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

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

History

FirstMark was founded in 2008 by Amish Jani and Rick Heitzmann as a spinoff from Pequot Capital Management.[1]

In 2013, FirstMark raised $225m. Then in 2014, it raised a $150 million fund. By 2016, it had raised $1.3bn in eight years, with dedicated funds for both early- and growth stage investments.[6] In June of 2020, FirstMark announced FirstMark V (a $380M early-stage fund) and Opportunity Fund III (a $270M growth stage fund).[7]

In June 2022, the firm announced the closing of its most recent funds, FirstMark VI and FirstMark Opportunity Fund IV, totaling approximately $1.1 billion in commitments,[8] representing more than $3.5B of total committed capital since inception.

Team

As of 2022, the firm has five investing partners: Rick Heitzmann, Amish Jani, Matt Turck, Beth Ferreira, and Adam Nelson.[9] In early 2023 Rick Heitzmann was named to the Forbes Midas List for the third consecutive year.[10][11][12]

Investments and Model

FirstMark has a heavy presence in New York City, and invests primarily in companies based on the East Coast and in Europe. The firm's main areas of investment include AI, healthcare, finance, consumer, property technology, marketplaces, infrastructure, e-commerce, education, and enterprise software.[13]

The firm's most notable investments include Pinterest,[3] which debuted on New York Stock Exchange on April 18, 2019, as well as Shopify.[14] Other prominent investments include Riot Games, creator of League of Legends (acquired by Tencent Holdings),[15] Discord,[16] Airbnb,[17] Upwork,[5] TraceLink,[18] Dataiku,[19] Dashlane,[20] Synthesia,[21] and Ro.[22]

FirstMark also has a dedicated Platform team that offers products and services to its portfolio companies to fuel their growth. Guilds by FirstMark is the firm's collection of private communities for C-level executives from its portfolio companies, as well as breakout venture-backed technology companies. Through Guilds, members access high-quality programming, private forums, exclusive resources, access to private events, and more.

References

  1. 1 2 "Pequot to Separate Its V.C. and Hedge Fund Units". New York Times. No. 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. 1 2 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. 1 2 Crichton, Danny (3 October 2018). "Upwork pops more than 50 percent in Nasdaq debut". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Why FirstMark plans to invest $480M in 'non-obvious' companies". New York Business Journal. 2016.
  7. ↑ Crook, Jordan. "FirstMark Capital announces new funds with a fresh $650 million in investment capital". TechCrunch. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  8. ↑ "FirstMark Capital racks up $1.1bn across two funds". www.venturecapitaljournal.com. 2022.
  9. ↑ "Announcing our Newest Funds". FirstMark Capital. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  10. ↑ "Venture capital was severely over-funded in 2020 and 2021: FirstMark Capital's Heitzmann". www.cnbc.com. 2023.
  11. ↑ "There's going to be a lot of anxiety over SVB the next couple days, says FirstMark Capital's Rich Heitzmann". www.cnbc.com. CNBC. 2023.
  12. ↑ "Rick Heitzmann". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  13. ↑ "FirstMark Capital LLC". www.bloomberg.com. 2023.
  14. ↑ Ghose, Carrie (24 February 2020). "Columbus e-commerce startup plans to add 40 jobs". Columbus Business First. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  15. ↑ China's Tencent Buys Riot Games for $400 Million
  16. ↑ Matney, Lucas (21 December 2018). "Gaming chat startup Discord raises $150M, surpassing $2B valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  17. ↑ "Airbnb". FirstMark. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ . TechCrunch, May 19, 2014
  20. ↑ Dashlane Passes 2M Users, Collects $22M For Its Client-Based Password Manager. TechCrunch, May 19, 2014
  21. ↑ "2023 06 16 Synthesia Announces 90 Million Series C // Cooley // Global Law Firm". www.cooley.com. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
  22. ↑ Mascarenhas, Natasha (2022-02-15). "Existing investors double down on Ro at boosted $7 billion valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
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