Aurora Forge

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Dec 24, 2025 ·

About

Forging Innovation to Transform Tomorrow.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Sep 1, 2025	Price.com	$12.0M Venture Round	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Social Starts, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Baron Davis, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson
Aug 1, 2021	Poppi	$14.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, 7BC Venture Capital, Kevin Hartz, Acrew Capital, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Big Idea Ventures, Bono, Casa Verde Capital, Craft Ventures, Curie.Bio, Curious Capital, FJ Labs, Griffin Gaming Partners, Hoxton Ventures, Intuition Capital, Motivate Ventures, Muchmore Ventures, NewView Capital, Night Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Operator Partners, Practical Venture Capital, QueensBridge Venture Partners, REMUS Capital, Serena Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Social Starts, SOSV, Sound Ventures, Thirty Five Ventures, Timespan Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Vayner RSE, Vera Equity, Version One Ventures, Visionaire Ventures, VNTR Capital, WndrCo LLC, Abe Burns, Anthony Saleh, Baron Davis, Brian Sugar, Bryce Hall, Casey Neistat, Gee Roberson, Gokul Rajaram, Griffin Johnson, Ian Borthwick, Jimmy Donaldson, Kevin Hart, Logan Paul, Mark Cuban, Mark Pincus, Pir Granoff, Rich Miner, William Adams
Jul 1, 2021	Popshop Live	$20.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, Abstract Ventures, Kevin Hartz, Accel, Advancit Capital, AirAngels, AIX Ventures, Alt Capital, Alumni Ventures, Animal Capital, Antler, Ascension Ventures, Banana Capital, B Capital Group, Benchmark, Bling Capital, Camber Creek, Canvas Ventures, Defy Partners, Dreamers VC, Earl Grey Capital, Equity Alliance, Feenix Ventures, First Round Capital, Floodgate, Forerunner Ventures, Founders Fund, Greylock, Andrew Wheeler, David Krane, Hoxton Ventures, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, Kearny Jackson, Kleiner Perkins, Lakestar, Long Journey Ventures, MaC Venture Capital, Makers Fund, Malex Enterprises, Mantis VC, Menlo Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Mischief Venture Capital, Oak HC/FT, Offline Ventures, Operator Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pareto Holdings, Pioneer Fund, Practical Venture Capital, Presight Capital, REMUS Capital, Roosh Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Smash Capital, Social Starts, Spark Capital, Stripe, Sunset Ventures, TQ Ventures, Trucks Venture Capital, Trust Fund, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Witz Ventures, Y Combinator, YLEM, Aaron Levie, Alison Pincus, Arash Ferdowsi, Bryce Hall, Casey Neistat, Dan Wright, David Petersen, Eric Ries, Frederic Kerrest, Gordon Wintrob, Griffin Johnson, Jared Leto, Jeremy Cai, Jon Runyan, Manuel Bronstein, Marissa Mayer, Mathilde Collin, Mattia Astori, Max Mullen, Paul Rios, Ryan Carlson, Ryan Chan, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Steve Stoute, Tom Williams, Tony Hawk, Tony Xu, Troy Carter, Zack Kanter
Jun 1, 2021	Imburse	$12.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Social Starts, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Baron Davis, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson
Jun 1, 2021	Ellipsis Health	$26.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, 8090 Industries, 8VC, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Chapter One Ventures, Craft Ventures, Creandum, Edison Ventures, Eunoia Capital Partners, Fika Ventures, Flucas Ventures, General Catalyst, Hoxton Ventures, Lakestar, LGF, LiveOak Venture Partners, MaC Venture Capital, Next47, Oak HC/FT, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Roosh Ventures, Seven Seven Six, SJF Ventures, Social Capital, Social Starts, Sound Ventures, The Hit Forge, Thirdbase Capital, Tribe Capital, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Weekend Fund, WorkLife Ventures, Austin Ogilvie, Baron Davis, Bradley Horowitz, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson, Jeff Morris, Jeff Seibert, Jim Pallotta, Jon Runyan, Kunal Shah, Martin Li, Michael Ma, Peter Ackerson, Ryan Chan, Sahin Boydas, Shervin Pishevar, Sung ho Choi, Valentin Gui, Wayne Chang
Jun 1, 2021	Autograph	$35.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Latitud, Lazerow Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Social Starts, UpHonest Capital, Velvet Sea Ventures, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Baron Davis, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson, Michael Shoemaker
May 1, 2021	Jerry	$28.0M Series B	—	01 Advisors, 50 Partners, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Big Sky Health, Bow Capital, Buckley Ventures, CapitalX, Coinbase Ventures, Connect Ventures, Creative Juice, DVx Ventures, ENIAC Ventures, Eunoia Capital Partners, Eurazeo, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Expa, Exponent Founders Capital, Firstminute Capital, Freestyle Capital, Future Africa, General Catalyst, Goodwater Capital, Hoxton Ventures, i/o Ventures, Launch Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, Luno Expeditions, Niu Ventures, Norrsken VC, Oak HC/FT, Outrun Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Pebblebed, Plug & Play Ventures, Practical Venture Capital, Precursor Ventures, QED Investors, Quona Capital, REMUS Capital, Social Starts, Stellar Capital, Stride VC, Target Global, Tekton Ventures, The Community Fund, UpHonest Capital, Valar Ventures, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Alexis Le-Quoc, Andre Mohamed, Baron Davis, Brad Garlinghouse, Brandon Krieg, Bryce Hall, Charles Delingpole, David de Picciotto, Eric Hahn, Eric Nadalin, Gabriel Weinberg, Griffin Johnson, Immad Akhund, Iqram Magdon-Ismail, Jason Gardner, Jason Goldberg, Jean-Sébastien Wallez, Johan Lorenzen, Louis Beryl, Oliver Jung, Raffael Johnen, Richard Chen, Tom Blomfield, Trevor Noah
Apr 1, 2021	Pearpop	$6.0M Seed	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Casa Verde Capital, Evolution VC Partners, Firstminute Capital, Flucas Ventures, GE Ventures, Hoxton Ventures, Shawn Modarresi, Motley Fool Ventures, Next47, Oak HC/FT, Marc van den Berg, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Sacramento Angels, Seven Seven Six, Social Starts, Sound Ventures, Thirty Five Ventures, TQ Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Vayner RSE, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Alex Rodriguez, Work-Bench, Baron Davis, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson, Jay Z, Jimmy Donaldson, Kevin Hart, Mark Cuban, Michael Rapino, Peter Barris, Rich Miner, Seth Goldman
Mar 1, 2021	Price.com	$10.0M Seed	—	01 Advisors, 10100, 125 Ventures, 75 & Sunny, A Capital, Kevin Hartz, Addition, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Astia, Bain Capital, Bedrock Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Betaworks Ventures, BoxGroup, C2 Investment, CapitalX, Cedar Capital Group, Chemistry VC, Convective Capital, Craft Ventures, Daffy, E1 Ventures, Emergent Ventures, Factorial, Fuel Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Immeasurable, JLL Spark, Kepler Operator’s Fund, Launchpad Capital, Ludlow Ventures, Lux Capital, Meron Capital, Oak HC/FT, Otherwise Fund, Practical Venture Capital, PS Investments, Ravelin Capital, REMUS Capital, Seae Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Shrug Capital, Social Starts, Soma Capital, Sound Ventures, Starship Ventures, Summit Partners, Supply Change Capital, Thirty Five Ventures, TLV Partners, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Vibe Capital, Visionaire Ventures, Vista Equity Partners, Anthony Pompliano, Augusto Marietti, Baron Davis, Brad Bitler, Bryce Hall, Carmelo Anthony (Melo7 Tech Partners), Charles Zedlewski, Christian Oestlien, Clement Benoit, Dylan Field, Evan Moore, Florian Douetteau, Greg Brockman, Griffin Johnson, Haroon Mokhtarzada, Jonathan Wasserstrum, Leah Busque, Logan Paul, Mark Cuban, Mark Wahlberg, Moshe Lifschitz, Ronny Conway, Sam Altman, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Thibaud Elziere, Zach Segal
Nov 1, 2018	Genies	$10.0M Venture Round	—	01 Advisors, 1984 Ventures, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Amplo, Angelic Ventures, Animal Capital, Anthemis Group, Bascom Ventures, Battery Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, Bow Capital, BoxGroup, Buckley Ventures, Canaan Partners, Caravela Capital, Catapult Capital, Cedar Capital Group, Citi Ventures, CoinFund, Contrary Capital, Cowboy Ventures, Ali Tamaseb, DGF Investimentos, DN Capital, Draper Associates, DVx Ventures, Eunoia Capital Partners, Evolve VC, ff Venture Capital, First Round Capital, Goodwater Capital, Haun Ventures, HOF Capital, Honey Island Capital, Hoxton Ventures, i/o Ventures, Lakestar, Launch Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, Lobby Capital, Mayfield, Melo7 Tech Partners, LLC, Motier Ventures, Nascent, New Enterprise Associates, Next Play Ventures, NFX, Niu Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Oak HC/FT, Obvious Ventures, Plug & Play Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Practical Venture Capital, Redpoint Ventures, REMUS Capital, Sierra Ventures, Gary Benitt, Social Starts, Spark Capital, SparkLabs Group, SV Angel, The General Partnership, The Hit Forge, Theory Ventures, Turtle Ventures, Uncork Capital, Underscore VC, Unpopular Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Urban Innovation Fund, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, White Star Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, Baron Davis, Bo Peabody, Brandon Krieg, Bryce Hall, Ed Baker, George Hu, Griffin Johnson, Halle Tecco, Immad Akhund, Jay Vijayan, Marcus Segal, Matt Carbonara, Mo El-Bibany, Oliver Jung, Sean Park, Shervin Pishevar, Steve Barham, Tom Williams
Oct 1, 2017	SnapShip	$2.0M Seed	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Social Starts, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Baron Davis, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson
Jul 1, 2017	Stratifyd	$7.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Fusion Fund, Hoxton Ventures, Oak HC/FT, One Planet Group, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Social Starts, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Baron Davis, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson
Jun 1, 2017	Grabr	$3.0M Seed	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, A* Capital (A Star Capital), AirAngels, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Boost VC, Canvas Ventures, DCM, Deciens Capital, Foundation Capital, General Catalyst, Golden Ventures, Graph Ventures, Hambro Perks, Hoxton Ventures, NFX, Norwest Venture Partners, Oak HC/FT, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, SignalFire, Social Starts, Tekton Ventures, Tencent Games, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Y Combinator, Baron Davis, Bradley Horowitz, Bryce Hall, Charlie Songhurst, Gokul Rajaram, Griffin Johnson, Javier Olivan, Michael Whitfield
Jan 1, 2016	Stratifyd	$3.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Fusion Fund, Hoxton Ventures, Oak HC/FT, One Planet Group, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Social Starts, TSVC Capital, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Baron Davis, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson
Feb 1, 2015	Stratifyd	$1.0M Seed	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, AIX Ventures, Animal Capital, Foothill Ventures (formerly Tsingyuan Ventures), Fusion Fund, Hoxton Ventures, Oak HC/FT, One Planet Group, Practical Venture Capital, REMUS Capital, Social Starts, TSVC Capital, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Visionaire Ventures, Baron Davis, Bryce Hall, Griffin Johnson

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Aurora Forge.

Katrina Barillova Koop

Managing Director

Leadership Team

Key people at Aurora Forge.

Katrina Barillova Koop

Managing Director

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Aurora Forge is a mission-driven investment firm focused on nurturing seed-stage startups primarily in the HealthTech and GovTech sectors. Its mission is to empower visionary entrepreneurs by providing direct funding, operational support, and expert coaching to accelerate growth and create impactful, profitable companies that address significant global challenges. The firm leverages a network of experienced founders, advisors, and industry leaders to help startups refine business models, drive customer acquisition, and scale effectively. Aurora Forge also emphasizes generating social capital by dedicating a portion of its revenue to community care, aiming to create a positive ecosystem where success benefits broader society[1][2][3][4].

Origin Story

Founded in 2021 by three industry veterans—Ricky Caplin, Dr. Newton Howard, and Ross Mason—Aurora Forge emerged from a shared vision to harness cutting-edge technology for transformative impact. The founders bring diverse expertise: Caplin is a seasoned tech entrepreneur and chairman of Caplin Family Offices; Howard is a professor and researcher in computational neurology and brain sciences; Mason is a Silicon Valley veteran with a background in venture philanthropy. Their combined experience in HealthTech, GovTech, and innovation ecosystems shaped Aurora Forge’s focus on early-stage startups with breakthrough technologies. The firm’s evolution reflects a commitment to not only funding but also actively supporting startups through shared operations and mentorship, with a strong philanthropic ethos embedded in its business model[1][2][4].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Focuses exclusively on seed-stage startups in HealthTech and GovTech, combining direct funding with operational support and expert coaching.
Network Strength: Access to a broad advisory board of industry leaders, healthcare executives, and academic experts providing deep domain knowledge and mentorship.
Track Record: Founders and advisors have been involved in multiple successful exits and influential companies globally, bringing proven expertise in scaling startups.
Operating Support: Offers shared operational services to help startups refine business models, accelerate revenue growth, and avoid common pitfalls.
Social Impact Commitment: Pledges to donate a majority of profits to charity and build an ecosystem where business success translates into social capital and community benefit[1][2][4][6].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Aurora Forge rides the growing trend of mission-driven venture capital that integrates profit with social impact, particularly in sectors like HealthTech and GovTech where technological innovation can address critical societal needs. The timing is favorable due to increasing demand for digital health solutions, government technology modernization, and data-driven healthcare improvements. Market forces such as rising healthcare costs, aging populations, and the need for secure government services create strong tailwinds. By focusing on early-stage ventures, Aurora Forge influences the ecosystem by de-risking innovation, providing strategic guidance, and fostering a community of responsible innovators who prioritize both technological advancement and societal benefit[1][2][3][4].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Aurora Forge is positioned to expand its portfolio by continuing to back disruptive startups that align with its dual mission of innovation and impact. Trends such as AI in healthcare, personalized medicine, and digital government services will likely shape its investment focus. The firm’s commitment to social capital and philanthropy may increasingly differentiate it in a competitive venture landscape, potentially inspiring similar models. As it scales, Aurora Forge’s influence could grow beyond funding to become a key ecosystem builder, shaping how technology ventures integrate commercial success with community upliftment, thus fulfilling its vision of forging a healthier, more secure world[1][2][4].

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Focuses exclusively on seed-stage startups in HealthTech and GovTech, combining direct funding with operational support and expert coaching.
Network Strength: Access to a broad advisory board of industry leaders, healthcare executives, and academic experts providing deep domain knowledge and mentorship.
Track Record: Founders and advisors have been involved in multiple successful exits and influential companies globally, bringing proven expertise in scaling startups.
Operating Support: Offers shared operational services to help startups refine business models, accelerate revenue growth, and avoid common pitfalls.
Social Impact Commitment: Pledges to donate a majority of profits to charity and build an ecosystem where business success translates into social capital and community benefit[1][2][4][6].