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

  • Jul 2026investment
    First Round Capital led the seed round of Proception.AI, a robotics company building ProHand (a dexterous robot hand) and ProGlove (a sensorized data-collection glove). The $11M round also included BoxGroup and Y Combinator. Proception shipped its first units to researchers and robotics companies. linkedin.com
  • 2025–2026press
    Partner Bill Trenchard publicly highlighted Serval's growth: 90 days after its Series A, the IT-automation startup grew revenue 500%, tripled headcount, and raised a follow-on round at a $1B valuation. First Round backed Serval from inception. me.sh
  • Fall 2025product
    First Round opened Fall 2025 applications for its PMF Method program — a free, four-day workshop for founders exploring early B2B ideas. The firm takes no equity. linkedin.com
  • Nov 2025investment
    Portfolio company Parallel Web Systems, founded by former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and backed by First Round Capital alongside Khosla Ventures and Index Ventures, reached a $740M valuation. en.wikipedia.org
  • 2025leadership
    Partner Liz Wessel was named to the Forbes Midas Brink List. She joined First Round in 2023. en.wikipedia.org
  • 2025investment
    First Round participated in the seed round of Town, a tax-support platform embedding services into bookkeeping and fintech products for small businesses. linkedin.com
  • 2024–2025investment
    First Round backed seed rounds for Together AI (open-source generative AI models), Reducto (AI document parsing and extraction), and Rillet (AI-native ERP). en.wikipedia.org
  • 2025investment
    First Round backed Crunched, an AI analyst for Excel, alongside Y Combinator, 20VC, and angels including Paul Graham. The firm also backed Flai, an automotive dealership communication platform, which extended its seed round to $6M with Toyota Ventures joining. linkedin.com
  • 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

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

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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?+

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

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