First Round looks to raise $209m in its newest funding round

October 19, 2018

First Round Capital has jumped back into the fundraising market with a new vehicle aiming to raise $209m.

The firm is yet to register any capital commitments for the fund according to a filing with the SEC.

It’s unclear whether the amount listed is a target or hard cap, however, should it hit its goal, the firm will greatly surpass the $175m pulled in for Fund VI in 2016. First Round’s Fund V also pulled in $175m back in 2014.

The firm appears to have registered a second related vehicle called First Round Capital VII Partners Fund, aiming to raise around $10m.

First Round was founded back in 2004 by Josh Kopelman and Howard Morgan. Morgan reportedly stepped down from the firm in 2015.

The early-stage investor typically backs companies in the consumer, FinTech, healthcare, hardware and enterprise sectors.

There are a number of FinTech companies currently in the firm’s portfolio, including personal finance platform Grove, online investing company FundersClub, and payments processor Square.

Earlier in the year, Grove collected $8m in a Series A round of funding to support the expansion of its product offering and staff hires.

Consumer reporting company Nova Credit, another FinTech in First Round’s portfolio, raised a $16m Series A round earlier this year. The company is a cross-border credit reporting agency aiming to solve the problem of credit access for immigrants.