Forerunner Ventures

Forerunner Ventures is an American venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco, California, founded in 2012 by Kirsten Green. The firm invests at the early stage, historically with a consumer focus spanning health and wellness, retail and e-commerce, consumer finance, education and social networking. Its own site describes a mandate to back founders building category-defining companies, and organizes its portfolio across four categories — Brands & Experiences, Marketplaces & Services, Personal Systems, and Platforms & Infrastructure — cross-tagged by an "AI Lens" of AI as Agent, AI as Infrastructure, and AI as Intelligence Layer.

As of 2025 the firm reported roughly $3 billion in assets under management. Its most recent flagship vehicle, Fund VII, is a $500 million early-stage fund; the prior Fund VI was a $1 billion vehicle split into $500 million for early-stage and $500 million for growth-stage investing. Publicly cited investments include Chime, Faire, Oura, Jet.com, Hims & Hers, Glossier, Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, Bonobos, Eight Sleep, HotelTonight and The Farmer's Dog, alongside more recent AI-era positions such as Wispr Flow, Suno, Natural, Town, Casa, Agentio, Decagon, Koah, Basic Capital, Novig, Courtyard, Slingshot, Outsmart and AmplifyMD.

The firm publishes original research, theses and investment announcements under a "Perspectives" program, covering topics such as prosumer software, platform dominance and the application/infrastructure layer of AI. Its team is led by Kirsten Green (Founder, Managing Partner) and Eurie Kim (Managing Partner), with partners Nicole Johnson, Jason Bornstein and Jennifer Mariska (Partner, COO), investors Fawzi Itani, Sam O'Donnell and Tess Krensky, and operating staff across marketing, finance and administration.

Founding story

Forerunner was founded in 2012 by Kirsten Green, who began her career as a research analyst covering retail — including regular in-person field research at shopping malls to track traffic, sell-through and discounting — before moving from public markets into venture. According to a 2024 podcast interview, she began the effort around 2010, raised a first fund of roughly $5 million from angels, and subsequently moved to an institutional fund of about $41.7 million. The firm's own account notes it debuted in 2012 with a modest fund and an initial team of two.

Business model

Forerunner operates as a venture capital fund manager, raising pooled capital vehicles from limited partners, including institutional LPs, and deploying it into equity positions in early-stage and, through a dedicated growth vehicle, later-stage private companies.

As a venture capital manager, the firm's economics derive from managing committed limited partner capital across its funds and from returns on equity investments; specific fee or carry terms are not disclosed.

Traction

The firm reports approximately $3 billion in assets under management and has raised at least seven flagship funds since 2012, most recently a $500 million early-stage Fund VII. Portfolio outcomes cited on its site include Oura reaching an $11 billion valuation and being on track for $1 billion in 2025 revenue, and Chime's journey from a 2012 founding to public-market listing.

Latest developments

Recent investment announcements published by the firm include Wispr Flow's Series B (August 2026), Natural, described as rails for agentic payments (July 2026), Suno (June 2026), Town (June 2026) and Casa (April 2026), alongside 2025 announcements for Agentio, Outsmart, AmplifyMD's $20M Series B, Koah, Basic Capital, Jump, Novig, Courtyard, Slingshot and Decagon. The firm also published thesis pieces including "The Human Bet" and "The Supply Side" in August 2026.