FirstMark Capital explained

FirstMark Capital
Type:Private
Key People:Rick Heitzmann
Amish Jani
Location:New York City, U.S.
Industry:Private Equity
Products:Venture capital
Homepage:Official website

FirstMark is a Venture capital firm based in New York City. FirstMark invests in early-stage technology companies, frequently as the first institutional investor and leading the rounds it participates in. Notable investments include Airbnb, Pinterest, Shopify, DraftKings, Stubhub, Upwork, and Ro.[1] [2] [3] [4]

History

FirstMark was founded in 2008 by Amish Jani and Rick Heitzmann as a spinoff from Pequot Capital Management.[5]

In 2013, FirstMark raised $225m. Then in 2014, it raised a $150 million fund. By 2016, it had raised $1.3bn in eight years, with dedicated funds for both early- and growth stage investments.[6] In June of 2020, FirstMark announced FirstMark V (a $380M early-stage fund) and Opportunity Fund III (a $270M growth stage fund).[7]

In June 2022, the firm announced the closing of its most recent funds, FirstMark VI and FirstMark Opportunity Fund IV, totaling approximately $1.1 billion in commitments,[8] representing more than $3.5B of total committed capital since inception.

Team

As of 2022, the firm has five investing partners: Rick Heitzmann, Amish Jani, Matt Turck, Beth Ferreira, and Adam Nelson.[9] In early 2023 Rick Heitzmann was named to the Forbes Midas List for the third consecutive year.[10] [11] [12]

Investments and Model

FirstMark has a heavy presence in New York City, and invests primarily in companies based on the East Coast and in Europe. The firm's main areas of investment include AI, healthcare, finance, consumer, property technology, marketplaces, infrastructure, e-commerce, education, and enterprise software.[13]

The firm's most notable investments include Pinterest,[2] which debuted on New York Stock Exchange on April 18, 2019, as well as Shopify.[14] Other prominent investments include Riot Games, creator of League of Legends (Acquired by Tencent Holdings),[15] Discord,[16] Airbnb,[17] Upwork,[4] TraceLink,[18] Dataiku,[19] Dashlane,[20] Synthesia,[21] and Ro.[22]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: FirstMark Capital Raises $480M for Two New Funds. Geron. Tomio. 15 June 2016. Wall Street Journal. 10 October 2019.
  2. Web site: Hey, Look at Me! I'm a Venture Capitalist. Vilarino. Dalbert. 24 March 2019. New York Times. 10 October 2019.
  3. Web site: Exclusive: DraftKings Raises Giant New Funding Round. Primack. Dan. 1 September 2016. Fortune. 10 October 2019.
  4. Web site: Upwork pops more than 50 percent in Nasdaq debut. Crichton. Danny. 3 October 2018. TechCrunch. 10 October 2019.
  5. News: Pequot to Separate Its V.C. and Hedge Fund Units. 4 September 2019. The New York Times Company. DealBook. New York Times. 4 March 2008. United States. English .
  6. Web site: 2016 . Why FirstMark plans to invest $480M in 'non-obvious' companies . New York Business Journal.
  7. News: Crook . Jordan . FirstMark Capital announces new funds with a fresh $650 million in investment capital . TechCrunch . 20 July 2022.
  8. Web site: FirstMark Capital racks up $1.1bn across two funds. 2022. www.venturecapitaljournal.com.
  9. Web site: Announcing our Newest Funds . FirstMark Capital . 20 July 2022.
  10. Web site: Venture capital was severely over-funded in 2020 and 2021: FirstMark Capital's Heitzmann. 2023. www.cnbc.com.
  11. Web site: There's going to be a lot of anxiety over SVB the next couple days, says FirstMark Capital's Rich Heitzmann. 2023. www.cnbc.com. CNBC.
  12. Web site: Rick Heitzmann . 2023-06-28 . Forbes . en.
  13. Web site: FirstMark Capital LLC. 2023. www.bloomberg.com.
  14. Web site: Columbus e-commerce startup plans to add 40 jobs. Ghose. Carrie. 24 February 2020. Columbus Business First. 17 March 2021.
  15. http://allthingsd.com/20110204/chinas-tencent-buys-riot-games-for-400-million/ China's Tencent Buys Riot Games for $400 Million
  16. Web site: Gaming chat startup Discord raises $150M, surpassing $2B valuation. Matney. Lucas. 21 December 2018. TechCrunch. 10 October 2019.
  17. Web site: Airbnb. FirstMark. en-US. 2019-08-14.
  18. Web site: TraceLink, helping the pharma industry trace and track drugs, lands $51.5M from Goldman Sachs. Crook. Jordan. 30 November 2016. TechCrunch. 10 October 2019.
  19. https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/04/dataiku-is-now-worth-1-4-billion-following-secondary-round/
  20. https://techcrunch.com/2014/05/19/dashlane-raises-record-22m-for-its-cloud-based-password-manager-after-clocking-2m-users/ Dashlane Passes 2M Users, Collects $22M For Its Client-Based Password Manager
  21. Web site: 2023 06 16 Synthesia Announces 90 Million Series C // Cooley // Global Law Firm . 2023-06-28 . www.cooley.com . en-US.
  22. Web site: Mascarenhas . Natasha . 2022-02-15 . Existing investors double down on Ro at boosted $7 billion valuation . 2023-06-28 . TechCrunch . en-US.

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