How to build an AI investor shortlist before pre-seed outreach
A long investor list is easy to collect and expensive to work through. A useful shortlist makes the reason for each name explicit. Start with your company's constraints, then check whether each investor belongs in the next conversation.
Write your fundraising brief first
Before searching for names, write down what you are building, who buys it, your evidence of demand, where the company is incorporated and the amount you plan to raise. Separate your target round size from the size of an individual check. An investor may fit one and not the other.
Describe the role of AI concretely. Infrastructure, a developer tool and an application sold to hospitals can attract different investors even if all three use the same underlying models. Include constraints such as a solo founding team or a planned incorporation change; these affect fit more than a generic AI label.
Check stage, geography and thesis independently
Read the fund's own investment thesis, portfolio and application guidance. Record what each source actually says. A seed investment in one company does not prove that the investor accepts pre-seed pitches today. A global portfolio does not prove that every legal entity or operating location is eligible.
Use three outcomes for each field: fits, does not fit, or unknown. Keep the source URL and the date you checked it beside the result. Unknown information is a follow-up question, not a reason to invent a positive match.
Find dated evidence of an actual investment
Look for a company announcement or an investor's own account of a completed investment. Record the company, stage if stated, named investor and announcement date. Distinguish the announcement date from the investment date when the source gives both.
An article about AI, a newly raised fund and a conference appearance can help discover a candidate. None of them alone establishes that the investor recently invested in an AI company. Our research method treats sourced investment activity within 180 days as Active; that is a research convention, not a prediction of available capital.
Check how the investor wants to receive pitches
Use a form, email address or contact invitation published by the investor or fund for founder submissions. An address in an unrelated press release is not automatically a pitch invitation. A portfolio founder's contact information is not the investor's contact channel.
Record any instructions about deck length, stage, geography and introductions. If no official pitch route is available, keep the record as a research candidate. Do not guess an email pattern or treat an old social profile as permission to send a pitch.
Choose a small, explainable first batch
For each name, write one sentence explaining the fit and one question you still need answered. Prioritize the candidates for which you can explain the connection between their actual investments and your company. A short first batch makes it easier to improve your positioning before expanding outreach.
A simple worksheet needs these columns: investor or fund, stage fit, geography, relevant investment, source URL, evidence date, official pitch route, last checked date, open questions and your next action. Keep outreach notes separate from public research and honor corrections or removal requests.
Know what a shortlist cannot promise
An investor can match every public criterion and still decline because of timing, portfolio conflicts, fund allocation or information you cannot observe. Past investment activity does not establish current intent. Use the shortlist to make research more deliberate, not to promise a reply or a funding outcome.
AI Backer Hunt currently offers this research framework and fictional preview records. The live investor directory, paid access and automated research pipeline are not open yet.
Use this as a research checklist, not a promise of financing.
Our research methodology · Explore fictional samples