FirstMark Capital
{{Short description|American venture capital firm}}
{{Infobox company
| name = FirstMark
| logo = File:FMC Logo Small.png
| former_name =
| type = Private
| industry = Venture Capital
| founded = {{Start date and age|2008|06|30}}{{cite news|title=Pequot to Separate Its V.C. and Hedge Fund Units|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/pequot-to-separate-its-vc-and-hedge-fund-units/|access-date=4 September 2019|agency=The New York Times Company|issue=DealBook|work=New York Times|date=4 March 2008|location=United States|language=English }}
| founders = Rick Heitzmann
Amish Jani
| hq_location_city = New York City, New York
| hq_location_country = United States
| key_people = Rick Heitzmann
Amish Jani
Matt Turck
Adam Nelson
| products = Venture capital
| assets = $3.5 billion
| num_employees = 30
| homepage = [https://www.firstmark.com 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 Pinterest, Shopify, DraftKings, Stubhub, Airbnb, Upwork, Riot Games, and Frame.io.{{cite web |last=Geron |first=Tomio |date=15 June 2016 |title=FirstMark Capital Raises $480M for Two New Funds |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/firstmark-capital-raises-480m-for-two-new-funds-1465988403 |access-date=10 October 2019 |publisher=Wall Street Journal}}{{cite web |last=Vilarino |first=Dalbert |date=24 March 2019 |title=Hey, Look at Me! I'm a Venture Capitalist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/24/technology/venture-capitalists-ipo-pinterest.html |access-date=10 October 2019 |work=New York Times}}{{cite web |last=Primack |first=Dan |date=1 September 2016 |title=Exclusive: DraftKings Raises Giant New Funding Round |url=https://fortune.com/2016/09/01/draftkings-giant-funding/ |access-date=10 October 2019 |publisher=Fortune}}{{cite web |last=Crichton |first=Danny |date=3 October 2018 |title=Upwork pops more than 50 percent in Nasdaq debut |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/03/upwork-pops-more-than-50-percent-in-nasdaq-debut/ |access-date=10 October 2019 |publisher=TechCrunch}}
History
FirstMark was founded in 2008 by Amish Jani and Rick Heitzmann as a spinoff from Pequot Capital Management.{{cite news |date=4 March 2008 |title=Pequot to Separate Its V.C. and Hedge Fund Units |url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/pequot-to-separate-its-vc-and-hedge-fund-units/ |access-date=4 September 2019 |work=New York Times |location=United States |language=English |issue=DealBook |agency=The New York Times Company}} The co-founders started the firm based on their core belief that New York was set to become the dominant global hub for technology startups.
Since inception, FirstMark has raised 10 funds with dedicated funds for both early- and growth-stage investments. As of 2024, the firm has $3.5B in committed capital.
Team
As of 2024, the firm has four investing partners: Rick Heitzmann, Amish Jani, Matt Turck, and Adam Nelson.{{cite web |title=Announcing our Newest Funds |url=https://firstmark.com/team/ |access-date=20 July 2022 |website=FirstMark Capital}} Rick Heitzmann has been named to the [https://www.forbes.com/lists/midas/ Forbes Midas List] for five consecutive years,{{cite web |date=2023 |title=Venture capital was severely over-funded in 2020 and 2021: FirstMark Capital's Heitzmann |url=https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/04/10/venture-capital-was-severely-over-funded-in-2020-and-2021-firstmark-capitals-heitzmann.html |website=www.cnbc.com |publisher=}}{{cite web |date=2023 |title=There's going to be a lot of anxiety over SVB the next couple days, says FirstMark Capital's Rich Heitzmann |url=https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/03/10/the-fallout-of-svb-will-errude-trust-says-firstmark-capitals-rich-heitzmann.html |website=www.cnbc.com |publisher=CNBC}}{{Cite web |title=Rick Heitzmann |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/rick-heitzmann/ |access-date=2023-06-28 |website=Forbes |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-06-16 |title=Rick Heitzmann Named to Forbes Midas List for 5th Consecutive Year |url=https://firstmark.com/story/rick-heitzmann-named-to-forbes-midas-list-for-5th-consecutive-year/ |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=FirstMark |language=en-US}} and Amish Jani has been twice recognized as one of the top 100 seed investors by Business Insider,{{Cite web |last=Awal |first=Melia Russell, Ben Bergman, April Joyner, Emily Quiles, Madeline Renbarger, Kazi |title=The Seed 100: The best early-stage investors |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/seed-100-best-early-stage-investors-2022-5 |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} with similar honors from the New York Times and CB Insights.
Notable Investments
The firm's most notable investments include Pinterest, which debuted on New York Stock Exchange on April 18, 2019, as well as Shopify, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on May 21, 2015.{{cite web |last=Ghose |first=Carrie |date=24 February 2020 |title=Columbus e-commerce startup plans to add 40 jobs |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2020/02/24/columbus-e-commerce-startup-plans-to-add-40-jobs.html |access-date=17 March 2021 |publisher=Columbus Business First}} Other prominent investments include Draftkings, Riot Games, creator of League of Legends (Acquired by Tencent Holdings),[http://allthingsd.com/20110204/chinas-tencent-buys-riot-games-for-400-million/ China's Tencent Buys Riot Games for $400 Million] Frame.io (Acquired by Adobe),{{Cite web |last=Jr |first=Tom Huddleston |date=2024-08-23 |title=42-year-old sold his startup for $1.3 billion—he started by buying a $17,500 camera he couldn't afford |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/23/how-frame-io-ceo-built-billion-dollar-business-sold-to-adobe.html#:~:text=Emery%20Wells%20is%20the%20co,for%20$1.275%20billion%20in%202021. |access-date=2025-01-07 |website=CNBC |language=en}} Airbnb,{{Cite web |title=Airbnb |url=https://firstmarkcap.com/portfolio/airbnb/ |access-date=2019-08-14 |website=FirstMark |language=en-US}} Stubhub, Upwork, Postmates (Acquired by Uber), and [https://www.evolutioniq.com/ EvolutionIQ] (Acquired by CCC).{{Cite web |last=Chowdhry |first=Amit |date=2024-12-27 |title=CCC Intelligent Solutions Acquiring EvolutionIQ In $730 Million Deal |url=https://pulse2.com/ccc-intelligent-solutions-acquiring-evolutioniq-in-730-million-deal/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=Pulse 2.0 |language=en}}
Model
FirstMark has a heavy presence in New York City, and invests primarily in Seed and Series A companies based on the East Coast and in Europe. The firm invests in areas where they have strong domain expertise, including: enterprise software, consumer marketplaces, infrastructure, AI/ML, healthcare, gaming, fintech, and e-commerce.{{cite web |date=2023 |title=FirstMark Capital LLC |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/3600198Z:US#xj4y7vzkg |website=www.bloomberg.com |publisher=}}
Platform
FirstMark invested in building a network-driven firm from the very beginning. The firm is built around unique communities with networks that give it access to the top companies, entrepreneurs and advisors in the technology ecosystem. FirstMark's Platform
Notably, [https://www.guilds.cc/ Guilds by FirstMark] is a collection of invite-only communities FirstMark runs for C-level executives that currently counts over 2,700 members representing over 60% of global tech unicorns. These communities provide FirstMark portfolio companies "unfair access" to a network of exceptional peers, 100+ annual company-building events, and more.
FirstMark is also known for its flagship events, including their annual CEO Summit & Founder Dinner (which takes place at the New York Stock Exchange and welcomes 250 Founders & Venture Capitalists), [https://www.cloudny.com/ CloudNY] (which welcomes 150 cloud CEOs to hear from legendary tech founders and CEOs{{Cite web |title=Past Speakers |url=https://www.cloudny.com/past-speakers |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=CloudNY |language=en}}), and [https://firstmark.com/community/data-driven/ Data Driven NYC] (a 20,000-person AI/ML community that has been running for more than a decade and has featured leading AI researches, founders, and investors).
References
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Category:Venture capital firms of the United States