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First Round Capital

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First Round Capital
IndustryVenture Capital
Founded2004; 20 years ago (2004)
FounderJosh Kopelman
Howard L. Morgan
HeadquartersSan Francisco
Websitewww.firstround.com

First Round Capital is a US-based venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies.

Founded by Josh Kopelman[1] and Howard Morgan[2] First Round typically provides seed-stage funding and focuses on portfolio companies' growth during their first 18 months. It has offices in San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York.

Dorm Room Fund[edit]

In 2012 First Round Capital created the Dorm Room Fund, a $10 million[citation needed] fund focused on investments in student-run startups.[3] In 2019, the firm launched the Graduate Fund, a pre-seed fund for recent graduates of undergraduate or master's programs.[4] The firm is operated by full-time undergraduate and graduate students.[5][6] It has backed companies that have raised a combined $300 million in venture capital from investors including Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures.[7] The firm has teams in San Francisco, New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston.

In addition to providing early-stage capital,[8] Dorm Room Fund draws upon its own resources as well as First round's to support student entrepreneurs.[5] In January 2018, Dorm Room Fund's Head of Engineering Yasyf Mohamedali launched VCWiz, a tool to help founders (student or otherwise) research, discover, and reach out to seed-stage investors.[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Well-Known Tech Investor Aims Higher, cnnmoney.com, September 7, 2007
  2. ^ Mark Suster (April 21, 2011). ""Want To Know How First Round Capital Was Started?"". Fast Company.
  3. ^ "First Round Expands $500K Student-Run Investment Arm, Dorm Room Fund, To New York City Universities – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
  4. ^ "New pre-seed fund powered by First Round Capital will target recent graduates". TechCrunch. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-17.
  5. ^ a b Casserly, Meghan. "The Dorm Room Fund: A Conversation With First Round Capital's Phin Barnes". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  6. ^ Ramsinghani, Mahendra (2014). The Business of Venture Capital. Wiley. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-118-75219-7.
  7. ^ "DRF 5-Year Report". 5years.dormroomfund.com. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  8. ^ Konrad, Alex. "College-Specific Funds Are On The Rise – But Are They Built To Last?". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  9. ^ "Dorm Room Fund has built a CRM for founders raising a seed round". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-11-13.
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