First Round Capital

First Round Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 2004 and based in San Francisco, California. It specializes in seed-stage investments, primarily focusing on technology, healthcare, and consumer sectors. The firm aims to support early-stage companies, often acting as their first source of outside capital, with typical initial investments around $500,000. First Round Capital takes an active role in its portfolio companies, fostering a community of entrepreneurs through various services, including custom software and unique in-person experiences. The firm has helped its founders raise over $2.5 billion in follow-on capital, showcasing its effective support for burgeoning businesses. Additionally, First Round Capital has initiated a VC-sponsored Exchange Fund, allowing its entrepreneurs to share in the performance of their collective investments. With offices in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New York, the firm continues to invest nationally, focusing on nurturing innovative ideas and helping small companies grow into significant players in their respective markets.

Meka Asonye

Partner

Hayley Barna

Partner

Brett Berson

Partner

Jeffrey Donnon

CFO

Annie Duke

Special Partner

Molly Fowler

CEO

Amy Fu

Vice President, Investments

Rob Hayes

Partner

Todd Jackson

Partner

Josh Kopelman

Partner

Whitnie Narcisse

Operating Partner

Cory Perkins

Partner Operations Manager

Bill Trenchard

Partner

Liz Wessel

Partner

James Wu

Infrastructure and AI / ML Investor

Past deals in Messaging

Wisdom

Seed Round in 2021
Wisdom provides a platform for one-to-one style conversations with a focus on mentoring.

Discourse

Series A in 2021
Discourse is an open-source discussion platform designed to enhance online communication in a modern context. It serves multiple functions, operating as a mailing list, a discussion forum, and a long-form chat room. The platform is built from the ground up to address the needs of contemporary users who engage in discussions across various devices and social media. Discourse emphasizes searchable discussions, community moderation, and a trust system that encourages meaningful interactions among users. Its features enable individuals to connect with others, share ideas, and foster engaging conversations in a structured environment. By reimagining the approach to online discourse, Discourse aims to facilitate a more productive and inclusive dialogue for communities and organizations.

Wakie

Venture Round in 2020
Wakie is a mobile application developer based in Moscow, Russia, established in 2011. The company specializes in providing real live human wake-up calls through a community-driven approach, allowing users to wake each other up rather than relying on traditional alarm clocks. Its primary applications include Wakie, an international wake-up service, and Budist, which caters to Russian-speaking users. In addition to wake-up calls, Wakie also offers a platform for social calling and chatting, where users can connect with others to discuss various topics or seek advice, fostering meaningful conversations among a global community.

Telepath

Seed Round in 2020
Telepath provides a social network application that enables users to discuss their interests. Its platform is secure and easier, enabling users to connect with each other very easily.

Multi

Seed Round in 2019
Multi operates a video calling platform that facilitates online collaboration for remote teams. The application enables users to engage in audio and video calls, instant messaging, and make calls to both mobile and landline numbers. By prioritizing real-time communication, Multi allows teams to connect through live video chats, fostering a more natural and engaging environment for collaboration. This approach helps users build rapport and enhances the overall experience of working together remotely, making it an effective tool for professional meetings and personal interactions alike.

Molly

Seed Round in 2019
Molly is a technology company based in San Francisco, California, that has developed a web-based platform designed to centralize information from various online profiles into one accessible location. The platform features an interactive "ask me anything" (AMA) capability, allowing users to seek answers about individuals. Responses are aggregated from diverse sources, including Medium, Twitter, and Instagram, facilitating a comprehensive understanding of the person in question. By cross-pollinating information, Molly enhances the user experience by making relevant data easily retrievable and organized.

Plexchat

Seed Round in 2017
Plexchat, Inc. is a mobile chat platform designed specifically for gamers, facilitating communication and coordination around gaming interests. Founded in 2015 and based in Redwood City, California, Plexchat offers a mobile application available on both iOS and Android. The platform enables users to connect and engage in meaningful conversations within large open communities, fostering a collaborative environment where gamers can share feedback and coordinate gameplay. Acquired by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in July 2018, Plexchat aims to enhance the social experience for gamers by providing a dedicated space for interaction in a largely anonymous setting, addressing the chaos often found in broader social networks.

Relay Network

Series B in 2016
Relay Network, LLC operates as a technology company that connects brands to their customers on a private messaging application. It sends messages on behalf of businesses; and let the customers opt in to receive messages on behalf of their service providers. The company serves healthcare, financial services, insurance, cable, energy, travel, and hospitality industries. Relay Network, LLC was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Confide

Seed Round in 2016
Confide, Inc. is a New York-based company that offers a secure mobile messaging platform designed for confidential communications. Established in 2013, Confide enables users to engage in off-the-record conversations through its encrypted messaging service, which features self-destructing messages and protection against screenshots. This platform allows individuals to discuss sensitive topics freely, ensuring that their communications remain private and are not subject to duplication or misuse. Through its innovative approach to messaging, Confide provides a solution for clients seeking to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of their private conversations.

Snowball

Seed Round in 2014
Snowball is a developer of a smartphone application designed to streamline notifications for Android users. The application consolidates messages from various social and communication platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, SMS, Line, Telegram, and email, into a unified inbox. This allows users to manage their communications efficiently without the need to open multiple apps. Snowball also offers features such as travel assistance, providing users with real-time pricing and arrival times from ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft. Additionally, the app prioritizes notifications, enabling users to filter out less important alerts while ensuring they do not miss critical messages and reminders. This focus on enhancing user experience is aimed at reducing app clutter and improving overall productivity.

Remind

Series C in 2014
Remind is a communication platform founded in 2011 that aims to enhance student success by facilitating effective communication within K-12 education. The platform enables school and district administrators to engage with their communities, while also connecting educators and families. Remind's application allows for real-time messaging, scheduling reminders, and coordinating logistics for school-related activities, which streamlines communication among teachers, parents, students, and administrators. By providing these tools, Remind addresses the communication gaps often found in primary education and supports a collaborative environment for teaching and learning.

Relay Network

Series A in 2014
Relay Network, LLC operates as a technology company that connects brands to their customers on a private messaging application. It sends messages on behalf of businesses; and let the customers opt in to receive messages on behalf of their service providers. The company serves healthcare, financial services, insurance, cable, energy, travel, and hospitality industries. Relay Network, LLC was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Confide

Seed Round in 2014
Confide, Inc. is a New York-based company that offers a secure mobile messaging platform designed for confidential communications. Established in 2013, Confide enables users to engage in off-the-record conversations through its encrypted messaging service, which features self-destructing messages and protection against screenshots. This platform allows individuals to discuss sensitive topics freely, ensuring that their communications remain private and are not subject to duplication or misuse. Through its innovative approach to messaging, Confide provides a solution for clients seeking to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of their private conversations.

Remind

Series B in 2014
Remind is a communication platform founded in 2011 that aims to enhance student success by facilitating effective communication within K-12 education. The platform enables school and district administrators to engage with their communities, while also connecting educators and families. Remind's application allows for real-time messaging, scheduling reminders, and coordinating logistics for school-related activities, which streamlines communication among teachers, parents, students, and administrators. By providing these tools, Remind addresses the communication gaps often found in primary education and supports a collaborative environment for teaching and learning.

Path

Series C in 2014
Path is a mobile photo-sharing and messaging service designed to facilitate personal social networking among users and their closest contacts, limited to 150 connections. The platform emphasizes simplicity, quality, and privacy, aiming to enhance the way individuals share their life's moments with friends and family. Path offers features that enable users to capture and share experiences in a secure environment, underlining the importance of close relationships. The service has evolved with a focus on creating meaningful connections, reflecting the belief that mobile technology can transform social interactions.

Remind

Series A in 2013
Remind is a communication platform founded in 2011 that aims to enhance student success by facilitating effective communication within K-12 education. The platform enables school and district administrators to engage with their communities, while also connecting educators and families. Remind's application allows for real-time messaging, scheduling reminders, and coordinating logistics for school-related activities, which streamlines communication among teachers, parents, students, and administrators. By providing these tools, Remind addresses the communication gaps often found in primary education and supports a collaborative environment for teaching and learning.

MessageMe

Series A in 2013
MessageMe is a mobile messaging application designed to enhance communication through personalized and emotionally engaging interactions. The platform focuses on creating a fun and lightweight user experience, encouraging users to send and respond to messages in a dynamic manner. By applying techniques from social gaming, MessageMe aims to enrich the emotional context of messaging, thereby increasing user engagement and excitement. The company has attracted interest from major players in the tech industry, including Snapchat and Truecaller. Ultimately, MessageMe was acquired by Yahoo for a sum estimated between $30 million and $40 million, reflecting its potential in the competitive messaging app landscape.

MessageMe

Seed Round in 2013
MessageMe is a mobile messaging application designed to enhance communication through personalized and emotionally engaging interactions. The platform focuses on creating a fun and lightweight user experience, encouraging users to send and respond to messages in a dynamic manner. By applying techniques from social gaming, MessageMe aims to enrich the emotional context of messaging, thereby increasing user engagement and excitement. The company has attracted interest from major players in the tech industry, including Snapchat and Truecaller. Ultimately, MessageMe was acquired by Yahoo for a sum estimated between $30 million and $40 million, reflecting its potential in the competitive messaging app landscape.

Discourse

Seed Round in 2012
Discourse is an open-source discussion platform designed to enhance online communication in a modern context. It serves multiple functions, operating as a mailing list, a discussion forum, and a long-form chat room. The platform is built from the ground up to address the needs of contemporary users who engage in discussions across various devices and social media. Discourse emphasizes searchable discussions, community moderation, and a trust system that encourages meaningful interactions among users. Its features enable individuals to connect with others, share ideas, and foster engaging conversations in a structured environment. By reimagining the approach to online discourse, Discourse aims to facilitate a more productive and inclusive dialogue for communities and organizations.

Remind

Seed Round in 2012
Remind is a communication platform founded in 2011 that aims to enhance student success by facilitating effective communication within K-12 education. The platform enables school and district administrators to engage with their communities, while also connecting educators and families. Remind's application allows for real-time messaging, scheduling reminders, and coordinating logistics for school-related activities, which streamlines communication among teachers, parents, students, and administrators. By providing these tools, Remind addresses the communication gaps often found in primary education and supports a collaborative environment for teaching and learning.

Sincerely

Series A in 2011
Sincerely Inc, founded in 2011, operates a suite of mobile applications designed to simplify the gifting process. The company's platform enables users to easily browse, select, and send a variety of curated gifts, greeting cards, and postcards directly from their mobile devices. With a mission to make gifting more accessible and thoughtful, Sincerely focuses on facilitating the mailing of gifts of all types, positioning itself as a comprehensive gifting network.

Relay Network

Series A in 2011
Relay Network, LLC operates as a technology company that connects brands to their customers on a private messaging application. It sends messages on behalf of businesses; and let the customers opt in to receive messages on behalf of their service providers. The company serves healthcare, financial services, insurance, cable, energy, travel, and hospitality industries. Relay Network, LLC was incorporated in 2009 and is based in Radnor, Pennsylvania.

Path

Series A in 2011
Path is a mobile photo-sharing and messaging service designed to facilitate personal social networking among users and their closest contacts, limited to 150 connections. The platform emphasizes simplicity, quality, and privacy, aiming to enhance the way individuals share their life's moments with friends and family. Path offers features that enable users to capture and share experiences in a secure environment, underlining the importance of close relationships. The service has evolved with a focus on creating meaningful connections, reflecting the belief that mobile technology can transform social interactions.

GroupMe

Series B in 2011
GroupMe Inc. is a New York-based company that develops and operates a group messaging application accessible via smartphones, push notifications, or SMS. Founded in 2010, the platform allows users to communicate in groups effortlessly, enabling anyone from their contact list to join conversations without requiring a smartphone. GroupMe facilitates connections among friends, family, and coworkers, making it a versatile tool for maintaining relationships. The company gained significant attention by processing billions of messages and receiving the Breakout award at SXSW. In 2011, GroupMe was acquired and became a subsidiary of Skype Global, yet it continues to function with a degree of autonomy, fostering an entrepreneurial environment among its team.

MightyText

Seed Round in 2011
MightyText is a technology company based in the Bay Area, California, founded by a team with backgrounds in prominent companies such as Google, Zynga, and Cisco. The company focuses on enhancing the experience of users who send and receive SMS text messages and phone calls. By leveraging the capabilities of the Android platform, MightyText aims to provide innovative products and features that facilitate communication for consumers worldwide.

GroupMe

Series A in 2010
GroupMe Inc. is a New York-based company that develops and operates a group messaging application accessible via smartphones, push notifications, or SMS. Founded in 2010, the platform allows users to communicate in groups effortlessly, enabling anyone from their contact list to join conversations without requiring a smartphone. GroupMe facilitates connections among friends, family, and coworkers, making it a versatile tool for maintaining relationships. The company gained significant attention by processing billions of messages and receiving the Breakout award at SXSW. In 2011, GroupMe was acquired and became a subsidiary of Skype Global, yet it continues to function with a degree of autonomy, fostering an entrepreneurial environment among its team.

SocialBomb

Seed Round in 2008
Socialbomb's platform connects your audience’s mobile phones, blu-ray players, computers, and connected devices to their friends and the things they love. Every brand manager wants to build apps that will kickstart conversations across the world's Facebook pages, Twitter streams and iPhones. Socialbomb helps developers and creatives build those apps. They provide a single API that communicates with many social networks at once, so developers can spend their time on the core application instead of programing for each individual service. The Socialbomb engine is a RESTful API that lets customers exchange data dynamically with specific services. They push data to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and other social networks, and then pull information back into their customers' applications for richer features and more meaningful analytics. The Socialbomb API can provide detailed feedback about which content users like, comment on, and share. They also provide a web‐based administration and analytics suite to manage and measure the apps running on their platform. Customers can add publication channels, edit the services they make available, and review user activity metrics.

MeetMe

Series B in 2008
MeetMe® (formerly MyYearbook) is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

MeetMe

Series A in 2007
MeetMe® (formerly MyYearbook) is the leading social network for meeting new people in the US and the public market leader for social discovery (NYSE MKT: MEET). MeetMe makes meeting new people fun through social games and apps, monetized by both advertising and virtual currency. With 60% of traffic coming from mobile, MeetMe is fast becoming the social gathering place for the mobile generation. The company operates MeetMe.com and MeetMe apps on iPhone, iPad, and Android in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Snapvine

Series A in 2006
Snapvine is a service that enables users to leave voicemails online through a centralized platform. Users can call a specific Snapvine number and enter a code linked to the intended recipient to record their message. Alternatively, they can utilize a microphone connected to their computer to leave messages. Voicemails can be shared through simple embeddable widgets, allowing for both public and private listening options. Public messages are accessible to anyone visiting the page where the widget is embedded, while private messages are restricted to the intended recipient. Snapvine has gained popularity on social networking sites, particularly among artists and celebrities who interact with their fans.
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