Earliest funding stage before a formal seed round
Pre-seed is the earliest stage of startup funding, used to validate an idea, build an MVP, or hire founding team members before raising a formal seed round. Pre-seed checks typically range from $50K–$1M and often come from angels, accelerators, or founders' networks.
Y Combinator's $500K standard deal is effectively a pre-seed investment — it gets you to a product and early traction before a seed round.