What FirstMark does

FirstMark is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2008 in New York City by Rick Heitzmann and Amish Jani. The firm invests across seed through growth stages in AI/ML, commerce infrastructure, consumer, data infrastructure, digital health, enterprise, fintech, gaming, HR tech, marketplaces, martech, and vertical software, with a portfolio of 100+ companies. Marquee exits include Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP), Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB), DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG), and Upwork (NASDAQ: UPWK), and FirstMark frequently positions itself as the first institutional check (e.g., the first-institutional check into Pinterest in 2011).\n\nFirstMark differentiates through a proprietary Platform combining three service lines: Guilds (private C-Suite executive networks reaching 2,500+ executives and 60% of Unicorns), the FirstMark Talent Network (full lifecycle executive and IC recruiting plus compensation and HR best-practice benchmarking across the portfolio), and a Warm Customer Introductions Program (bespoke intros, demo days, and private events routing portfolio companies into Fortune 500 buyers and major cloud providers). The Platform is supported by 100+ annual events and a 50,000+ member community, including sub-communities Founder Guild, Fintech Driven, CloudNY, and Data Driven NYC. A new AI-focused flagship, AI✦NY, launched in May 2026 as a 150+ CEO summit.\n\nFirstMark generates revenue through traditional venture fund economics: management fees on assets under management from Limited Partners and carried interest on successful exits. The firm does not publicly disclose AUM, fee rates, or fund vintage, and revenue figures are not in the source material. Operationally the firm runs lean — approximately 27 team members across partners, principals, investors, platform, finance, and operations — and is actively expanding into European markets (notable 2025-2026 bets include Stockholm-based Legora, Paris-based Gradium, and London-based Tracebit and VillageSQL) and into defense tech (Harmattan AI, unicorn as of January 2026).

Name

FirstMark

Legal name

FirstMark Capital, LLC

Website

http://www.firstmark.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

FirstMark is a New York City-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2008 that backs exceptional founders across AI, consumer, enterprise, fintech, healthcare, and gaming, providing capital plus a proprietary platform of community networks, full-lifecycle recruiting, and warm customer introductions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Fund Management Fees: FirstMark Capital LLC operates as a venture capital firm managing capital from Limited Partners (LPs); typical VC management fee structure on assets under management (specific fees not publicly disclosed).
2. Carried Interest & Investment Returns: Returns from equity investments in portfolio companies across multiple funds; investments span early-stage to growth, generating returns through exits (IPOs and acquisitions). The firm discloses that 'any investments or portfolio companies mentioned... are not representative of all investments' and 'there can be no assurance that the investments referenced will be profitable.'

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

FirstMark is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in New York City that deploys institutional capital into technology startups and supports portfolio companies through a Platform of value-added services covering Networks (Guilds CXO communities), Talent (full-lifecycle recruiting), and Customers (warm introductions to Fortune 500 enterprises). The firm manages capital from Limited Partners and earns revenue through fund management fees and carried interest on successful exits.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Founder Guild: Private community for FirstMark portfolio founders
• Data Driven NYC
• CloudNY
• Fintech Driven
• Guilds
• The MAD Podcast With Matt Turck
• Standing Table

Products and services

• FirstMark Platform Services
• Guilds Executive Network
• FirstMark Talent Network
• Warm Customer Introductions Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 50k+ community members
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and major.

• Battery VenturesflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-hosts CloudNY with FirstMark Capital. CloudNY is described as a private, invite-only conference for CEOs of breakout cloud companies, co-hosted by Battery Ventures and FirstMark Capital with the objective of arming attendees with battle-tested lessons for navigating hypergrowth on the journey to becoming the next iconic cloud company.
• SalesforceflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerSalesforce entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Momentum (FirstMark-backed AI-native Customer Intelligence and Observability company) in February 2026. FirstMark led Momentum's $13M Series A just over 18 months prior.
• Dassault AviationflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerDassault Aviation led Harmattan AI's $200M Series B at a $1.4 billion valuation with continued support from FirstMark (existing investor) and Sisyphus Ventures. Harmattan AI is a defense tech company developing embedded AI for crewed and uncrewed military aircraft and drones.
• CloudbedsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCloudbeds partnered with Journey (a FirstMark portfolio company) to integrate AI-powered loyalty technology into its hospitality management system, giving independent hotels access to a unified rewards currency offering 5x loyalty points per dollar for direct bookings.
• DatadogmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic investor in Daytona's $24M Series A (led by FirstMark Capital with strategic investment from Datadog). Datadog also previously acquired FirstMark portfolio companies Quickwit and Timber.
• Figma VenturesmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic investor in Daytona's $24M Series A (led by FirstMark Capital with strategic investment from Figma Ventures).

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Battery Ventures: Battery Ventures is a similar-stage venture capital firm that co-hosts CloudNY with FirstMark Capital. Both firms invest across enterprise software, infrastructure, and consumer technology, with comparable fund sizes and co-investment patterns.
• Bessemer Venture Partners: Bessemer is a long-time co-investment partner with FirstMark across multiple rounds (ClickHouse, Tracebit, Ada, TensorZero). Both are established venture firms with global reach, cloud/enterprise focus, and multi-stage strategies.
• Accel: Accel frequently co-invests with FirstMark (Legora, Synthesia, Tracebit, Ada). Both are early-stage-focused venture firms with strong brand recognition and similar portfolio construction approaches in enterprise and consumer technology.
• Union Square Ventures: USV is a NYC-based early-stage venture capital firm with a similar community-led, founder-first philosophy and comparable fund size. Both firms emphasize network effects and serve as NYC venture peers.
• GV (Google Ventures): GV co-invested with FirstMark in Synthesia and VillageSQL. As a corporate venture arm, GV operates in similar early-to-growth stages with comparable AI/data infrastructure thesis and co-investment syndicate behavior.
• Index Ventures: Index Ventures co-invested in ClickHouse with FirstMark. Both firms operate transatlantically with strong enterprise software and consumer investment theses, and similar fund sizes targeting growth-stage rounds.
• Lightspeed Venture Partners: Lightspeed co-invested with FirstMark in ClickHouse and Rain. Both firms share enterprise SaaS and consumer thesis overlap with similar multi-stage investment approaches and global presence.
• Greylock Partners: Greylock is an early-stage venture firm with enterprise software and consumer focus similar to FirstMark. Both firms emphasize founder partnership and platform services, and compete for similar NYC/SF deal flow.

Broad incumbents

• Sequoia Capital: Sequoia is a much larger venture firm operating broadly across stages and geographies. While not a direct peer in stage or thesis focus, Sequoia frequently competes and co-invests in the same late-stage rounds (e.g., ClickHouse ecosystem, AI infrastructure) where FirstMark participates.
• Andreessen Horowitz: Andreessen Horowitz is a larger venture firm with broad portfolio across stages and sectors. a16z overlaps with FirstMark in enterprise software, fintech, and AI thesis areas and competes for similar founder relationships.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/firstmarkcap
• Facebookfacebook.com/firstmarkcap
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/firstmark

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments463 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FirstMark