Fundraising Fox1Up Ventures
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1Up Ventures is a venture capital firm that invests in independent game developers, building a community to support their success. It focuses on the video game development industry worldwide.
Also known as 1Up Fund
Founders & leadership
Investors · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 20261Up Ventures (also referred to as the 1Up Fund) is a venture capital firm that invests exclusively in game developers and organizes its portfolio founders into a curated global peer community. The firm describes its approach as building a diverse and inclusive community of experienced and creative independent game developers, on the premise that founders working together can improve each other's outcomes.
The firm invests at seed and Series A stages with an average check of roughly $500,000, positioning itself as a follow-on investor rather than a round lead — effectively a "community add-on" to a studio's financing. Its stated plan is around 50 such checks, and roughly one-third of its portfolio companies are described as female-founded or co-founded. Sector coverage spans gaming/VR, consumer and web3/crypto, with investing focused on the United States.
The partnership is led by general partner Ed Fries, a former Microsoft vice president who built and ran the company's game publishing business through the launch of the first Xbox and has served as a board member and adviser to game development and venture-backed technology companies. Kelly Wallick, founder of the Indie MEGABOOTH and a former IGF chairperson, joined at the fund's inception and is now a full partner focused on community building. Chris Wheaton, a Stanford MBA with more than 20 years of experience as a CFO, COO and general manager, serves as fund administrator. Emily Greer, co-founder and CEO of Double Loop Games and previously co-founder and CEO of Kongregate, is a venture partner.
Business model
The firm operates as a venture capital fund, deploying investor capital into equity stakes in game studios. It states that the majority of its management fees are directed toward shared services for its portfolio community, including industry data, expert sessions and retreats.
As a venture fund, it earns management fees — the majority of which it says are spent on community programming for portfolio companies — and returns from equity investments.
Traction
The firm's partners have presented at the Game Developers Conference, delivering a 2023 talk on equity investment in games (available on the GDC Vault) and a 2026 talk on how studio funding works.
Latest developments
Ed Fries and Emily Greer prepared a 2026 GDC talk covering how studio funding decisions are made and how risk is evaluated, walking through venture capital, publishing deals, crowdfunding, user-acquisition financing, revenue-based financing and IP licensing as funding paths for studios.
▸Full profile — market position, go-to-market, geography
Market position
A small-check, gaming-specialist venture firm that presents itself as a complement to lead investors in a studio's round rather than a round leader, differentiating through community and founder support rather than deal size.
1Up Ventures invests only in game developers and deliberately takes a follow-on rather than lead position, differentiating on the peer community it assembles around portfolio founders and on funding shared industry data, expert sessions and retreats from management fees. It also highlights a diverse portfolio approach, with about a third of portfolio companies female-founded or co-founded.
Go-to-market
The firm invites studios to submit materials for review through its website's contact page and encourages submissions from teams targeting any platform, audience or genre. It also builds visibility through educational content, including GDC conference talks by its partners on equity investment and studio funding paths.
Independent game development studios raising equity financing, across all platforms, audiences and genres.
Geography
Based in the United States and investing in the USA, while describing its developer community as global.
Compiled by commissioned research from 5 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
▸Research sources · 5
primary sources listed
- 1Up Ventures1upfund.com · web
5 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does 1Up Ventures do?
- Venture firm that writes small follow-on checks exclusively to independent game developers and builds a peer community around them.
- Who founded 1Up Ventures?
- 1Up Ventures was founded by Ed Fries.
- Who are 1Up Ventures's investors?
- 1Up Ventures's investors include Bitkraft Esports Ventures.