What is the best way to get a list of top hardware VC funds (approx. 30) for seed or round A?

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We have a hardware startup with 300K revenue in 3 months of existence and no previous investments; ready to scale for 50M valuation just in 12 months.

We just need a list to start sending investment presentations in two weeks and do not have time to do a proper screening.

Investments

Raising Venture Capital

Austin Church answered

I'm not trying to be a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian, but can you afford to NOT do proper screening on VCs? If you're averaging $100K/month in revenue, then you'll be the pick of the litter, assuming your pro forma, etc., add up for the investors. A bad fit in an investor can hurt you just as much as a bad fit in an executive, or a dishonest manufacturer, or a lazy employee.

Money typically equals acceleration. So a dollar from Investor A might be worth more than a dollar from Investor B if Investor A has domain expertise, can make introductions, or can set up strategic partnerships. You don't want any ole investor. You want strategic investors.

The thin-slicing needed to decide who is more or less strategic must be done by an executive or founder who knows the company's needs intimately. Someone else can't do your dating for you.

That being said, you could delegate the initial research phase. Hire a virtual assistant to compile a list of the top 200 VCs in the United States. Build a spreadsheet listing their portfolio companies. Use Techcrunch and Angel List to identify the companies that companies that are hardware startups. Now you can make a shortlist of target VCs. This process will have the added bonus of providing your lead-in when contacting VCs: "We noticed that you invested in [such-and-such hardware startup]. Our company, XXX, has created proprietary hardware that helps [your customers] with [customers' problems]. We're going after [market size] because [market potential]."

If you want to discuss in more detail how you can save time while creating a high-quality list, give me a call.

Cheers,
Austin

Nefin John answered

1) Crunchbase is a great place.
http://data.crunchbase.com/ , There is link to export the Excel worksheet (requires registration).
And they have the industry, year, fund rounds, amount, period ..tons of information.
The data may not be accurate but you would still get more than what you have asked for.

2) Quora - https://www.quora.com/Which-angels-VCs-will-fund-hardware-startups

3) https://angel.co/hardware/investors

Sharique Nisar answered

Congrats on your recent success. Hopefully, with proper planning you will go a long way.
At this stage, you need a consultant/research company who can help you find the right contact with each VCs and then a productive dialogue can be initiated.
I know few who can be of help to you. If interested dont hesitate to reach out to me.

Josh Jermaine answered

I would call me and work with me possibly offline and I can reach out to my network. You DO NOT want to spam VC's. I am good friends with the ex-head of the innovations lab at HP and we always have an interest in amazing hardware.