Top Pre-Seed Startups in September 2026

October 16, 2026
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Ground A ranks among the largest pre-seed rounds of September 2026

Two rankings of September's pre-seed activity put Ground A near the very top. In Eqvista's chart, based on Crunchbase data, Ground A's round ranks fourth out of fifteen. A second overview of the month's top 12 raises places the company third.

Fourth in Eqvista's ranking

Crunchbase lists Ground A's €9.1 million pre-seed financing at $10,579,316. Only Outerlimit ($16.1 million), Haven and Prime Minute ($15 million each) raised more at pre-seed stage during the month. Frontier Computing, DataAgent and Visko follow at $10 million each, and the rest of the top 15 ranges from $8 million down to $5.5 million.

Top pre-seed funded startups in September 2026. Chart: Eqvista. Data: Crunchbase.

Third among the month's top 12 raises

The second overview narrows the field to twelve raises and places Ground A third, behind Outerlimit ($16.1 million) and Hello Haven ($15 million). Frontier Computing and Visko Platform follow at $10 million each, with Feather Robotics, Metacognition and AutoTrust AI completing the top eight.

Where pre-seed capital flowed in September 2026: the top 12 raises.

What the round funds

The financing round was led by Vsquared Ventures, with participation from Quantum Systems and a consortium of venture capital investors and entrepreneurs from the European defence and software industries. It lays the foundation for industrialising the GA 1000, Ground A's laser-based counter-drone system, and for setting up modular series production in Germany.

Founded in January 2026, Ground A moved the GA 1000 from prototype into testing and validation within a few months. Series production is planned for 2027, alongside the company's next financing round.

Read the full press release on Ground A's pre-seed funding