Early-stage VC, New York

Union Square Ventures

Venture capital firm · New York · Founded October 2003

Quick read

Union Square Ventures (USV), an early-stage VC firm founded October 2003, headquartered at 817 Broadway in New York City. It manages over $1B across seven funds with a deliberately small team of ~29 people, backing companies that transform large markets through networks, platforms, and protocols. USV has posted exceptional returns — a reported 9x average DPI across funds — while keeping fund sizes in the $250–400M range.

Key facts

Founded
October 2003
Founders
Fred Wilson, Brad Burnham
Employees
29
Sectors
consumer, fintech, crypto, ai, generalist
Website
www.usv.com/

Investment thesis

USV backs early-stage companies that build large networks of engaged users, apply networks or platforms to transform markets, and create defensible value through data — with active interest across consumer tech, crypto/web3, fintech, and energy/climate infrastructure.

Recent activity

  • Jun 2026product
    USV opened applications for its 2026 analyst program, with a deadline of June 14, 2026. The firm described it as a role for early-career people wanting to work in venture. distillintelligence.com
  • Jun 2026leadership
    Michael Mignano joined USV as a partner, moving from Lightspeed Venture Partners. He's known for bets on consumer-facing AI companies. distillintelligence.com
  • Mar 2026investment
    USV led a $50M Series A in Isembard, the most recent tracked deal per Startup Intros data. startupintros.com
  • Jan 2026investment
    USV led a $34M Series A for Tutor Intelligence, which makes AI-powered warehouse robots. distillintelligence.com
  • Feb 2025investment
    USV led a $14M round in Reservoir, an NFT-infrastructure company pivoting to bridge protocol technology. Framework Ventures, Variant, and Coinbase Ventures co-invested. fortune.com
  • Dec 2025investment
    USV co-invested in Supper's $11M seed round alongside Inspired Capital and Avid Ventures. Supper builds an AI-native data platform. tracxn.com
  • Q1 2026investment
    USV led Tasklet's $20M round alongside Lightspeed, valuing the cloud agent OS for work at $175M. Tasklet grew over 1,200% in Q1 2026 and crossed $5M ARR. linkedin.com
  • 2026investment
    USV participated in a geothermal resource discovery funding round led by Spring Lane Capital, described as the largest venture investment to date into AI-enabled geothermal discovery. linkedin.com
  • 2026investment
    As of April 2026, USV has made 12 new investments in the last 12 months, bringing its total portfolio to 244 companies. Most recently it participated in a Series B round for Somos Internet. tracxn.com
  • 2026leadership
    USV announced an open application for a new Analyst position, flagged via the firm's X account. x.com
  • 2023investment
    USV led the Series A in an unnamed community emergency-preparedness platform, building on a seed led by Gutter Capital. Wellington Management subsequently led the Series B. linkedin.com
  • Feb 2026investment
    USV led Efficient Computer's Series A, with Rebecca Kaden authoring the announcement post on the USV blog. usv.com

Notable investments

Key people

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

Sources

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Frequently asked

What is Union Square Ventures?+

Union Square Ventures (USV), an early-stage VC firm founded October 2003, headquartered at 817 Broadway in New York City. It manages over $1B across seven funds with a deliberately small team of ~29 people, backing companies that transform large markets through networks, platforms, and protocols.

Where is Union Square Ventures headquartered?+

Union Square Ventures is headquartered in New York, United States.

When was Union Square Ventures founded?+

Union Square Ventures was founded in October 2003 by Fred Wilson, Brad Burnham.

What sectors does Union Square Ventures invest in?+

Union Square Ventures focuses on consumer, fintech, crypto, ai, generalist. They primarily invest in these sectors.

How do I prepare for a meeting with Union Square Ventures?+

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Generated by briefthecall.com from public web sources. Last updated July 7, 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 →