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True Venture Management, L.L.C.

From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki


True Venture Management, L.L.C.
File:True Ventures logo.svg
Private
ISIN🆔
IndustryVenture capital
Founded 📆2005; 21 years ago (2005)
Founder 👔Jon Callaghan and Phil Black
Headquarters 🏙️,
Palo Alto, California
,
U.S.
Area served 🗺️
Products 📟 Investments
Members
Number of employees
🌐 Websitetrueventures.com
📇 Address
📞 telephone

True Venture Management, L.L.C. (commonly known as True Ventures) is an American venture capital firm with offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, California, founded by Jon Callaghan and Phil Black in 2005.[1] In addition to Callaghan and Black, the firm’s partners include Puneet Agarwal, Tony Conrad, Toni Schneider, Rohit Sharma, Adam D'Augelli, Kevin Rose, and Mike Montano.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Om Malik is a Partner Emeritus.[9] As of August 2025, True Ventures had more than $3.8 billion in committed capital across multiple funds.[8]

History

Jon Callaghan and Phil Black founded True Ventures in 2005 with a focus on early-stage funding models and founder support. The firm's name was inspired by the concept of "truing a wheel," which means to bring all elements into alignment.[10]

At the time of True’s founding, Callaghan and Black identified a gap in the venture capital landscape: many founders of early-stage technology companies prefer to start their businesses with $2.5 million or less of initial capital, but were being underserved by the funding options of the time. True would thus secure ownership of up to 25 percent with first checks of between $1 million and $3 million.[11] This structure was a deliberate strategic choice to counter the common failure of classic seed-stage investors, who often take all the risk upfront but cannot afford to maintain significant ownership stakes as companies succeed, grow, and require more capital. True’s early investments and first few quick exits helped the firm gain recognition for its early investments in several successful companies.[12]

Throughout the 2010s, True Ventures continued its growth trajectory, raising a series of successively larger funds and formalizing its commitment to building a strong founder community. The firm created a founder platform incorporating educational events, communication tools, resources, and community initiatives for founders and their teams, families, and communities.[13]

In 2018, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) named True Ventures the Venture Firm of the Year.[14] Jon Callaghan served as NVCA’s Chairman from 2015 to 2016 and Partner Adam D’Augelli is currently a director on the NVCA’s board as part of a four-year term, from 2025 to 2029.[15]

Notable investments

In October 2008, True Ventures made its first foray into hardware by co-leading a $2 million Series A funding round in Fitbit.[16] True then participated in Fitbit’s $8 million Series B in September 2010, co-led its $12 million Series C in January 2012, and participated in its $43 million Series D in August 2013, ultimately owning 22% of Fitbit’s Class B stock when the company went public in June 2015.[16][17][18][19]

In August 2010, True Ventures led Duo Security’s $1 million seed round.[20] True then participated in Duo Security’s $5 million Series A in February 2012, its $12 million Series B in September 2014, its $30 million Series C in April 2015, and its $70 million Series D in October 2017.[21][22][23][24]

In October 2012, True Ventures led a $19.95 million Series A funding round in Blue Bottle Coffee.[25] True also participated in Blue Bottle Coffee’s $72 million Series C in June 2015.[26]

In July 2014, True Ventures led a $4.5 million Series A funding round at a $15.5 million post-money valuation in Ring, incorporated as Bot Home Automation, Inc.[27] When Amazon agreed to acquire Ring in 2018, the startup had raised an estimated total of $369 million in equity funding from investors including True Ventures at a valuation of $760 million.[28]

In December 2014, True Ventures participated in HashiCorp’s $10 million Series A funding round.[29] True then participated in Hashicorp’s $24 million Series B in September 2016, its $40 million Series C in October 2017, its $100 million Series D in November 2018, and its $175 million Series E in March 2020.[30][31][32]

In April 2015, True Ventures co-led a $30 million Series C funding round in Peloton Interactive.[33] True Ventures then used its Select Funds to add more capital as Peloton grew, including investing $20 million into its $325 million Series E round in May 2017 and $20 million in its $550 million Series F in August 2018.[34]

In November 2015, True Ventures led ICEYE’s $2.8 million Series A round.[35] True then led ICEYE’s $34 million Series B in May 2018, led its $87 million Series C in September 2020, and participated in its $24 million Series D in February 2022.[36][37][38]

In January 2018, True Ventures participated in Automattic’s $29.5 million Series B funding round.[39] True then participated in Automattic’s $160 million Series C in May 2014 and its $300 million Series D in September 2019.[40][41]

In September 2019, True Ventures participated in Sweetgreen’s $150 million Series I funding round.[42]

References

  1. ↑ Loizos, Connie (2015-09-11). "At 10 Years Old, True Ventures Is Killing It". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  2. ↑ Frank, Blair Hanley (2013-06-28). "Here's how to score cash from Tony Conrad of True Ventures: Build a movement". GeekWire. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  3. ↑ "20VC: True Ventures' Toni Schneider on How Being CEO @ Automattic (Wordpress) Made Him A Better Investor, The Biggest Lessons from Automattic on Running Successful Remote Teams and The Right Way For Investors To Show Founders They Have Their Support (Note". 20VC. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  4. ↑ Vartabedian, Marc; Chernova, Yuliya (2025-10-13). "AI Startups Have a New (Old) Secret Weapon: Forward Deployed Engineers". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  5. ↑ "Rohit Sharma, True Ventures: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  6. ↑ "20VC: How To Think Through Portfolio Construction and The Business Model of VC, Why You Cannot Grow Ownership In Your Best Companies Over Time & How To Make The Space for Serendipity To Strike in VC with Adam D'Augelli, Partner @ True Ventures". The Intersection of Venture Capital and Media. 2025-10-17. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  7. ↑ Nover, Scott (2025-03-05). "Why these former rival founders are teaming up to revive Digg". Fast Company. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dorbian, Iris (2025-02-12). "True Ventures appoints Rose and Montano as partners". Venture Capital Journal. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  9. ↑ "The Why of Crazy Stupid Tech". Crazy Stupid Tech. 2024-10-03. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  10. ↑ Garland, By Russ (2012-08-27). "VC PROFILE: True Ventures Stays True to Start-Up Founders - WSJ". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  11. ↑ Loizos, Connie (2018-10-30). "True Ventures has two new funds totaling $635 million to plug into a wide range of startups". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  12. ↑ Loizos, Connie (2009-06-26). "The True Story of True Ventures". Venture Capital Journal. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  13. ↑ "True Ventures Closes Fund V, at $310M". FinSMEs. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  14. ↑ Goldfisher, Alastair (2018-04-02). "Phil Black of True Ventures on crypto deals and being named Venture Firm of the Year". Venture Capital Journal. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  15. ↑ Ceppos, Robin (2025-06-04). "NVCA Appoints Vineeta Agarwala as New Board Chair". National Venture Capital Association - NVCA -. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Hendrickson, Mark (2008-10-10). "Fitbit Raises Healthy $2 Million From True Ventures And SoftTech VC". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  17. ↑ Tsotsis, Alexia (2010-09-11). "Fitness Tracker Fitbit Gains Another $8 Million". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  18. ↑ Rao, Leena (2012-01-24). "Fitness Tracker Fitbit Raises $12M To Market New Wi-Fi Enabled Smart Scale, Aria". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  19. ↑ Farrell, Maureen (2015-06-19), "Fitbit's Early Investors Now Sitting on Billions in Profits", Wall Street Journal, ISSN 0099-9660, retrieved 2025-10-20
  20. ↑ Slootmaker, Estelle (2010-08-25). "Scio Security lands $1 Million in VC – Concentrate". Concentrate. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  21. ↑ Rao, Leena (2012-02-28). "Google Ventures And Others Put $5M In Enterprise Mobile Security Company Duo". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  22. ↑ Lawler, Ryan (2014-09-22). "Two-Factor Authentication Startup Duo Security Raises $12 Million From Benchmark". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  23. ↑ Lawler, Ryan (2015-04-14). "Duo Security Raises $30 Million Led By Redpoint To Protect Enterprises Against Data Breaches". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  24. ↑ "Duo Security Raises $70M in Series D Funding". FinSMEs. 2017-10-18. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  25. ↑ Olanoff, Drew (2012-10-15). "Hipster Coffee Lovers Rejoice, Blue Bottle Coffee Raises $20M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  26. ↑ Kokalitcheva, Kia (2015-06-04). "Blue Bottle raises $70 million for an artisanal coffee empire". Fortune. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  27. ↑ Kolodny, By Lora (2014-12-04). "Ring Raises $4.5M Series A From True Ventures for 'Smart Doorbells' - WSJ". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  28. ↑ "Amazon puts a Ring on it, agrees to buy doorbell maker". PitchBook. 2018-02-28. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  29. ↑ Miller, Ron (2014-12-10). "HashiCorp Announces New DevOps Management Tool And $10M In Funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  30. ↑ Murphy, Eamon (2016-09-07). "HashiCorp scores $24 mln Series B led by GGV Capital". PE Hub. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  31. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (2017-10-24). "HashiCorp raises $40M for its cloud infrastructure automation services". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  32. ↑ Miller, Ron (2018-11-01). "HashiCorp scores $100M investment on $1.9 billion valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  33. ↑ Buhr, Sarah (2015-04-16). "Stationary Bike Startup Peloton Expands Production And Distribution With $30M In New Funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  34. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (2019-08-28). "How an Early Peloton Investor Grabbed a Large Stake". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  35. ↑ "Space technology startup Iceye raises $2.8 million Series A". ICEYE. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  36. ↑ Werner, Debra (2018-05-24). "ICEYE raises another $34 million for radar satellites". SpaceNews. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  37. ↑ Sheetz, Michael (2020-09-22). "Satellite start-up ICEYE raises $87 million to build network with goal to see anywhere 4 times a day". CNBC. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  38. ↑ Knapp, Alex (2022-02-03). "This Under 30 Startup Just Raised $136 Million To Expand Its Radar Satellite Constellation". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  39. ↑ Hendrickson, Mark (2008-01-23). "Automattic Lands Massive $29.5M for WordPress, Other Products". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  40. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (2014-05-05). "Automattic Raises $160M To Catch Up With The Web's Evolution". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  41. ↑ Sawers, Paul (2019-09-19). "WordPress.com parent Automattic raises $300 million from Salesforce at a $3 billion valuation". Venturebeat. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  42. ↑ Klein, Danny (2019-09-23). "Sweetgreen is Now Valued at $1.6 Billion". QSR Magazine. Retrieved 2025-10-20.


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