Upfront Ventures
Upfront Ventures is a venture fund with investments across the United States, Europe, and Canada. The firm is located in Santa Monica, California.
Firm
Upfront Ventures was first established in 1996 by Yves Sisteron, Steven Dietz, and Steve Lebow as GRP Partners, which focused on retail investments including Ulta Beauty, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Starbucks. Mark Suster[1] joined the firm as managing partner in 2007.[2] In 2013, GRP rebranded as Upfront Ventures[3] to focus on early-stage tech companies and entrepreneurs.[4]
As of 2018, Upfront is led by managing partners Sisteron and Suster. Sisteron previously managed U.S. investments at Fourcar B.V., a division of Carrefour S.A.. Current partners include Greg Bettinelli, Kara Nortman, Kobie Fuller, Kevin Zhang, Hamet Watt, and former Entrepreneur-in-Residence Chamillionaire.[5][6][7]
The firm hosts the yearly Upfront Summit—a technology conference for investors, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs—in Los Angeles.[8] [9]
In 2018, Upfront introduced an "inclusion clause" to term sheets for all of its portfolio companies. The clause asks companies to adopt an "inclusion rule" in its HR policies so that at least one woman or member of a population currently underrepresented within that company be interviewed for all open executive positions.[clarification needed][10][11]
Investments
Upfront's portfolio focuses on digital media, commerce and technology marketplaces, consumer goods and services, and SaaS, particularly in seed round and series A round investments.[12] Some of the startups the firm has invested in include GOAT,[13] thredUP, Kyriba, Bird,[14] Parachute Home,[15] Drone Base,[16] Apeel Sciences, Happy Returns, Stem,[17] mitú,[18] HopSkipDrive,[19] Osmo,[20] Inboard Technology,[21] MakeSpace,[22] Deliv, The Mighty, Adore Me, and uBeam.[23]
As of 2017, the firm managed a total of $2 billion in assets after closing its sixth fund at $400 million.[24] This was the most recent of six funds Upfront has raised altogether:
- Upfront I (1996): $183 million
- Upfront II (2000): $390 million
- Upfront III (2008): $185 million
- Upfront IV (2012): $200 million[25]
- Upfront V (2015): $270 million[26]
- Upfront VI (2017): $400 million[27]
Notable exits include:
- Maker Studios[28]
- Ring[29]
- TrueCar (TRUE)[30]
- Overture[31]
- Ulta (ULTA)[32]
- BillMeLater[33]
External Links
References
- ↑ "Mark Suster - Managing Partner @ Upfront Ventures | Crunchbase". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "Upfront Ventures' Mark Suster Quickly Bought in to L.A.'s Future as a Tech Development Hub | Los Angeles Business Journal". labusinessjournal.com. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ Chang, Andrea (2013-06-27). "GRP Partners becomes Upfront Ventures, announces $200-million fund". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ "GRP Partners Raises $200 Million Fund, Nabs New Office Space And Rebrands As Upfront Ventures – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ "Greg Bettinelli in Deal Makers" (PDF).
- ↑ "What I Learned In 2015: Hamet Watt, Upfront Ventures - socaltech.com". www.socaltech.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "Rapper Chamillionaire is now an entrepreneur-in-residence at a venture capital firm". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "Investing Notes From The Upfront Summit (2018)". Haystack.vc. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ Dubin, Alesandra (2017-03-08). "Organizers Created a Custom Space for a Growing Financial Summit—and Then Fully Transformed It". BizBash. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "Upfront Ventures Proposes New Inclusion Clause In Term Sheets - socaltech.com". www.socaltech.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "Upfront VC Inclusion Clause – Upfront Insights". Upfront Insights. 2018-03-08. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
- ↑ "About | Upfront Ventures". Upfront Ventures. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
- ↑ "Flight Club — the retail Mecca for sneakerheads — is merging with the GOAT sneaker app". Recode. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ Ohnsman, Alan. "L.A.'s Bird Hatches $100 Million Funding Round To Take Scooter Service Nationwide". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ Decker, Vivienne. "With $10 Million In Funding, Ariel Kaye's Parachute Is Aiming To Shake Up The Home Essentials Market". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "DroneBase raises $12M in Series B funding, announces enterprise AR tool – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "Stem Raises $8 Million To Help Artists Get Paid". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (2016-01-13). "Mitú Raises $27 Million From AwesomenessTV, Verizon and WPP". Variety. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "HopSkipDrive raises another $7.4 million for its Uber for kids business – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ Roettgers, Janko (2016-12-08). "Tangible Play, Maker of Osmo Augmented Reality Toys, Raises $24 Million From Sesame Workshop, Others". Variety. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "Inboard Technology raises $8 million to be the Tesla of electric skateboards – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "MakeSpace raises $30 million to store your belongings – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "UBeam Raising $20M Series B Round | Los Angeles Business Journal". labusinessjournal.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "As the LA venture market booms, Upfront closes its sixth fund with $400 million – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
- ↑ "GRP Partners Raises $200 Million Fund, Nabs New Office Space And Rebrands As Upfront Ventures – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ "Upfront Ventures Raises $280 Million For Its Fifth Fund – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ Dave, Paresh. "Upfront Ventures, L.A. County's biggest venture capital firm, just got bigger". latimes.com. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ Barnes, Brooks (2014-03-24). "Disney Buys Maker Studios, Video Supplier for YouTube". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ "Amazon is buying smart doorbell maker Ring – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ "TrueCar raises $70 million in initial public offering". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ Journal, Mylene Mangalindan Staff Reporter of The Wall Street. "Yahoo Agrees to Acquire Overture For $1.63 Billion". WSJ. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ Gelsi, Steve. "- MarketWatch". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
- ↑ "Ebay Spends More Than $1.2 Billion To Buy Bill Me Later And DBA.dk, And Lays Off 10% Of Employees – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-05-07.
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