition (ML deployment, 2018), several undisclosed AI security companies (2024-2025)
• LinkedIn: Jim Alberg
• Sector Focus: AI infrastructure, ML security, AI developer tools, model deployment platforms
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: 1301 5th Avenue, Suite 1600, Seattle, WA 98101
• Website: flyingfishvc.com

9. Greylock Partners

Backs enterprise AI platforms, invested in Seattle companies building AI for developers and businesses.

• Recent Deals: Abnormal Security $250M Series D (email security AI, 2022), Coda $100M Series D (collaborative docs with AI, 2021), Snyk $530M Series E (security AI for developers, 2021) - evaluates Seattle AI deals
• LinkedIn: Sarah Guo
• Sector Focus: Enterprise AI platforms, AI for developers, security AI, productivity AI
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: Menlo Park, CA (active in Seattle)
• Website: greylock.com

10. NEA (New Enterprise Associates)

Multi-stage fund active in Seattle AI infrastructure and enterprise AI applications.

• Recent Deals: DataRobot $300M Series G (automated ML platform, 2021), Nauto Series C (autonomous vehicle AI, 2019), Algorithmia before DataRobot acquisition (ML deployment, 2019)
• LinkedIn: Tony Florence
• Sector Focus: Enterprise AI, autonomous systems, ML platforms, AI-powered analytics
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: Menlo Park, CA (backs Seattle companies)
• Website: nea.com

11. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)

AI fund that backs foundational models and enterprise AI infrastructure, evaluates Seattle technical teams.

• Recent Deals: OpenAI multiple rounds (foundational models, 2019-2023), Character.AI $150M Series A (conversational AI, 2022), Replit $97M Series B (AI-powered coding, 2022)
• LinkedIn: Anjney Midha
• Sector Focus: Foundational models, AI applications, developer tools with AI, generative AI
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B, growth
• Office Location: Menlo Park, CA (invests in Seattle)
• Website: a16z.com

12. PSL Ventures

Playground Global's Seattle presence backing AI robotics and computer vision startups.

• Recent Deals: Bossa Nova Robotics Series B before shutdown (retail inventory AI, 2019), Canvas Technology acquisition by Amazon (warehouse robotics AI, 2019), several undisclosed robotics AI deals
• LinkedIn: Peter Barrett
• Sector Focus: Robotics AI, computer vision, edge AI, autonomous systems
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Office Location: Seattle, WA (specific address not public)
• Website: pslventures.com

13. Maveron

Consumer-focused fund that backed AI-powered recommendation engines and personalization platforms.

• Recent Deals: OfferUp Series B (marketplace with recommendation AI, 2016), Zulily before QVC acquisition (personalization AI, 2014), Julep Beauty (AI-powered beauty recommendations, 2015)
• LinkedIn: Dan Levitan
• Sector Focus: Consumer AI, recommendation engines, personalization platforms, retail AI
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: 800 5th Avenue, Suite 4100, Seattle, WA 98104
• Website: maveron.com

14. Trilogy Equity Partners

Growth equity for profitable AI companies heading toward exit, backs ML platforms with revenue.

• Recent Deals: Apptio growth rounds before Vista acquisition (IT spend optimization with ML, 2018), Smartsheet growth investment (workflow automation with AI, 2019), several undisclosed AI SaaS companies
• LinkedIn: Ian Sigalow
• Sector Focus: Enterprise AI SaaS, ML-powered analytics, AI business intelligence platforms
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth equity
• Office Location: 1420 5th Avenue, Suite 2020, Seattle, WA 98101
• Website: trilogy.com

15. Susa Ventures

Data infrastructure specialist backing Seattle ML platforms and AI developer tools.

• Recent Deals: Robinhood Series B (ML-driven trading platform, 2014), Flexport Series A (supply chain with ML, 2015), Andela Series B (talent marketplace with AI matching, 2016)
• LinkedIn: Leo Polovets
• Sector Focus: Data infrastructure for ML, AI developer tools, ML-powered marketplaces
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Office Location: SF (backs Seattle companies)
• Website: susaventures.com

16. Two Sigma Ventures

Quantitative fund backing AI companies with defensible data moats and technical founding teams.

• Recent Deals: Samsara $300M Series F (IoT with predictive AI, 2020), Vise $65M Series B (AI wealth management, 2021), Kensho acquisition by S&P Global (financial AI platform, 2018)
• LinkedIn: Villi Iltchev
• Sector Focus: AI with proprietary data, ML for financial services, predictive analytics AI
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: NYC (invests in Seattle)
• Website: twosigmaventures.com

17. Addition

Lee Fixel's fund that backed OpenAI and evaluates Seattle AI companies building foundational models.

• Recent Deals: OpenAI $10B investment (foundational models, 2023), Stripe Series I (payments with fraud AI, 2023), Ramp $750M Series D (spend management with AI, 2022)
• LinkedIn: Lee Fixel
• Sector Focus: Foundational AI models, enterprise AI infrastructure, AI-powered fintech
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Office Location: NYC (evaluates Seattle deals)
• Website: addition.com

18. Cascade Angels

Active Seattle angel group that writes early checks into AI startups before institutional rounds.

• Recent Deals: Multiple undisclosed pre-seed AI deals (2024-2025), early investments in Seattle ML infrastructure companies, co-invests with Madrona and Voyager frequently
• LinkedIn: Cascade Angels Network
• Sector Focus: Enterprise AI, ML infrastructure, AI developer tools, technical AI founders
• Stage Focus: Pre-seed, seed
• Office Location: Seattle, WA (members throughout region)
• Website: cascadeangels.com

19. Cercano Management

Vertical SaaS investor backing AI-powered tools for construction, real estate, and field services.

• Recent Deals: Procore $75M Series E (construction platform with AI, 2016), ServiceTitan $165M Series D (field service with ML routing, 2018), BuildingConnected Series B (AI bid matching, 2017)
• LinkedIn: Brad Jones
• Sector Focus: Vertical SaaS with AI, construction AI, predictive maintenance, computer vision for field work
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B
• Office Location: Bellevue, WA
• Website: cercanomanagement.com

20. Ignition Partners

Enterprise software fund backing AI-powered business applications for Seattle and Pacific Northwest markets.

• Recent Deals: Highspot $200M Series E (AI sales enablement, 2023), Textio growth investment (augmented writing AI, 2019), several undisclosed enterprise AI deals
• LinkedIn: John Connors
• Sector Focus: Enterprise AI applications, sales AI, productivity AI, business intelligence with ML
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Office Location: 601 Union Street, Suite 5500, Seattle, WA 98101
• Website: ignitionpartners.com

Start tracking your Seattle AI investor outreach

These 20 investors closed Seattle AI deals in 2025-2026. Before you reach out to Seattle AI funds, understand they're extremely technical and skeptical after the 2023 hype cycle. You need more than a demo and a pitch deck.

Upload your deck to Ellty and create unique tracking links for each Seattle investor. You'll see exactly which technical architecture slides they review and how long they spend on your model performance benchmarks. Seattle AI investors typically spend 5-10 minutes on decks from serious technical teams versus 30 seconds on ChatGPT wrappers. Track engagement so you know who's actually interested.

When Seattle AI investors ask for technical documentation, share an Ellty data room with your model cards, training data provenance, compute infrastructure plans, and benchmark results. They'll dig into these during diligence. Having everything organized shows you understand what serious AI investors need to evaluate your company.

Common questions

Do I need to be based in Seattle to raise from Seattle AI investors?

No, but Seattle-based AI companies get funded faster because investors can verify technical talent more easily. Remote AI startups need stronger credentials - ex-FAANG founders, published research, or paying enterprise customers before Seattle VCs engage seriously.

How does Seattle compare to SF for AI fundraising?

Seattle has fewer pure AI funds but stronger enterprise AI ecosystem through Microsoft partnerships. SF has more capital for foundational models and consumer AI. Seattle seed rounds average $3.8M versus SF's $5.2M for AI companies. Choose Seattle if you're building enterprise AI, SF if you're training foundational models.

What's the average seed round size for Seattle AI companies?

$3M-6M versus $1.5M-3M for non-AI Seattle startups. AI companies need more capital for compute, data acquisition, and technical talent. Seattle investors understand this but expect you to show efficient spend on infrastructure, not wasteful cloud bills.

Should I raise locally or go straight to SF/NYC for AI?

Raise seed in Seattle if you're building enterprise AI, ML infrastructure, or AI developer tools. Go to SF for foundational models, consumer AI, or generative AI applications. Seattle works better for B2B AI with enterprise revenue potential. Save SF for later rounds when you need $50M+.

Do Seattle AI investors expect in-person meetings?

First meetings happen on Zoom but technical diligence requires in-person sessions. Budget for 2-3 Seattle trips if you're remote. Seattle AI investors want to meet your technical team, not just the CEO. Bring your founding engineers to pitch meetings.

What AI sectors get funded most in Seattle?

Enterprise AI applications, ML infrastructure, AI developer tools, computer vision for business use cases, and healthcare AI. Consumer AI and foundational models struggle here unless you have exceptional technical teams from top research labs. Seattle strongly prefers B2B AI with clear enterprise buyers.

How technical do Seattle AI investors get during diligence?

Extremely technical. Expect questions about model architecture, training data provenance, compute efficiency, inference costs, and benchmark comparisons. Many Seattle AI investors bring technical advisors or portfolio CTOs to evaluate your approach. Don't pitch here if you can't defend your technical decisions in depth.