Investor profile
Upfront Ventures
VC
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Upfront Ventures is an early investor and long-term partner to tech founders and startups, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Los Angeles (Santa Monica). The firm invests approximately half its capital in the Southern California ecosystem, with the balance deployed across the US and internationally in Europe, India, and Israel. Upfront backs exceptional founders across all technology sectors — including SaaS, AI/ML, healthtech, fintech, cybersecurity, consumer, and deep tech — at the pre-seed through Series A stages, with follow-on capacity into growth rounds. The firm looks for strong founder-market fit and timing, seeking founders with a unique vantage point and deep obsession with the problem they are solving, and positions itself as a hands-on operational partner that joins boards, assists with recruitment, and provides strategic guidance for the long term.
Notable quotes
“We back exceptional founders solving real problems across sectors. When you hit a bump in the road, we're there solving problems alongside you with operational expertise and network leverage.”
“Upfront has a deep bench of talented investors. Kevin Zhang focuses on healthtech and gaming; Kobie Fuller focuses on Black-founded businesses and customer-experience software.”
“We look for two key things: founder-market fit and timing. We want to understand why the founding team has a unique vantage point and obsession with solving the problem they're going after, and why now is the best time to start this company.”
Team
Yves Sisteron
Managing Partner
Aditi Maliwal
Partner
Nick Kim
Partner
Recent investments
| Company | Round | Size | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kubera Health | Seed | $7m | 2026-05-28 |
| Village | Seed | $10m | 2026-05-05 |
| Daytona | Seed | $5m | 2024-07-01 |
| GoodRx | Series A | — | 2011-11-01 |
| Bird | Series B | — | 2018-03-09 |
| Ring | Seed | — | — |
| thredUP | Series E | — | 2015-09-10 |
| Apeel Sciences | Seed | — | — |
| TrueCar | Series E | — | 2009-03-02 |
| Clair | Seed | — | 2020-01-01 |
Frequent co-investors
| VC firm | Deals together |
|---|---|
| Greycroft | 12 |
| Accel | 10 |
| First Round Capital | 9 |
| Crosscut Ventures | 8 |
| Lightspeed Venture Partners | 7 |
| General Catalyst | 6 |
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