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Q2 2026 · Pre-Seed
Earliest-stage technical startups — typically before any institutional round. Engineering activity at this stage is the clearest leading indicator because there is little press, no fundraise announcement, and few public breadcrumbs other than the code itself. Currently tracking 6 pre-seed startups across 6 sectors. daintreehq leads with 2596 commits over 14 days (+92%).
Investor insight
At pre-seed, the GitHub commit graph is often the only public signal of product velocity. Founders are heads-down shipping. A pre-seed startup showing sustained engineering acceleration over a multi-week window is a high-conviction outbound target before the seed round is live.
| # | Company | Stage | Geo | Commits (14d) | Change | Contributors | Contrib. Growth | New Repos | Signal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | daintreehqView signal profile → | Pre-seed | Unknown | 2,596 | +92% | 5 | +0% | 1 | Framework migration |
| 2 | zapplyjobs Free job boards and career resources for students & new grads View signal profile → | Pre-seed | US | 1,692 | +23% | 3 | +400% | 0 | Engineering hiring burst |
| 3 | zapplyjobs Free job boards and career resources for students & new grads View signal profile → | Pre-seed | US | 1,686 | -3% | 3 | +400% | 0 | Engineering hiring burst |
| 4 | zapplyjobs Free job boards and career resources for students & new grads View signal profile → | Pre-seed | US | 1,805 | -8% | 3 | +400% | 0 | Engineering hiring burst |
| 5 | ohrrpgceView signal profile → | Pre-seed | Unknown | 1 | -94% | 3 | +240% | 0 | Engineering hiring burst |
| 6 | elimu-ai Free open-source learning software for out-of-school children 🚀✨ View signal profile → | Pre-seed | Unknown | 2 | -96% | 4 | +40% | 0 | Framework migration |
Sorted by commit velocity change (14-day window). Stage from contributor count + enrichment data. Last updated Q2 2026.
The free Acceleration Watch: five venture-backed teams accelerating on the engineering signal, translated into plain English — 21 to 47 days before the deck circulates. No code-reading, no card.
In Q2 2026, daintreehq (Developer Tools) leads pre-seed startups with 2596 commits over a rolling 14-day window (+92% change) and 5 active contributors. Across all 6 tracked pre-seed startups, the average 14-day commit velocity is 1297 commits. The dominant engineering signal pattern is "Engineering hiring burst".
At pre-seed, the GitHub commit graph is often the only public signal of product velocity. Founders are heads-down shipping. A pre-seed startup showing sustained engineering acceleration over a multi-week window is a high-conviction outbound target before the seed round is live.
In Q2 2026, the top sectors by pre-seed startup count are AI & Machine Learning (1), Developer Tools (1), Healthcare (1), EdTech (1), Robotics (1). Each sector page has its own ranked list and sector-specific context.
Stage is derived from contributor count, team-size enrichment data, and funding history where publicly available. Stage classifications use broad buckets (Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A/B, Growth) to provide meaningful sample sizes. These are estimates — always verify independently before any investment action.