Upfront Ventures

Upfront Ventures is proud to be an early investor and long-term partner to the most exciting founders and startups. Founded in 1996 in Los Angeles with investing professionals based in LA, San Francisco, and Paris, Upfront has backed standout teams across all technology sectors, including Ring (acq. by Amazon), TrueCar (NASDAQ: TRUE), Bird, Maker Studios (acq by Disney), GOAT, Apeel Sciences, thredUP, Invoca and Kyriba (acq by Bridgepoint). We invest about half of our capital in the fast-growing Southern California ecosystem, with the balance across the country as well as investments in Europe and Israel. Upfront Ventures is led by Managing Partners Yves Sisteron, Mark Suster, and Kara Nortman.

Stuart Lander

Chief Operating Partner

Hamet Watt

Board Partner

Past deals in Ride Sharing

Landline

Series A in 2021
Landline is building the future of travel by seamlessly connecting air and ground transportation. They enable airlines to cost-effectively deliver an integrated door-to-door travel experience to their customers. Landline's platform eliminates stress for customers by offering them more control over their travel day, starting right at home. Landline’s reservations integration platform allows airlines to add ground transportation options directly into the flight booking flow. On the ground, Landline’s operations platform makes the travel day a breeze with seamless bag check, automatic connection protection, vehicle quality assurance, safety monitoring, and off-airport check-in. They combine a deep understanding of reservations system architecture, operations management, and the airport regulatory environment to create a more seamless, efficient, and environmentally friendly travel day for customers.

Adway

Seed Round in 2021
Adway is a digital advertising medium that allows for flexible and targeted geo-fencing on vehicles, which can be displayed wherever and whenever. Adway is the first of its kind, employing projection technology to show static images as well as full HD video on vehicles. The company was established in 2018 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Rally

Series B in 2021
Rally they provide equity shares in collectible assets. They make investing in ideas, emotions, and communities safe, easy, and accessible.

Rally

Series B in 2020
Rally they provide equity shares in collectible assets. They make investing in ideas, emotions, and communities safe, easy, and accessible.

Route

Series A in 2020
Route elevates the online customer journey by providing a simple way to protect and track all of the user's orders. It automatically connects to everything ordered from all retailers while allowing the user to visually track its packages, anytime, anywhere.

HopSkipDrive

Venture Round in 2020
HopSkiDrive is an information technology company that offers safe and dependable transportation solutions for schools and families. The company specializes in the fields of ridesharing for kids, kid transportation, school transportation, and student transportation. HopSkipDrive presently has contracts with more than 400 school districts and operates in 21 significant markets across 12 states. HopSkipDrive CareDrivers have securely transported 2 million riders to more than 16,000 schools while driving more than 20 million miles. It was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Landline

Seed Round in 2019
Landline is building the future of travel by seamlessly connecting air and ground transportation. They enable airlines to cost-effectively deliver an integrated door-to-door travel experience to their customers. Landline's platform eliminates stress for customers by offering them more control over their travel day, starting right at home. Landline’s reservations integration platform allows airlines to add ground transportation options directly into the flight booking flow. On the ground, Landline’s operations platform makes the travel day a breeze with seamless bag check, automatic connection protection, vehicle quality assurance, safety monitoring, and off-airport check-in. They combine a deep understanding of reservations system architecture, operations management, and the airport regulatory environment to create a more seamless, efficient, and environmentally friendly travel day for customers.

Adway

Seed Round in 2019
Adway is a digital advertising medium that allows for flexible and targeted geo-fencing on vehicles, which can be displayed wherever and whenever. Adway is the first of its kind, employing projection technology to show static images as well as full HD video on vehicles. The company was established in 2018 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Happy Returns

Venture Round in 2019
Happy Returns provides comprehensive return solutions for the world's leading online and omnichannel retailers and their customers. They provide aggregated shipping and logistics across all channels with optimized delivery to retailers' preferred destinations.

Deliv

Series C in 2018
Deliv is a crowdsourced, same-day delivery service that extends the reach of omnichannel retailers and provides their customers with an even more exceptional shopping experience. The company helps retailers enhance their customer experience by giving customers the choice to receive their items whenever and wherever they want. Deliv allows retailers to offer their customers a same-day delivery option as they shop from their website, mobile app or even when they are shopping in their physical brick and mortar stores. The same-day delivery button is simply added into the existing checkout process which allows the retailer to maintain ownership and data from each customer transaction. All same-day delivery orders (whether purchased online or in the store) are fulfilled and delivered from local brick and mortar stores, which now allow retailers’ stores to strategically become local distribution centers. This allows retailers to deliver faster and cheaper and in a more convenient way than any pure play eCommerce player like Amazon. Deliv has partnered with nearly 100 national and regional omnichannel retailers, as well as the four largest mall operators in the U.S., Simon Property Group, Macerich, Westfield and General Growth Properties. These mall operators manage close to 800 malls across the country, and extend this offering to all of its tenant retailers. Deliv is currently live with almost 100 retailers in nine malls across the four mall operators in five geographies within California and Illinois. Deliv is quickly expanding to dozens of other geographies nationwide. Deliv’s crowdsourced drivers are made up of highly educated, experienced customer service and sales personnel. They are rated by customers so the platform is able to prioritize the allocation of jobs to those with the highest ratings. The Deliv platform incorporates smart routing and full transparency including the ability for shoppers to watch their delivery on a map real time from pickup to delivery to their doorstep. To date, Deliv has raised $12.5 million from traditional, institutional and strategic investors including the four mall operators, Simon, Macerich, Westfield and GGP, as well as General Catalyst Partners, Operators Fund, PivotNorth Capital, RPM Ventures and Upfront Ventures.

Rally

Series A in 2018
Rally they provide equity shares in collectible assets. They make investing in ideas, emotions, and communities safe, easy, and accessible.

Bird

Series C in 2018
Bird operates a micro-mobility platform that offers electric vehicle-sharing services, aiming to provide affordable and sustainable transportation solutions to communities worldwide. The platform enables users to create profiles, facilitating the sharing of personal electric vehicles, including electric bicycles. By coordinating with cities, Bird enhances access to environmentally friendly local transport, thereby contributing to the reduction of traffic congestion and promoting responsible alternatives to traditional motor vehicles.

Rival

Series B in 2018
Rival is building the platform for the most coveted live events on the planet. They are a technology company powered by an exceptional team of engineers, product managers, and designers, bringing DNA from a broad swath of industries to solve decades-old problems with next generation technologies. They create amazing consumer and enterprise experiences for teams, venues, artists, and fans. Backed by world class venture capital, sports teams, venue owners across the globe, and leaders from the tech industry’s highest profile companies, their mission is to inspire the fan in everyone.

Bird

Series B in 2018
Bird operates a micro-mobility platform that offers electric vehicle-sharing services, aiming to provide affordable and sustainable transportation solutions to communities worldwide. The platform enables users to create profiles, facilitating the sharing of personal electric vehicles, including electric bicycles. By coordinating with cities, Bird enhances access to environmentally friendly local transport, thereby contributing to the reduction of traffic congestion and promoting responsible alternatives to traditional motor vehicles.

Fair

Series A in 2018
Fair is a car leasing company that aims to grant access to mobility to everyone by pioneering the car-as-a-service (CaaS) concept. It gives customers the freedom to drive the car they want for as long as they want, and the flexibility to walk away at any time.

Happy Returns

Series B in 2017
Happy Returns provides comprehensive return solutions for the world's leading online and omnichannel retailers and their customers. They provide aggregated shipping and logistics across all channels with optimized delivery to retailers' preferred destinations.

HopSkipDrive

Series A in 2017
HopSkiDrive is an information technology company that offers safe and dependable transportation solutions for schools and families. The company specializes in the fields of ridesharing for kids, kid transportation, school transportation, and student transportation. HopSkipDrive presently has contracts with more than 400 school districts and operates in 21 significant markets across 12 states. HopSkipDrive CareDrivers have securely transported 2 million riders to more than 16,000 schools while driving more than 20 million miles. It was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Inboard Technology

Series A in 2017
Inboard Technology is a manufacturer of high-performance lightweight transportation solutions. Through the concentrated and collaborative efforts of designers, engineers, and athletes Inboard Technology is able to manifest streamlined, seamless, and integrated hardware products. We define this minimalism and balance as flow, and it is accomplished through an engineering and design ethos that stems from its founders' action sports backgrounds. Inboard Technology seeks to create lightweight transportation technology that flows. Inboard Technology is the creator of the M1™: The world's first skateboard with motors inside the wheels. Pairing this with a battery that's hidden inside the deck makes the board look and feel like a traditional non-powered skateboard, while still getting you there at up to 24mph. A swappable battery with a 10-mile range ensures you can get there no matter what the distance. This is technology that flows.

Happy Returns

Series A in 2017
Happy Returns provides comprehensive return solutions for the world's leading online and omnichannel retailers and their customers. They provide aggregated shipping and logistics across all channels with optimized delivery to retailers' preferred destinations.

Skurt

Convertible Note in 2017
Skurt is a technology and logistics platform that offers the easiest way to get access to a car, and drive. With just a few taps users can have a car delivered right to their home, hotel or office and drive, anywhere. Customers request a rental on their phone and can have a car delivered to them within 60 minutes of booking. When they’re done, they set up a pick-up time and someone comes to get the car from wherever they are. Skurt is currently operating in Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami on both iOS and Android, and has delivered “tens of thousands of cars.”

Skurt

Series A in 2017
Skurt is a technology and logistics platform that offers the easiest way to get access to a car, and drive. With just a few taps users can have a car delivered right to their home, hotel or office and drive, anywhere. Customers request a rental on their phone and can have a car delivered to them within 60 minutes of booking. When they’re done, they set up a pick-up time and someone comes to get the car from wherever they are. Skurt is currently operating in Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami on both iOS and Android, and has delivered “tens of thousands of cars.”

Happy Returns

Seed Round in 2016
Happy Returns provides comprehensive return solutions for the world's leading online and omnichannel retailers and their customers. They provide aggregated shipping and logistics across all channels with optimized delivery to retailers' preferred destinations.

Deliv

Series B in 2016
Deliv is a crowdsourced, same-day delivery service that extends the reach of omnichannel retailers and provides their customers with an even more exceptional shopping experience. The company helps retailers enhance their customer experience by giving customers the choice to receive their items whenever and wherever they want. Deliv allows retailers to offer their customers a same-day delivery option as they shop from their website, mobile app or even when they are shopping in their physical brick and mortar stores. The same-day delivery button is simply added into the existing checkout process which allows the retailer to maintain ownership and data from each customer transaction. All same-day delivery orders (whether purchased online or in the store) are fulfilled and delivered from local brick and mortar stores, which now allow retailers’ stores to strategically become local distribution centers. This allows retailers to deliver faster and cheaper and in a more convenient way than any pure play eCommerce player like Amazon. Deliv has partnered with nearly 100 national and regional omnichannel retailers, as well as the four largest mall operators in the U.S., Simon Property Group, Macerich, Westfield and General Growth Properties. These mall operators manage close to 800 malls across the country, and extend this offering to all of its tenant retailers. Deliv is currently live with almost 100 retailers in nine malls across the four mall operators in five geographies within California and Illinois. Deliv is quickly expanding to dozens of other geographies nationwide. Deliv’s crowdsourced drivers are made up of highly educated, experienced customer service and sales personnel. They are rated by customers so the platform is able to prioritize the allocation of jobs to those with the highest ratings. The Deliv platform incorporates smart routing and full transparency including the ability for shoppers to watch their delivery on a map real time from pickup to delivery to their doorstep. To date, Deliv has raised $12.5 million from traditional, institutional and strategic investors including the four mall operators, Simon, Macerich, Westfield and GGP, as well as General Catalyst Partners, Operators Fund, PivotNorth Capital, RPM Ventures and Upfront Ventures.

HopSkipDrive

Series A in 2016
HopSkiDrive is an information technology company that offers safe and dependable transportation solutions for schools and families. The company specializes in the fields of ridesharing for kids, kid transportation, school transportation, and student transportation. HopSkipDrive presently has contracts with more than 400 school districts and operates in 21 significant markets across 12 states. HopSkipDrive CareDrivers have securely transported 2 million riders to more than 16,000 schools while driving more than 20 million miles. It was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Skurt

Seed Round in 2015
Skurt is a technology and logistics platform that offers the easiest way to get access to a car, and drive. With just a few taps users can have a car delivered right to their home, hotel or office and drive, anywhere. Customers request a rental on their phone and can have a car delivered to them within 60 minutes of booking. When they’re done, they set up a pick-up time and someone comes to get the car from wherever they are. Skurt is currently operating in Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami on both iOS and Android, and has delivered “tens of thousands of cars.”

HopSkipDrive

Seed Round in 2015
HopSkiDrive is an information technology company that offers safe and dependable transportation solutions for schools and families. The company specializes in the fields of ridesharing for kids, kid transportation, school transportation, and student transportation. HopSkipDrive presently has contracts with more than 400 school districts and operates in 21 significant markets across 12 states. HopSkipDrive CareDrivers have securely transported 2 million riders to more than 16,000 schools while driving more than 20 million miles. It was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Breeze

Series A in 2015
As of July 21, 2016, Breeze suspended operations. Breeze offers fleet management technology that modernizes car ownership by making it flexible and accessible to all. Breeze was launched in 2014 by [Jeff Pang](https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jeff-pang#/entity), [Ned Ryan](https://www.crunchbase.com/person/ned-ryan#/entity), and [Charlie Fang](https://www.crunchbase.com/person/charlie-fang#/entity). It is active in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, and Boston, although the company is no longer accepting new customers (for its old leasing platform).

Wheel Video

Seed Round in 2015
Wheel is the place where creative personalities start a video, and anyone can join in.

Ferris

Seed Round in 2015
Ferris is an app designed to make mobile videos actually watchable — and actually shareable. The app is designed to take care of that, automatically editing down moments within selected videos and creating more digestible and shareable content. Users simply choose a video or group of videos from their camera roll, and the app does the work of editing in realtime.

Navdy

Series A in 2015
The creator of the world’s first device for your car to let you Look Forward© while Staying Connected©, Navdy’s mission is to reinvent the driving experience. At Navdy, we set out to solve a complex problem with a beautifully simple solution. To create the type of product you get and immediately forget how you ever lived without it. We believe you should be able to do all the things you do everyday simply and easily from the driver’s seat. So we set out to make driving something you Look Forward© to again. Navdy is more than a piece of hardware and more than an app—it’s an experience, and one we hope you enjoy every time you get behind the wheel. To learn more, visit www.navdy.com.

Luxe

Seed Round in 2014
Luxe is building a logistics platform that will drive the next generation of local real time services, beginning with parking. The free Luxe app, available on iPhone, transforms parking from a necessary evil to a daily highlight. With a veteran team of leaders from Zynga, Tesla, Google, Yahoo and Groupon, a fleet of prescreened, friendly valets, dozens of insured and secure indoor parking lots and a sophisticated technology platform that monitors every step of the process from drop-off to pick-up, Luxe is leading the charge on a new industry of on demand services that addresses a ubiquitous urban challenge: parking.

Navdy

Seed Round in 2014
The creator of the world’s first device for your car to let you Look Forward© while Staying Connected©, Navdy’s mission is to reinvent the driving experience. At Navdy, we set out to solve a complex problem with a beautifully simple solution. To create the type of product you get and immediately forget how you ever lived without it. We believe you should be able to do all the things you do everyday simply and easily from the driver’s seat. So we set out to make driving something you Look Forward© to again. Navdy is more than a piece of hardware and more than an app—it’s an experience, and one we hope you enjoy every time you get behind the wheel. To learn more, visit www.navdy.com.

Deliv

Series A in 2014
Deliv is a crowdsourced, same-day delivery service that extends the reach of omnichannel retailers and provides their customers with an even more exceptional shopping experience. The company helps retailers enhance their customer experience by giving customers the choice to receive their items whenever and wherever they want. Deliv allows retailers to offer their customers a same-day delivery option as they shop from their website, mobile app or even when they are shopping in their physical brick and mortar stores. The same-day delivery button is simply added into the existing checkout process which allows the retailer to maintain ownership and data from each customer transaction. All same-day delivery orders (whether purchased online or in the store) are fulfilled and delivered from local brick and mortar stores, which now allow retailers’ stores to strategically become local distribution centers. This allows retailers to deliver faster and cheaper and in a more convenient way than any pure play eCommerce player like Amazon. Deliv has partnered with nearly 100 national and regional omnichannel retailers, as well as the four largest mall operators in the U.S., Simon Property Group, Macerich, Westfield and General Growth Properties. These mall operators manage close to 800 malls across the country, and extend this offering to all of its tenant retailers. Deliv is currently live with almost 100 retailers in nine malls across the four mall operators in five geographies within California and Illinois. Deliv is quickly expanding to dozens of other geographies nationwide. Deliv’s crowdsourced drivers are made up of highly educated, experienced customer service and sales personnel. They are rated by customers so the platform is able to prioritize the allocation of jobs to those with the highest ratings. The Deliv platform incorporates smart routing and full transparency including the ability for shoppers to watch their delivery on a map real time from pickup to delivery to their doorstep. To date, Deliv has raised $12.5 million from traditional, institutional and strategic investors including the four mall operators, Simon, Macerich, Westfield and GGP, as well as General Catalyst Partners, Operators Fund, PivotNorth Capital, RPM Ventures and Upfront Ventures.

Deliv

Series A in 2013
Deliv is a crowdsourced, same-day delivery service that extends the reach of omnichannel retailers and provides their customers with an even more exceptional shopping experience. The company helps retailers enhance their customer experience by giving customers the choice to receive their items whenever and wherever they want. Deliv allows retailers to offer their customers a same-day delivery option as they shop from their website, mobile app or even when they are shopping in their physical brick and mortar stores. The same-day delivery button is simply added into the existing checkout process which allows the retailer to maintain ownership and data from each customer transaction. All same-day delivery orders (whether purchased online or in the store) are fulfilled and delivered from local brick and mortar stores, which now allow retailers’ stores to strategically become local distribution centers. This allows retailers to deliver faster and cheaper and in a more convenient way than any pure play eCommerce player like Amazon. Deliv has partnered with nearly 100 national and regional omnichannel retailers, as well as the four largest mall operators in the U.S., Simon Property Group, Macerich, Westfield and General Growth Properties. These mall operators manage close to 800 malls across the country, and extend this offering to all of its tenant retailers. Deliv is currently live with almost 100 retailers in nine malls across the four mall operators in five geographies within California and Illinois. Deliv is quickly expanding to dozens of other geographies nationwide. Deliv’s crowdsourced drivers are made up of highly educated, experienced customer service and sales personnel. They are rated by customers so the platform is able to prioritize the allocation of jobs to those with the highest ratings. The Deliv platform incorporates smart routing and full transparency including the ability for shoppers to watch their delivery on a map real time from pickup to delivery to their doorstep. To date, Deliv has raised $12.5 million from traditional, institutional and strategic investors including the four mall operators, Simon, Macerich, Westfield and GGP, as well as General Catalyst Partners, Operators Fund, PivotNorth Capital, RPM Ventures and Upfront Ventures.

TrueCar

Venture Round in 2011
TrueCar is an information and technology platform that enables its users to communicate with TrueCar certified dealers. TrueCar is the authority on new-car pricing. It aggregates multiple data sources to show car buyers and dealers how much people actually paid for a particular car in their geographic area. True Car helps dealers gain real-time, unbiased information about marketplace pricing, helping them know how to price their cars to sell more and gain market share from other dealers. It was by automotive and technology pioneers Scott Painter and Tom Taira.

TrueCar

Series E in 2009
TrueCar is an information and technology platform that enables its users to communicate with TrueCar certified dealers. TrueCar is the authority on new-car pricing. It aggregates multiple data sources to show car buyers and dealers how much people actually paid for a particular car in their geographic area. True Car helps dealers gain real-time, unbiased information about marketplace pricing, helping them know how to price their cars to sell more and gain market share from other dealers. It was by automotive and technology pioneers Scott Painter and Tom Taira.

TrueCar

Series B in 2008
TrueCar is an information and technology platform that enables its users to communicate with TrueCar certified dealers. TrueCar is the authority on new-car pricing. It aggregates multiple data sources to show car buyers and dealers how much people actually paid for a particular car in their geographic area. True Car helps dealers gain real-time, unbiased information about marketplace pricing, helping them know how to price their cars to sell more and gain market share from other dealers. It was by automotive and technology pioneers Scott Painter and Tom Taira.

TrueCar

Series B in 2005
TrueCar is an information and technology platform that enables its users to communicate with TrueCar certified dealers. TrueCar is the authority on new-car pricing. It aggregates multiple data sources to show car buyers and dealers how much people actually paid for a particular car in their geographic area. True Car helps dealers gain real-time, unbiased information about marketplace pricing, helping them know how to price their cars to sell more and gain market share from other dealers. It was by automotive and technology pioneers Scott Painter and Tom Taira.
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