Venture Capital · Profile from Venture Capital Research Companion
Forerunner Ventures
Kirsten Green's San Francisco firm, the defining early-stage investor of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) era. It used a former retail analyst's eye for brands and consumer behaviour to back Warby Parker, Dollar Shave Club, Glossier and Jet.com, then broadened into consumer health, fintech, marketplaces and consumer AI as the DTC thesis wore out.
At a glance
- Founded
- Kirsten Green began investing personally after 2003 and formalised Forerunner around 2010. The first institutional fund closed in 2012
- Founders
- Kirsten Green
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, California
- Ownership / structure
- Independent, partner-owned venture firm. Since 2022 it runs parallel early-stage and growth vehicles
- Leadership (2026)
- Kirsten Green (founder, managing partner); partners include Eurie Kim (joined 2012) and Brian O'Malley (ex-Accel) (verify current roster)
- AUM / capital raised
- Close to ~$3bn cumulative (reported, 2025). Fund I $40m (2012) → $122m (c.2016) → $360m (2018) → $500m (2020) → ~$1bn across early and growth vehicles (2022) → $500m Fund VII early-stage (verify vintage)
- Stage focus
- Seed and Series A (first checks $250k–$500k in 2012, now multi-million); selective growth investing since 2022
- Signature investments
- Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, Jet.com, Glossier, Bonobos, Birchbox, HotelTonight, Away, Hims & Hers, Chime, Faire, Oura. Disappointments: Birchbox, Glossier's post-2021 reset, Away's governance crisis, and the broader DTC unit-economics bust
10 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2011
Birchbox
Early-Stage Round
2011
Warby Parker
Early-Stage Round
2012
Dollar Shave Club
Seed
2013
Glossier
Seed
2014
Jet com
Early-Stage Round
2016
Away
Seed / Series A
2016
Chime
Early Venture Round
2017
Faire
Seed / Early Round
2017
Hims Hers
Seed / Early Round
2019
Oura
Series B