Upfront Ventures

ActiveVenture Capital

Updated: Dec 5, 2025 ·

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Feb 5, 2026	Daytona	$24.0M Series A	FirstMark	Darkmode Ventures, Datadog, e2vc, Eno Reyes, Figma Ventures, Gorkem Yurtseven, Nikita Shamgunov, Pace Capital, Theo Browne
Oct 1, 2025	Pool United	$5.0M Seed	—	01 Advisors, Kevin Hartz, Array Ventures, Asylum Ventures, Craft Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, LAUNCH, Ligature, Long Journey Ventures, Ludlow Ventures, Path Ventures, Tribe Capital, Alex Rodriguez, George Godula, Hiten Shah, John M. Mueller, Julia Hartz, Moshe Lifschitz, Pete Moore, Scott Banister, Zachary Hargreaves
Sep 1, 2025	Reserv	$16.0M Series B	—	Altai Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Beat Ventures, DVx Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Greylock, Lightspeed India Partners, Madrona Ventures, Montage Ventures, QBE Ventures, Social Capital, Trucks Venture Capital, True Ventures, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Do Kwon, Josh Elman, Marc Benioff
Sep 1, 2025	Modern Animal	$46.0M Series D	—	Addition, Atreides Management, Bam Ventures, Highbury Group, O.G. Tech Partners, Redline Capital, True Ventures, Viola Ventures, Walden International, Peter Hunn
Sep 1, 2025	Finary	$30.0M Series B	—	AirAngels, Sequoia Capital, Speedinvest, Witz Ventures, Alexandre Prot, Alexandros Bottenbruch, Didier Valet, Eden Chen, Eric Demuth, Harsh Sinha, James Beshara, Lea- Sophie Cramer, Matthias Wilrich, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Raphael Vullierme, Steve Anavi
Sep 1, 2025	Gravity	$3.0M Seed	—	645 Ventures, Boost VC, Draper Associates, Flex Capital, Foundry Group, Freestyle Capital, Lobby Capital, Recursive Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Marco DeMeireles, Trajectory Ventures, True Ventures, Thomas Noonan
Aug 1, 2025	FORT Robotics	$19.0M Series B	—	1435 Capital Management, Aglae Ventures, Somesh Surapureddi, DFJ, E1 Ventures, Family Office, Future Ventures, Gigafund, GoAhead Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Lakeside Capital, Litquidity Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Malex Enterprises, Mana Ventures, Outliers Fund, Partners Resolute, Social Capital, Space Capital, Starbridge Venture Capital, TCV, Tiger Global Management, UpHonest Capital, Adeel Hussain, Fanny Surjana, Ishani Patel, Louis Beryl, Mark Cuban, Mattia Astori, Priyank Chandra, Rashaun Williams, Richard Cooperstein, Scott Banister, Shane Neman, Siddharth Singhal, Tim Ringel, Vikas Sabnani
Jul 1, 2025	Savvy Wealth	$72.0M Series B	—	Alumni Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Chemistry VC, Collab+Currency, Foundation Capital, Founder Collective, Industry Ventures, North Island Ventures, Rock Ventures, The House Fund, Third Prime, Thrive Capital, Vera Equity, David de Picciotto, Mark Casady, William Wolf, Zachary Hargreaves
Jun 1, 2025	Reserv	$25.0M Series B	—	Altai Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Beat Ventures, DVx Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Greylock, Lightspeed India Partners, Madrona Ventures, Montage Ventures, QBE Ventures, Social Capital, Trucks Venture Capital, True Ventures, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), Do Kwon, Josh Elman, Marc Benioff
May 1, 2025	Lovelace	$16.0M Seed	—	Frederique Dame, Erel Margalit, RRE Ventures, VSC Ventures
May 1, 2025	Tern Travel	$13.0M Series A	—	—
May 1, 2025	Clair	$23.0M Series B	—	AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, FPV Fund, Kleiner Perkins, LGF, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Speedinvest, Thrive Capital, Witz Ventures, Alexandre Prot, Alexandros Bottenbruch, Didier Valet, Eden Chen, Eric Demuth, Harsh Sinha, James Beshara, Michael Moritz, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Raphael Vullierme, Sam Altman, Steve Anavi
May 1, 2025	General Counsel AI	$10.0M Series A	—	Abstract Ventures, Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, AngelCube, ATX Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, CP Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Foundation Capital, Greylock, Human Capital, Inspired Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Klossy, Offline Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pantera Capital, Pioneer Fund, RevTech Ventures, Sherpalo Ventures, Sound Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, Torch Capital, Emily Kramer, Evan Williams, Gokul Rajaram, Guillermo Rauch, Immad Akhund, Jeffrey Wilke, Jonathan Widawski, Karim Atiyeh, Marissa Mayer, Mathilde Collin, Tom Steyer
Apr 1, 2025	ecco	$7.0M Seed	—	Felicis Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Monarch Collective, Pelion Venture Partners, Oliver Friedrichs
Apr 1, 2025	Solace	$60.0M Series B	—	Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, AngelCube, ATX Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, Comal Ventures, CP Ventures, CRV, FasterCapital, Forerunner Ventures, Foundation Capital, Greylock, Inspired Capital, Intel Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Klossy, Menlo Ventures, Offline Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pantera Capital, Pioneer Fund, Redstone Road LLC, RevTech Ventures, SignalFire, Sound Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, Tango.vc, Threshold Ventures, Torch Capital, Anne Wojcicki, Evan Williams, Jeffrey Wilke, Jonathan Widawski, Marissa Mayer, Mathilde Collin, Sahin Boydas
Apr 1, 2025	Superpower	$30.0M Series A	—	Acrew Capital, Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, AngelCube, ATX Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Canaan Partners, CP Ventures, Craft Ventures, Curie.Bio, Curious Capital, FJ Labs, Forerunner Ventures, Foundation Capital, Greylock, Inspired Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Klossy, monashees, Night Ventures, Offline Ventures, Operator Partners, Otherwise Fund, Pantera Capital, Pioneer Fund, REMUS Capital, RevTech Ventures, Serena Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Sound Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, Timespan Ventures, Torch Capital, Version One Ventures, Abe Burns, Baron Davis, Brian Sugar, Casey Neistat, Evan Williams, Gokul Rajaram, Ian Borthwick, Jeffrey Wilke, Jonathan Widawski, Justin David Blau, Marissa Mayer, Mathilde Collin, Pir Granoff
Mar 1, 2025	Arcade	$25.0M Series A	—	5AM Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Accolade Partners, Acrew Capital, Act One Ventures, Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, Altimeter Capital, Alumni Ventures, American Express Ventures, AngelCube, Jana Messerschmidt, ATX Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Adeyemi Ajao, Canaan Partners, Company Capital, CP Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Foundation Capital, Greylock, Homebrew, Index Ventures, Inspired Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Klossy, Offline Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Owl Ventures, Pantera Capital, Pioneer Fund, Precursor Ventures, RevTech Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Serena Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Sound Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, The General Partnership, Torch Capital, Union Square Ventures, Vamos Ventures, Weekend Fund, Amjad Masad, Emanuel Pleitez, Evan Williams, Fareed Mosavat, Gokul Rajaram, Jeffrey Wilke, Joanne Bradford, John Legend, Jonathan Widawski, Marissa Mayer, Mathilde Collin, Scott Belsky, Stewart Butterfield
Mar 1, 2025	Retym	$75.0M Series D	—	Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, AngelCube, ATX Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, Celesta, CP Ventures, Forerunner Ventures, Foundation Capital, Greylock, Inspired Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Klossy, Mayfield, NewView Capital, Offline Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pantera Capital, Pioneer Fund, RevTech Ventures, Snowflake Ventures, Sound Ventures, Spark Capital, Stage 2 Capital, Torch Capital, Walden International, Evan Williams, Jared Sleeper, Jeffrey Wilke, Jonathan Widawski, Marissa Mayer, Mathilde Collin
Feb 1, 2025	Ignota Labs	$7.0M Seed	—	Alumni Ventures, Beat Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Greylock, Harmonix Fund, Lightspeed India Partners, Montage Ventures, Social Capital, Trucks Venture Capital, True Ventures, Do Kwon, Josh Elman
Feb 1, 2025	Workhelix	$15.0M Series A	—	Adverb Ventures, AI Fund, AirAngels, AIX Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Amplify Partners, AngelCube, ATX Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, Conviction Partners, CP Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, First Round Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Foundation Capital, General Catalyst, Greylock, Innovation Endeavors, Inspired Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Klossy, LGF, Offline Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Pantera Capital, Pioneer Fund, RevTech Ventures, Sound Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, Torch Capital, Walden International, Bernard Arnault, Drew Houston, Dylan Field, Evan Williams, Jonathan Widawski, Kenneth Griffin, Marc Benioff, Marissa Mayer, Mathilde Collin, Shane Neman, Thomas Tull
Jan 1, 2025	Safely You	$43.0M Series C	—	Adverb Ventures, AirAngels, AngelCube, ATX Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, CP Ventures, Engineering Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Foundation Capital, Greylock, Insight Partners, Inspired Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Klossy, Offline Ventures, Operator Stack, Otherwise Fund, Pantera Capital, Pioneer Fund, RevTech Ventures, Softbank Group, Sound Ventures, Stage 2 Capital, Torch Capital, Evan Williams, Jeffrey Wilke, Jonathan Widawski, Marissa Mayer, Mathilde Collin
Jan 1, 2025	Gravity	$13.0M Series A	—	Boost VC, Draper Associates, Foundry Group, Lobby Capital, Redpoint Ventures, TCG (The Chernin Group), Nick Caldwell
Jan 1, 2025	1UP	$5.0M Seed	—	8-Bit Capital, Accomplice VC, Sweater Ventures
Dec 1, 2024	Jiko	$29.0M Series C	—	Prefix Capital
Nov 1, 2024	Arcade	$14.0M Series A	—	AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, Base Partners, C2 Investment, Coatue, Daffy, Electric Capital, Foundation Capital, Fuel Capital, Greylock, Index Ventures, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, LGF, Next Play Ventures, Otherwise Fund, Outcast Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Sequoia Capital, Soma Capital, UpHonest Capital, Alex Kayyal, Allison Pickens (Allison Pickens Ventures), DJ Patil, Kevin Colas, Mike Krieger

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Upfront Ventures is a prominent venture capital firm based in Santa Monica, California, specializing in early-stage investments primarily in technology sectors such as digital media, SaaS, consumer internet, retail innovation, AI, and cybersecurity. Founded in 1996, the firm manages over $2 billion in assets and has backed more than 200 companies, including notable successes like Ring, Maker Studios, TrueCar, PayPal Credit, and thredUP. Upfront Ventures emphasizes a hands-on, long-term partnership approach, providing not only capital but also mentorship and strategic guidance to help startups scale. Its strong presence in the Los Angeles tech ecosystem, particularly Silicon Beach, enables it to leverage a vibrant network of entrepreneurs and innovators[1][2][4].

Origin Story

Upfront Ventures was established in 1996, originally evolving from GRP Partners, which backed retail chains such as Starbucks and Costco before shifting focus to early-stage technology investments. The firm is led by managing partners including Yves Sisteron and Mark Suster, who bring extensive industry experience. Over time, Upfront has expanded its investment scope nationally and globally while maintaining a core focus on early-stage startups. The firm’s evolution reflects a strategic pivot from retail to technology, aligning with the growth of the Southern California tech ecosystem and the rise of Silicon Beach as a major innovation hub[1][2][5].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Focuses on seed and Series A rounds, often being the first institutional investor in startups, and supports companies through multiple growth stages including follow-on rounds.
Network Strength: Deep connections within the Southern California tech community and broader national and global networks, facilitating introductions and partnerships.
Track Record: Over 25 years of investing with a portfolio of over 200 companies, including several high-profile exits and market leaders.
Operating Support: Provides hands-on mentorship, strategic guidance, and resources beyond capital, fostering long-term founder relationships.
Local Ecosystem Engagement: Active involvement in Silicon Beach and hosting the annual Upfront Summit, a key tech conference in Los Angeles that gathers industry leaders and innovators[1][2][4][5].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Upfront Ventures rides the wave of early-stage technology innovation, particularly benefiting from the growth of the Los Angeles tech scene and Silicon Beach as a major startup hub. The timing is favorable due to increasing venture capital interest in diverse tech sectors such as AI, SaaS, and consumer internet, combined with a growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in Southern California. Upfront’s influence extends beyond capital deployment; it shapes the ecosystem by fostering innovation, supporting founders from seed to scale, and promoting collaboration through events like the Upfront Summit. This positions the firm as a key player in bridging emerging startups with growth opportunities in a competitive market[1][2][4].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Upfront Ventures is likely to continue expanding its national and global reach while deepening its commitment to early-stage technology startups. Trends such as AI, cybersecurity, and digital transformation will shape its investment focus. The firm’s ability to provide sustained operational support and leverage its strong network will enhance its influence in the venture capital landscape. As the Los Angeles tech ecosystem matures, Upfront is poised to remain a cornerstone investor, helping startups navigate growth challenges and capitalize on emerging market opportunities. Its long-term partnership philosophy suggests it will continue to be a trusted ally for founders seeking both capital and strategic guidance[2][4][5].

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Focuses on seed and Series A rounds, often being the first institutional investor in startups, and supports companies through multiple growth stages including follow-on rounds.
Network Strength: Deep connections within the Southern California tech community and broader national and global networks, facilitating introductions and partnerships.
Track Record: Over 25 years of investing with a portfolio of over 200 companies, including several high-profile exits and market leaders.
Operating Support: Provides hands-on mentorship, strategic guidance, and resources beyond capital, fostering long-term founder relationships.
Local Ecosystem Engagement: Active involvement in Silicon Beach and hosting the annual Upfront Summit, a key tech conference in Los Angeles that gathers industry leaders and innovators[1][2][4][5].

Upfront Ventures

Financial History

Investments Made

Financial History

Leadership Team

Leadership Team

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Sources

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Sources

Leadership Team

Financial History

Investments Made