First Round Capital

First Round concentrates exclusively on the earliest stages—angel, pre‑seed and seed—across the United States, with a few occasional exceptions for U.S.-based founders operating abroad. Their sector focus is not prescriptive, but investments cluster around enterprise, AI, hardware, healthcare, fintech and consumer, driven by founder‑led, contrarian insights into large, prize‑worthy markets. The firm’s core belief is that the earliest moments of a startup determine its trajectory, so they provide high‑touch operational support—recruiting, GTM, pricing, board building and Series A preparation—to accelerate product‑market fit. They avoid late‑seed rounds where several million dollars have already been raised and generally do not invest in non‑U.S. domiciled companies, preferring to leverage their deep network and resources within the U.S. ecosystem. Value creation is delivered through hands‑on partnership rather than passive capital provision.

First Round’s primary decision factor is the founding team. They look for founders with outlier abilities, deep curiosity and a contrarian insight into how the world works. Product and market potential are secondary: they assess whether the market is large enough to be a prize worth winning and whether the team’s vision aligns with that opportunity. Traction is not a hard requirement; many investments were made when the company had only an idea, though early customer interest is appreciated when a product exists. Deal‑breakers include companies that have already raised several million dollars or are outside the U.S., indicating a mis‑fit in stage or geography. The firm does not require a lead position, but when it leads it becomes highly involved with board seats and intensive operating support.

• UberLead
  Led Uber's 2010 seed round (UberCab); first institutional backer of a contrarian on-demand model before the on-demand economy exploded.
• NotionLead
  Led Notion's $2M seed in 2013; product-first team rethinking documents as software.
• LookerLead
  Seed-stage bet on modern data-analytics infrastructure; strong founder-market fit and product insight pre-PMF.
• Roblox
  Extremely early bet on a user-generated gaming platform before mainstream breakout.
• Square
  Early belief in enabling simple, ubiquitous payments via mobile; strong founder pedigree and large market.
• Warby Parker
  Early DTC contrarian thesis in eyewear; First Round participated in the 2011 round alongside Lerer Hippeau.
• Flatiron Health
  Early health-tech thesis leveraging data/insight; aligns with First Round's appetite for AI-enabled healthcare.
• Upstart
  Team-centric bet on algorithmic underwriting and a contrarian approach to consumer credit eligibility.
• Clover Health
  Early entrance into tech-enabled insurance with healthcare data as a core advantage.
• Kandji
  Openness to cold outreach and early belief in enterprise device management with passionate early customers.

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  Benchmark

  Uber
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  Felicis

  Notion
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  Index Ventures

  Notion
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  Menlo Ventures

  Uber