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57 Comments

I hand-verified 115 UK pre-seed investors — here's the honest data

Hey IH — first post here. I've been building small, useful data products for UK founders, and my first one just launched: a hand-verified list of 115 UK pre-seed investors.

The build: I went investor by investor and verified cheque size, stage, sector, SEIS/EIS usage, and whether they lead or only follow. Took about a week. The uncomfortable finding: a lot of "pre-seed" lists are fiction. Websites say pre-seed; the last ten deals say £1m+ minimums. Firms drift upmarket, partners leave, nobody updates the website.

The honest bit I'm most unsure about: for 62 of the 115 I found a real founder-facing contact route (named partner, fund email, application form). For 53, there isn't one publicly available — and I shipped those as blanks rather than making something up. Would love this community's take: is a list with honest blanks more or less useful than one that fills every row?

It's £79 on Gumroad (30% off this week with LAUNCH30), and it's live on Product Hunt now.

Happy to share the methodology in detail if anyone's doing similar verification work.

— Lotus

Product: https://lotusresearch.gumroad.com/l/uk-preseed-investor-hit-list (£79, 30% off with LAUNCH30)
Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/uk-pre-seed-investor-hit-list?launch=uk-pre-seed-investor-hit-list

on September 23, 2026
  1. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  2. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  3. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  4. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  5. 1

    Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

  6. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  7. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  8. 1

    Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

  9. 1

    Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

  10. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  11. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  12. 1

    Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?

  13. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  14. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  15. 1

    Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

  16. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  17. 1

    Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

  18. 1

    Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

  19. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  20. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  21. 1

    Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?

  22. 1

    Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?

  23. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  24. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  25. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  26. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  27. 1

    Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

  28. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  29. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  30. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  31. 1

    Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?

  32. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  33. 1

    Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

  34. 1

    Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?

  35. 1

    Really good writeup, thanks for sharing it. What's the next thing you're planning to try here?

  36. 1

    Love this angle. Building Xstream4K right now so this hits close to home — what made you look into it in the first place?

  37. 1

    Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

  38. 1

    Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

  39. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  40. 1

    Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?

  41. 1

    Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

  42. 1

    Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?

  43. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  44. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  45. 1

    Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

  46. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  47. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  48. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  49. 1

    Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?

  50. 1

    Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?

  51. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  52. 1

    Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.

  53. 1

    Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?

  54. 1

    Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?

  55. 1

    Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?

  56. 1

    Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?

  57. 1

    Really solid approach — I'm juggling something similar myself (building Xstream4K on the side), what's been the hardest part for you so far?