FirstMark Capital

FirstMark Capital is a venture capital firm based in New York City. FirstMark invests in early-stage technology companies, frequently as the first institutional investor. Notable investments include Airbnb, Pinterest, Shopify, DraftKings, Upwork, and InVision.[2][3][4][5]

FirstMark Capital
FormerlyPequot Ventures
TypePrivate
IndustryPrivate Equity
FoundedJune 30, 2008 (2008-06-30)[1]
HeadquartersNew York City, U.S.
Key people
Amish Jani
Rick Heitzmann
ProductsVenture capital
WebsiteOfficial website

Among the firm's areas of focus are Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, healthcare, enterprise applications, education, financial technology, e-commerce, direct-to-consumer, and marketing technology.[2]

History

FirstMark was founded on June 30, 2008 by Mr. Lenihan, Jerry Poch, Amish Jani and Rick Heitzmann.[1] The firm has raised 5 early-stage funds and 3 growth funds.

  • The first fund, for $197M, was raised in 2008.[6]
  • The second fund, for $225M, was raised in 2011.[6]
  • The third fund, for $225M, was raised in 2013.[6]
  • The fourth fund, for $275M, was raised in 2016.[6]
  • The fifth fund, for $380M, was raised in 2020.[7]

FirstMark has also raised three growth-stage funds.

  • The first growth fund, for $150M, was raised in 2013.[6]
  • The second growth fund, for $205M, was raised in 2016.[6]
  • The third growth fund, for $270M, was raised in 2020.[8]

Team

FirstMark Capital was founded by Rick Heitzmann and Amish Jani in 2008. The firm now has five managing directors: Rick Heitzmann, Amish Jani, Matt Turck, Beth Ferreira and Adam Nelson.

In addition to its investment team, the firm employs a Platform team focused on areas like corporate development, talent, content, and community who are responsible for supporting FirstMark companies after an investment. FirstMark also organizes four NYC-based communities revolving around Artificial Intelligence & Big Data, design and product management, emerging and frontier technology, and software development.

Investments

The firm's most notable investments include Pinterest,[3] which debuted on New York Stock Exchange on April 18, 2019, as well as Shopify.[9] Other current and historical investments include Riot Games, creator of League of Legends (acquired by Tencent Holdings),[10] InVision,[11] Discord,[12] Airbnb,[13] Upwork,[5] TraceLink,[14] Dataiku,[15] Dashlane,[16] Starry,[17] and Ro[18] among others.

FirstMark focuses on Series A and Seed-stage investments, with capital reserved for follow-investments.

References
  1. "Pequot to Separate Its V.C. and Hedge Fund Units". New York Times (DealBook). United States. The New York Times Company. 4 March 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
  2. Geron, Tomio (15 June 2016). "FirstMark Capital Raises $480M for Two New Funds". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  3. Vilarino, Dalbert (24 March 2019). "Hey, Look at Me! I'm a Venture Capitalist". New York Times. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  4. Primack, Dan (1 September 2016). "Exclusive: DraftKings Raises Giant New Funding Round". Fortune. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  5. Crichton, Danny (3 October 2018). "Upwork pops more than 50 percent in Nasdaq debut". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  6. "FirstMark | Crunchbase".
  7. "FirstMark Capital announces new funds with a fresh $650 million in investment capita". TechCrunch.
  8. "FirstMark Capital announces new funds with a fresh $650 million in investment capita". TechCrunch.
  9. Shopify Raises $7 Million Series A Funding
  10. China's Tencent Buys Riot Games for $400 Million
  11. Ha, Anthony. "InVision Raises $1.5M For Beautiful, Interactive Prototypes". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  12. Matney, Lucas (21 December 2018). "Gaming chat startup Discord raises $150M, surpassing $2B valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  13. "Airbnb". FirstMark. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  14. Crook, Jordan (30 November 2016). "TraceLink, helping the pharma industry trace and track drugs, lands $51.5M from Goldman Sachs". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  15. . TechCrunch, May 19, 2014
  16. Dashlane Passes 2M Users, Collects $22M For Its Client-Based Password Manager. TechCrunch, May 19, 2014
  17. "Aereo's Founder Is Back With Starry. This Time He's Going After Broadband, Not TV". Recode. Retrieved 2017-11-26.
  18. Clark, Kate (15 April 2019). "Ro, a direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, reaches $500M valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
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