For this week, we’re profiling Spark Capital.
Focus Areas: Spark Capital, a venture capital firm, directs its investments across various stages (early and growth), encompassing consumer, enterprise, AI, frontier tech, marketplaces, and fintech sectors.
Headquarters: Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, it also operates offices in San Francisco, California, and New York, New York.
Founding Visionary: Spark Capital was founded in 2005 by visionaries Alex Finkelstein, Bijan Sabet, Paul Conway, Santo Politi, and Todd Dagres. Alex has been a General Partner at Spark Capital since its founding, directing investments in companies such as Andela and Badi. Before joining Spark, he produced television programs for leading networks and worked in venture capital at Softbank. Alex holds a B.A. in Political Science from Middlebury College. Bijan Sabet is also a co-founder and Partner Emeritus at Spark Capital. He has been instrumental in leading investments in renowned companies such as Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare, along with contributions to thePlatform (acquired by Comcast) and Next New Networks (acquired by Google). As a Co-founder and Chief Financial Officer at Spark Capital, Paul Conway directs the firm's daily operations, including finance and human resources. His prior role as CFO at Charles River Ventures involved managing financial reporting and investor relations for both institutional and individual investors. Paul, a Certified Public Accountant, earned his BBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Starting his career as an engineer at Panasonic, Santo Politi later ventured into the realm of capital investment. In 2005, he co-founded Spark, seeking to disrupt conventional investment norms with a bold strategy. His educational background includes studies at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Bogazici University, and New Jersey Institute of Technology. As a co-founder and Partner Emeritus at Spark Capital, Todd spearheaded investments in companies like 1stdibs and Freight Farms. Prior to this role, he served as a General Partner at Battery Ventures, where he invested in notable firms including Akamai Technologies. Additionally, Todd co-founded and chairs Power Launch, an organization dedicated to supporting nonprofits. He holds a B.S. in Psychology from Trinity College and earned an M.B.A. from Boston University.
Portfolio Companies: Its portfolio includes Slack, Discord, Carta, Anthropic, Grammarly, Ramp, Glossier, and more.
Recent Deals:
Profluent Bio secured $35,000,000 in Series A funding, with participation from Spark Capital, Air Street Capital, and three additional investors.
Baseten garnered $40,000,000 in Series B financing from Spark Capital and six other investors.
Abridge successfully raised $150,000,000 in its Series C round, with Bessemer Venture Partners and nine other investors contributing to the funding.
Fund News: Recently, Spark Capital disclosed the raising of new funds for both early-stage and venture-growth investments: Spark Capital VIII and Spark Growth V. These funds maintain a similar scale to their predecessors, with aggregate commitments totaling $2.3 billion. Spark Capital VIII functions as an early-stage venture capital fund, while Spark Growth V focuses on later-stage ventures.
Learn more about the firm here: www.sparkcapital.com.
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