Spark Capital

Spark Capital Partners, LLC

Industry	Venture capital
Founded	2005;20 years ago (2005)
Headquarters	San Francisco, New York, and Boston
Key people	Alex Finkelstein, Nabeel Hyatt, Jeremy Philips, Santo Politi, Yasmin Razavi, Will Reed, Bijan Sabet, Kevin Thau
AUM	USD $15 Billion
Website	sparkcapital.com

Spark Capital is a multi-stage venture capital firm based in the U.S. with operations in San Francisco, New York, and Boston. Spark is a generalist VC firm with a portfolio that spans verticals such as consumer internet, enterprise software, gaming, infrastructure technologies, hardware, semiconductors, crypto, fintech, and AI.

Funds

Spark Capital was launched in 2005 by Paul Conway, Santo Politi, and Todd Dagres. ^{[1] [2] [3]} Today the firm manages assets north of $12 billion. They have raised eight early-stage funds: US$265 million in 2005; $360 million in 2008; $360 million in 2010; $450 million in 2013; ^[1] $400 million in 2016; ^[4] $450 million in 2019; $700M in 2021; and $700M in 2024. ^[5] They have also raised five growth funds: $375 million in 2014; ^[6] $600 million in 2016; ^[4] $900 million in 2019; $1.4B in 2021; and $1.4B in 2024. ^[5]

Team

Spark Capital was founded in 2005 by Bijan Sabet, Paul Conway, Santo Politi, and Todd Dagres. Other people who have joined the company since its inception include Jeremy Philips, Alex Finkelstein, Yasmin Razavi, Will Reed and Nabeel Hyatt. The company consists of approximately 11–50 employees. ^[7]

Investment approach

A Forbes article about Spark Capital variously attributes Spark Capital's success to focusing specifically on technology startups in the media, entertainment, and mobile sectors; to information-sharing within the company, which is organized so that all partners can work with a portfolio company (not just the partner assigned to that company); and to the partners themselves' use of the products of the companies they invested in (such as Twitter). ^[2]

Spark Capital has been known for co-investing with Union Square Ventures. Many of Spark Capital's early picks, including Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare, were made via partner Bijan Sabet and were joint investments with Union Square Ventures, made by partner Fred Wilson. ^{[8] [9] [10] [11]} Sabet says that Spark Capital's portfolio companies do not use non-compete agreements, which he says have been a key factor in limiting startup growth in New York and Boston. ^[12]

Companies

Spark is has been an early institutional investor in:

• Affirm ^[13] : Spark Capital led the series B, with Jeremy Philips joining the board. ^[14]
• Anthropic ^{[15] [16]} : Yasmin Razavi, the company's General Partner at Spark Capital led the Series C (first institutional VC round) in 2022.
• The Bot Company: Kyle Vogt's venture after Cruise, Nabeel Hyatt co-led the $150M series A. ^[17]
• Coinbase ^[18]
• Chainguard ^[19] : Spark Capital led the series B, with Spark’s general partner Clay Fisher joining the board.
• Cruise: Spark Capital invested in Cruise in the Series A funding round, and the company's General Partner Nabeel Hyatt joined the board of directors. ^[20]
• Deel: Spark Capital led the Series B in 2020, the company's General Partner, Yasmin Razavi joining the board.
• Discord: Spark Capital invested in multiple funding rounds of a gamer chat tool Discord, with General Partner Nabeel Hyatt joining the board as an observer. ^{[21] [22]}
• Lightmatter: A photonics chip company; Spark led the Series A with Santo Politi joining the board.
• Oculus: Spark capital invested in Oculus VR in both Series A and Series B funding rounds, which was subsequently sold to Facebook for an estimated $2 billion. ^[23] The company's General Partner Santo Politi joined the board of directors.^{[ citation needed ]}
• Slack ^[24]
• Twitter: Bijan Sabet, the partner at Spark Capital, invested in Twitter's second (Series B) round in June 2008, along with Jeff Bezos and additional investments from past investors such as Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, and Sabet also accepted a board seat at Twitter. ^[25] According to Hatching Twitter, Sabet and Wilson played a crucial role in facilitating smooth leadership changes at Twitter in October 2008 and later October 2010—ousting Jack Dorsey to install Evan Williams in 2008 and ousting Williams to install Dick Costolo in 2010. ^[26]
• Tumblr: Spark Capital was one of the early investors in Tumblr, where they co-invested with Union Square Ventures, paying the same amount for the same share, with Bijan Sabet as the assigned partner from Spark Capital. ^{[27] [28]} Following the sale of Tumblr to Yahoo! for $1.1 billion, Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures each took home $192 million from the deal. ^{[27] [29] [30]}

Others

• Abridge ^[31]
• Adept ^[32]
• Benchling
• CTRL Labs ^[33]
• Carta
• Cyera
• eToro ^[34]
• Fireblocks
• Flock Safety
• Framework_Computer ^[35]
• Optimism
• Plaid ^[36]
• Postmates
• Pika ^[37]
• Scale AI
• Ramp

References

1. Rao, Leena (February 25, 2013). "Boston-Based VC Firm And Early Twitter Investor Spark Capital Raises $450M For Fourth Fund". Archived from the original on January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
2. Geron, Tomio (September 10, 2012). "How Spark Capital Invested In Hot Startups Like Twitter, Tumblr, Discord". Forbes . Retrieved January 23, 2014.
3. "Team". Spark Capital. Archived from the original on February 20, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
4. Loizos, Connie (November 14, 2016). "Spark Capital suddenly has $1 billion to invest". Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
5. Roof, Katie (January 30, 2020). "Spark Raises $1.35 Billion to Find the Next Plaid or Slack". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
6. Basich, Zoran (November 6, 2014). "Spark Capital's New Growth Fund Aims to Catch the Ones That Got Away". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
7. https://www.linkedin.com/company/spark-capital-llc Archived August 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine ^{[ self-published source ]}
8. "Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures – So Happy Together: While USV and Spark are obviously BFFs, who else most frequently co-invests alongside these firms?". CB Insights. May 23, 2013. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
9. Rao, Leena (September 13, 2013). "Ask A VC: Early Twitter Investor And Spark Capital Partner Bijan Sabet On Founder Personality, Investment Syndicates And More". TechCrunch . Archived from the original on January 24, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
10. Glasner, Joanna (May 22, 2013). "Union Square & Spark Capital: Venture's New Power Couple?". peHUB. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
11. Wilson, Fred (March 31, 2009). "Co-investors". A VC. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
12. Keohane, Dennis (July 11, 2014). "Bijan Sabet on Spark Capital's noncompetes approach: Our companies don't have them". BetaBoston. Archived from the original on July 13, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
13. Shieber, Jonathan (May 6, 2015). "Max Levchin's Lending Startup Affirm Raises $275M In Equity And Debt". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
14. "Spark Capital Leads $275M Investment in Affirm | PitchBook". pitchbook.com. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
15. "Anthropic Raises $450 Million in Series C Funding to Scale Reliable AI Products". www.anthropic.com. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
16. "OpenAI Rival Anthropic Raises Funding at $4.1 Billion Valuation". The Information. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
17. "Cruise Cofounder Kyle Vogt Raises $150 Million For New Robot Startup". The Information. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
18. "Coinbase raises $100M Series D led by IVP". www.coinbase.com. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
19. Rundle, James (November 1, 2023). "WSJ News Exclusive | Chainguard, an Open-Source Security Firm, Raises $61 Million". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved March 5, 2025.
20. "cruise spark capital - Google Search". www.Google.com. Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
21. Needleman, Rolfe Winkler and Sarah E. (April 19, 2018). "Discord Valued At $1.65 Billion In New Funding Round". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
22. "Discord exploring sale that could be worth more than $10 billion". VentureBeat. March 22, 2021. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
23. Garland, Russ (March 26, 2014). "Facebook Buys Oculus: Latest Win for Hot Venture Firm Spark Capital". WSJ.com. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
24. Roof, Katie (January 30, 2020). "Spark Raises $1.35 Billion to Find the Next Plaid or Slack". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved March 5, 2025.
25. Stone, Biz (June 24, 2008). "Welcoming Bijan and Jeff". Twitter blog. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
26. Bilton, Nick (2013). Hatching Twitter . Portfolio Hardcover. ISBN   9781591846017.
27. Shontell, Alyson (May 22, 2013). "Early Tumblr Investors USV And Spark Capital Got ~ $192 Million Each From Yahoo Sale". Business Insider . Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
28. Wauters, Robin (April 20, 2010). "Union Square, Spark Capital Double Tumblr's Funding To $10 Million". TechCrunch . Archived from the original on January 22, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
29. Cohan, Peter (May 20, 2013). "Interview With Tumblr Investor, Spark Capital". Forbes . Retrieved January 24, 2014.
30. Farrell, Michael (May 21, 2013). "Sale of Tumblr set to deliver big payday for Spark". Boston Globe . Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2014.
31. "Abridge Series D Announcement and More". www.abridge.com. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
32. "General Catalyst, Spark in Talks to Back OpenAI Rival". The Information. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
33. Matney, Lucas (September 23, 2019). "Facebook buys startup building neural monitoring armband". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
34. Azevedo, Mary Ann (March 21, 2023). "eToro secures $250M at a $3.5B valuation after scrapping SPAC, seeing slower growth". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
35. Nirav Patel (June 16, 2022). "Framework's Series A and the Years Ahead". Framework Blog. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
36. Balogh, Shannen. "Plaid just raised $425 million at a $13.4 billion valuation, bringing on new investors Altimeter, Silver Lake, and Ribbit as it eyes an eventual IPO". Business Insider. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
37. Fink, Charlie. "Apple's Upcoming AI Reveal, Pika Labs Raises $80 Million, Twelve Labs, $50 Million". Forbes. Retrieved March 5, 2025.

External links

• Official website