Seed VC, San Francisco

First Round Capital

Venture capital firm · San Francisco · Founded 2004

Quick read

First Round Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2004, headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York and Philadelphia. It's best known as the first institutional investor in Uber and has backed 500+ companies including Notion, Roblox, and Square. The firm pairs capital with a full operating stack — recruiters, GTM experts, and its widely-read First Round Review publication — to help founders reach product-market fit.

Key facts

Founded
2004
Founders
Josh Kopelman
Employees
540
Sectors
generalist, saas, ai
Website
www.firstround.com

Investment thesis

First Round invests exclusively at the seed and Series A stages, writing $750K–$4M checks and taking 15–20% ownership. Beyond capital, it deploys an in-house team of recruiters and GTM operators to embed with founders during the 0-to-1 phase and accelerate the path to product-market fit.

Recent activity

  • May 2026investment
    First Round participated in Quartermaster's $43M raise for its maritime awareness network, alongside Quiet Capital, Steel Atlas, and Shorewind Capital. tracxn.com
  • Apr 2026investment
    First Round joined the funding round for Parag Agrawal's Parallel Web Systems, which raised $100M for AI agent web infrastructure. Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures co-led. tracxn.com
  • Apr 2026investment
    First Round participated in Pillar's $20M funding round alongside Andreessen Horowitz and Petual. tracxn.com
  • Jan 2026press
    Portfolio company Pomelo Care, a virtual maternal health startup whose seed round First Round led in 2021, reached a $1.7B valuation. en.wikipedia.org
  • 2025product
    First Round Review launched Firsthand, an essay series where early startup employees — not founders — share experiences building companies. linkedin.com
  • 2025investment
    Cache, a First Round-backed startup offering an exchange fund for tech employees with concentrated stock positions, went live with its first Exchange Fund. The waitlist had exceeded 1,000 people with reservations totaling over $900M across 150+ companies. in.linkedin.com
  • Apr 2026investment
    Co-invested in Noon's $44M seed funding round alongside Elevation Capital, Scribble Ventures, and Afore Capital. tracxn.com
  • Apr 2026investment
    Participated in Parallel Web Systems' $100M raise for AI agent web infrastructure alongside Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures. tracxn.com
  • Apr 2026investment
    Participated in Petual's $20M funding round alongside Andreessen Horowitz and Cowboy Ventures. tracxn.com
  • Jan 2026press
    Pomelo Care, a portfolio company First Round seeded in 2021, reached a $1.7 billion valuation. en.wikipedia.org
  • Jan 2026investment
    Invested in Crunched at seed stage as part of 46 total investments made in 2025. f4.fund
  • 2025fundraise
    Launched Fund X targeting $500M, signaling increased capital deployment. f4.fund

Notable investments

Key people

Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.

  • Josh Kopelman · Founding Partner
    LinkedIn
  • Hayley Bay Barna · Partner
    LinkedIn
  • Todd Jackson · Partner
  • Bill Trenchard · Partner
  • Phin Barnes · Partner
  • Hayley Barna · Partner
  • Brett Berson · Partner

Sources

Other VCs in United States

Explore VCs by sector

Globally

Frequently asked

What is First Round Capital?+

First Round Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2004, headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York and Philadelphia. It's best known as the first institutional investor in Uber and has backed 500+ companies including Notion, Roblox, and Square.

Where is First Round Capital headquartered?+

First Round Capital is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.

When was First Round Capital founded?+

First Round Capital was founded in 2004 by Josh Kopelman.

What sectors does First Round Capital invest in?+

First Round Capital focuses on generalist, saas, ai. They primarily invest in these sectors.

How do I prepare for a meeting with First Round Capital?+

Brief generates a structured pre-meeting briefing on any person at First Round Capital — quick read, recent activity, points of view, and conversation openers tailored to what you sell. Sign in to get personalised openers for your product.

Meeting with someone at First Round Capital?

Brief generates a structured pre-meeting briefing on any person in seconds.

Try Brief →

Generated by briefthecall.com from public web sources. Last updated July 6, 2026. Each claim is linked to its source above.

Automatically generated by AI from public sources. May be inaccurate or out of date. Remove or correct this profile →