First Round Capital
Philadelphia-founded, San Francisco/New York seed-stage VC; led Merlin Labs' 2021 seed round.
First Round Capital is a generalist seed-stage venture firm founded in 2004 by Josh Kopelman and Howard Morgan, with offices in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New York. Known for early bets on Uber, Square, Notion, and Roblox, the firm manages roughly $1.4B in assets and typically writes $750K-$4M seed checks. First Round led Merlin Labs' $3.5M seed round in 2021; GV separately led Merlin's $21.5M Series A the same year.
Overview
- Firm
- First Round Capital
- Headquarters
- Philadelphia, PA (multi-office: San Francisco, New York)
- Founded
- 2004
- AUM
- ~$1.4B (reported)
- Stages
- Seed
- Thesis
- Generalist seed-stage venture — consumer/enterprise software; occasional dual-use bets (Merlin Labs, K2 Space) but no dedicated defense practice
Portfolio companies1
Partners0
No linked records yet.
Frequently asked
- What is First Round Capital?
- Generalist seed-stage venture — consumer/enterprise software; occasional dual-use bets (Merlin Labs, K2 Space) but no dedicated defense practice
- How much does First Round Capital manage?
- First Round Capital manages ~$1.4B (reported) in assets, and was founded in 2004.
- What stages does First Round Capital invest at?
- First Round Capital invests at Seed.
Sources & citations2
Each claim links to its underlying source. Confidence reflects how directly the source supports the claim.
- 1
First Round Capital: founded 2004 by Josh Kopelman and Howard Morgan, Philadelphia/SF/NY offices, early investor in Uber, Square, Notion, Roblox
Wikipedia: First Round CapitalReported2026-08-16 - 2
First Round Capital led Merlin Labs' $3.5M seed round; GV led the separate $21.5M Series A, both announced 2021-05-26
TechCrunch: Merlin Labs emerges from stealth to bring autonomy to 55-craft King Air fleetVerified2021-05-26