First Row Partners
Venture capitalActively deployingSeattle · Pre-Seed–Seed · 4 people tracked
Investment thesis
First Row Partners is a pre-seed specialist that applies arts-based approaches to backing the future of technology. The firm invests in startups where technology gives 'superpowers' to emerging brand builders, content creators, and storytellers who combine domain expertise with imagination. Founded in the Pacific Northwest, the firm has backed 20+ pre-seed companies across the US and Canada since 2020.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.
Team · 4 people
from the firm's website
What they invest in
from 12 of 26 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×10SaaS ×6Enterprise Software ×4Marketing Tech ×4Creator Economy ×2Fintech ×2Consumer ×1Cybersecurity ×1
HQs:United States×7
Investments · 26 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathAustin, US
Humanly builds conversational AI and automated interviewing technology for high-volume hiring, helping organizations qualify candidates and conduct structured interviews at scale.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareHR TechSaaSSeattle, US
Andrew Gardner(Founder)inPrem Kumar(Founder)inBryan Leptich(Founder)inChris Olsen(Director)
New York, US
NATASHA TRUEMAN(Executive Officer, Director)DAVID WAXMAN(Director)LISA-MARIE ASSENZA(Executive Officer, Director)
Milk Video is a platform for creating and distributing short-form video content, allowing marketers to quickly collect and produce customer testimonials, employee testimonies, and expert commentary.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareMarketing TechNew York City, US
Ross Cranwell(Founder)inLeonard Bogdonoff(Founder)in
Mpathic provides red-teaming and model safety evaluation services for conversational AI systems, using a curated network of over 5,000 licensed U.S.-based clinical experts including psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers to surface harms, test for bias and misinformation, and design evaluation frameworks.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityDigital HealthEnterprise SoftwareMental Health
Mars (formerly Pocket) is an accounting firm for consumer packaged goods brands, providing full-service bookkeeping, revenue reconciliation across channels, true landed COGS and margin-per-SKU tracking, deduction reconciliation, and fractional CFO services.
ConsumerFintechSaaS
Peter Zhu(Partner)Om Agarwal(Partner)Alice Zhang(Fractional CFO)Sergio Peterson(Head of Engineering)
Runic is a marketing intelligence platform that uses AI to analyze unstructured customer feedback, generate recommendations such as copy and content strategy suggestions, and produce custom reports.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaS
Thread deploys long-lived AI agents that engage a company's existing customer accounts across text, email, and voice to drive add-on activation, onboarding, and rollout completion, verifying each outcome against systems of record like Snowflake, HubSpot, and Pendo.
AI & Machine LearningSaaSSales Tech
Velt provides collaboration features that integrate into applications and Microsoft Teams, enabling real-time commenting, notifications, and data synchronization through webhooks.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkSaaSSan Francisco, US
Rakesh Goyal(Founder)in
Wave AI develops foundational generative AI models for music creation, aimed at helping musicians and creators produce melodies and lyrics.
AI & Machine LearningCreator EconomyMedia & Entertainment
WealthMore is a wealth management platform that combines human advisors with AI to provide personalized financial guidance and portfolio management for people who cannot afford traditional wealth advisors.
AI & Machine LearningFintech
Mical Jeanlys-White(Founder and CEO)in
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does First Row Partners invest at?
- First Row Partners invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
- What sectors does First Row Partners focus on?
- First Row Partners focuses on Creator Economy, Media & Entertainment, Sector Agnostic.
- Where is First Row Partners located?
- First Row Partners is headquartered in Seattle, US.
- Does First Row Partners lead rounds?
- First Row Partners typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
Images
Co-investors · 1
Preston-Werner Ventures is a venture capital firm associated with Tom Preston-Werner, cofounder of GitHub, who has moved into venture investing.
Firms observed investing alongside First Row Partners, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with First Row Partners's recorded portfolio.
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