First Round Capital
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| Type | Venture Capital |
|---|---|
| Industry | Venture Capital |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Website | www.firstround.com |
First Round Capital is a venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies. Managed by Josh Kopelman,[1] Chris Fralic, Rob Hayes and Howard L. Morgan, the Philadelphia-based company typically provides seed-stage investment that ranges from $250,000 to $500,000.[2] The company seeks to take an active role in the operations of the companies in which they invest, often investing in pre-revenue companies[3]. "We think of ourselves as baby-nurses, not baby-sitters," says Howard Morgan, former professor at the Wharton School of Business, and partner at First Round Capital[4].
Since its inception in 2004, First Round Capital has backed more than 70 companies[5], including VideoEgg[6], Outright[7], Yummly, ScanScout, myYearbook, Knewton, Wikia, Yieldex[8] Jingle Networks, Odeo, LinkedIn, Eventful, Krugle, Ambient Devices, The Climate Corporation, del.icio.us, IronPort, RockYou!, SkillSlate[9], Catchfree[10] and several other firms. First Round Capital, while still in its very early years, has already generated significant returns for its investors from acquisitions such as StumbleUpon by eBay for $75 million[11] and Mint.com by Intuit for $170 million [12].
For Christmas (2008) the company produced a video holiday card[13] in homage to the hit YouTube video "Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)"[14] in which its portfolio company executives were depicted dancing; the video became a viral hit. For its 2010 production, the firm created a series of YouTube videos spoofing the viral "Old Spice" videos [15].
In 2010, the company was ranked the third-largest venture-capital investor in the United States, as measured by the number of deals. [1]
[edit] References
- ^ Well-Known Tech Investor Aims Higher, cnnmoney.com, Semptember 7, 2007
- ^ Halft, Miguel (2006-11-09). "For Start-Ups, Web Success on the Cheap". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/technology/09venture.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=first%20round%20capital&st=cse&scp=7. Retrieved 2009-02-23.
- ^ ,"First Round Capital, Ideal Startup Investment", Angelsoft.net
- ^ "Howard Morgan of First Round Capital at a FundingPost event", Youtube, 2008
- ^ "First Round Capital", CrunchBase, February, 2009
- ^ VideoEgg Gets a Jolt of VC, businessweek.com, September 27, 2006
- ^ Online bookkeeping startup Outright raises $5.5M
- ^ Yieldex.com, 2008
- ^ Barbierri, Cody (2010-10-20). "SkillSlate Grabs .1M to Find Local Service Providers". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2010/10/20/20venturebeat-skillslate-grabs-11m-to-find-local-service-p-77379.html.
- ^ First Round Capital Portofolio
- ^ eBay press release
- ^ Mint.com press release
- ^ "Happy Holidays from First Round Capital", YouTube, 2008
- ^ "Where the Hell is Matt (2008)", YouTube, 2008
- ^ "First Round Capital 2010 Holiday Card", YouTube, 2010
[edit] External links
- First Round Capital (company website)
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