Upfront Ventures
2026-09-05upfront.com
Overview
What they do
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.
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What they look for
Upfront seeks to fund companies that are using technology to fundamentally change industries or society at large. We don't mind taking high-risk bets provided we believe that the founders we're backing have knowledge others don't have and are building defensible IP such that if they are right about the market they can sustain a leadership position. We say we invest in three distinct things: product / market fit, founder / market fit and founder / Upfront fit.
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Stage
Pre-seed, Seed, Series A, Series B+
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Sectors
Healthcare, Govtech and defence, Food and agriculture, Climate, Fintech, SaaS, Media, Consumer
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Based
Santa Monica, US
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Sources
2026-09-05upfront.comIn today's world, that means we're your first check in at the seed (or even pre-seed) stage.…
2026-09-05cooley.comUpfront VII and Growth III will place a deeper concentration on categories where Upfront…
Portfolio, cheque size and the rest
The 13 companies they have backed that we can see, the cheque they write, and whether they are deploying right now.
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