Upfront Ventures

Upfront Ventures is a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm founded in 1996 (originally as GRP Partners, rebranded in 2013) and one of the largest VC firms in Los Angeles. The firm focuses primarily on early-stage technology companies, with the vast majority of investments at the Seed and Series A stages. Its most recent flagship vehicle, Upfront VII, closed at $280 million in July 2022 as part of a broader $650 million raise across three funds (Upfront VII, Upfront Growth III at $200M, and a Continuation Fund at ~$175M). Median first check for the seed fund is approximately $3–4 million; the growth fund targets $10–15 million first checks. Upfront deploys roughly 40% of capital in Southern California, with the remainder spread nationally and internationally. Sector focus for current funds includes healthcare and applied biology, defense technologies, computer vision, agtech and sustainability, fintech, enterprise SaaS, and gaming infrastructure. The firm also hosts the annual Upfront Summit, an invitation-only tech conference in Los Angeles.