Venture Capital · Profile from Venture Capital Research Companion
Union Square Ventures
The New York firm that made "thesis-driven" venture capital a brand — small funds, a public blog, and a long-running bet on large networks of engaged users — turning Twitter, Tumblr, Zynga, Etsy, Twilio, Duolingo and Coinbase into one of the best early-stage records of its generation, then extending the same thesis into crypto, climate and, in 2026, AI.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2003 (first fund closed 2004), New York City
- Founders
- Fred Wilson (previously co-founder of Flatiron Partners) and Brad Burnham (previously AT&T Ventures)
- Headquarters
- New York, NY (originally near Union Square, Manhattan)
- Ownership / structure
- Private partnership; small team of partners plus analysts on two-year terms; no separate growth franchise beyond an Opportunity Fund
- Leadership (2026)
- Active GPs reported as Fred Wilson, Rebecca Kaden, Nick Grossman and Michael Mignano (joined April 2026, Anchor co-founder); Brad Burnham, John Buttrick, Albert Wenger and Andy Weissman moved to part-time roles with board seats (October 2026, verify)
- AUM / capital raised
- Fund I (2004) ~$125m; later core funds ~$150–275m with parallel Opportunity Funds; October 2026: ~$900m across ~$500m core and ~$400m Opportunity funds (reported, verify)
- Stage focus
- Seed and Series A in internet, fintech, crypto, climate and AI-era networks; Opportunity Fund for later-stage follow-ons and selected new growth deals
- Signature investments
- Twitter, Tumblr, Zynga, Etsy, Foursquare, Twilio, Stack Overflow, Kickstarter, Duolingo, Lending Club (verify), MongoDB (verify), Coinbase, Protocol Labs/Filecoin, Algorand; misses: passed on Airbnb (Wilson's public post-mortem)
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.
2006
Etsy
Early-Stage Round
2007
Tumblr
Series A
2007
Twitter
Series A
2008
Zynga
Series A
2009
Foursquare
Series A
2009
Twilio
Series A
2010
Stack Overflow
Series A
2011
Duolingo
Series A
2011
Kickstarter
Series A
2013
Coinbase
Series A