Forerunner is a venture capital firm dedicated to the modern consumer and the ambitious teams reshaping categories. Since our inception in 2012, the consumer has been our North Star. We commit ourselves to having a constant pulse on what people are doing and why via ongoing research, and closely observe how world events shape the way we live. We’ve invested in category-defining companies such as Chime, Faire, OURA, Hims&Hers, The Farmer’s Dog, Glossier, Ritual, and more. With nearly $3 billion in assets under management and hundreds of investments to date, Forerunner is amongst the only women-led venture capital firms to achieve such milestones.
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Forerunner reposted this
Consumer investing is an alchemy of psychology, anthropology, marketing, and commerce — fascinating, maddening, and full of hidden signals. Reflecting on Forerunner’s approach to finding the real moats in this evolving landscape with Mario Gabriele The Generalist: https://lnkd.in/gc3UQMbg
There's something for everyone in this Kirsten Green interview at South Park Commons: * her early days doing in-the-field research during her time in retail public equities, counting inventory in a frozen meat locker at Safeway * her start in venture investing in some of the most defining digitally native brands, such as Chime and Warby Parker * how AI will not just introduce new consumer products and services, but new business models, moats, and mediums for advertising & growth — and winning in their era is as much about mastering the business models as providing new great AI-driven products See the full interview here! https://lnkd.in/g8TBNGKw
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Not sure how I missed this a few months ago from Forerunner but it's so good, especially for marketplace nerds like me. Fav parts: 1. Sarah Tavel from Benchmark's quote: "Start by asking yourself, "What is my best guess at the buyer and seller experience that will lead to retention?" and then measure the percentage of your potential buyers and sellers that get that experience. The GMV that qualifies is your Happy GMV." This is SUCH useful advice for startups that are trying to figure out where to focus their spend. Find the cohorts where things are working well, and invest there. Retention is still the strongest indicator of PMF. 2. The marketplace scorecard on slides 40 and 41. Just super helpful to see the attributes broken down this way and I love that it's not a binary approach (like "low frequency = bad") because every marketplace is so different and often the strengths can create a net positive trade-off. https://lnkd.in/dmJiT2Si
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“He’s one of these leaders that can see what has to be done today and just execute beast mode.” Eurie Kim on Tom Hale ⚡ https://lnkd.in/gw4UPGFu
Prenuvo's opportunity is abundantly clear: • Operating in a sector seeing tremendous tailwinds, stemming from mainstream awareness about the inherent problems of a reactive healthcare system, growing prevalence of lifestyle diseases, and consumer desire to have more agency. • A highly competent, sharp leadership team that has led the company to profitability in a few short years while also seeing incredible growth. • New products and services coming this year that fuel new levels of proactive insights and care, underpinned by its proprietary AI-driven platform. We're proud to lead the $120m series B alongside Felicis and Left Lane Capital!
It’s been an incredible period of growth for Prenuvo as we reimagine preventative healthcare and help patients improve their health. To date, we have ➕Identified over 1.4 million personalized health insights across our member base 📈 Surpassed 110,000 members ⚕️Secured new FDA clearance for our AI-powered Prenuvo Body Composition report What’s more, we’ve announced a groundbreaking brain scan that equips patients with critical data on brain function, cognitive health, and early indicators of neurodegenerative conditions. Our comprehensive functional and conventional blood assessment provides insights into metabolic, cardiovascular, hormonal, and immune health. This will deliver unprecedented health clarity when paired with Prenuvo’s whole-body screening. We’re excited to share these advancements after quietly raising our Series B last year, co-led by Forerunner Ventures, Left Lane Capital, and Felicis. Our CEO, Andrew Lacy, shared more about our news with CNBC this morning. Catch up here: https://lnkd.in/eEEvvT32 #Prenuvo #WholeBodyMRI #ProactiveHealthcare
“He’s one of these leaders that can see what has to be done today and just execute beast mode.” Eurie Kim on Tom Hale ⚡ https://lnkd.in/gw4UPGFu
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"While there’s so much uncertainty in the world, you have a consumer who's savvier and looking for more agency than ever. That’s an open-minded consumer, so it's a great time of opportunity." Well-articulated overview of what's motivating the Forerunner team in 2025, from Nicole Johnson: https://lnkd.in/gfgSnqQq
Our Founding Partner Kirsten Green talked to Mario Gabriele of The Generalist about her non-traditional start in venture, which shaped patterns she still uses today: "In my early career, the problem wasn’t seeing the shifts but trusting my ability to act on them. I often lacked the confidence to act on these insights in the moment, but watching others arrive at similar conclusions later helped validate this early pattern recognition as a meaningful skill for investing. That self-trust took time. It ultimately amounted to something I now refer to as "personal equations" — frameworks for understanding both quantitative and qualitative patterns and knowing how to weigh both, especially when they are at odds." https://lnkd.in/gDn4Pkfc
Fay’s breakout growth is demonstrating the enormous, uncapped demand that we have long known exists for consumers seeking to take hold of their nutrition. This team has executed on its vision at a remarkable rate, quickly emerging as the category leader. Congrats team Fay!
Beyond excited to announce Fay's $50M Series B led by Goldman Sachs, with General Catalyst and Forerunner. Since taking leave from HBS less than 2 years ago, we've become the largest and fastest growing network of over 2,300 dietitians providing AI-supercharged care through our vertical AI business in a box. Today, we're the leader in our space and the fastest growing company across health, wellness, and food. We're lucky to work on difficult problems every day with a world-class team. Just when spirits are low about America's relationship with food, we're excited to tell you the secret we've known for a while--that the future could not be brighter. Huge thank you to our early and continued investors Holly Maloney and Reva Nohria from General Catalyst Nicole Johnson and Fawzi Itani from Forerunner And welcome to our newest investors Chase Williams from Goldman Sachs who inspired us continuously from the moment we met him and his team. It is so special to meet people who fill your heart with energy and have such clear vision alignment. When we asked Chase and the GS team why they believed in us, they shared the following that paired perfectly with how we see the future too: “Nutrition is a fundamental component of healthcare and yet it is often overlooked until it is too late, with people putting off behavior change until they get diagnosed with an avoidable chronic condition. It doesn’t have to be that way, and a major part of US healthcare moving towards value-based care is getting the system as a whole to work in a more proactive and preventative way. Better nutrition care will be at the center of this transition, and we believe Fay is uniquely positioned to support this shift with their AI-driven provider enablement platform for registered dietitians. We are thrilled to lead Fay’s Series B and support Sammy, Mark and the entire Fay team as they help registered dietitians build a thriving independent practice and enable patients to access high-quality, in-network nutrition care.” Thank you, also, to our amazing friends who continue to support us Jake Cooper Kate Ryder Ramy Adeeb Farzad Soleimani, MD, MBA, FAAEM Samit Kalra Hannah McCormack Jacob Humerick R. Austin Glass Rita Faycurry, RDN Stephen E. Kira McCroden Luke Erickson John Geary Suzanna T. Serena Faycurry Summer Faycurry Shamik Lala Bob Besio Gia Eapen, MD David Freed Ana Kostioukova, CFA Bukhtar Khan We're growing rapidly (with offices in SF and NYC) and hiring across all teams! If you’re interested in joining the team, take a look at our careers page or reach out to me directly. Learn more about our vision and what we're building in the LinkedIn comments!
Forerunner reposted this
2025 is the year of the consumer AI application layer. Two things that we at Forerunner know will (must) underpin this opportunity: personalization and trust. ŌURA + webAI’s approach to delivering the power of AI to Oura members on edge devices (phones in this case) exemplifies this opportunity for deep personalization, while enabling an immense level of privacy and trust, particularly when it comes to the critical topic of personal healthcare data. The potential for AI’s positive impact on all of our lives is vast; but the danger of losing all control over our own most personal data must be considered early, and urgently. Proud to see Oura starting the conversation on this as the leader in consumer health, and eagerly anticipate watching webAI become the standard for powering personal, secure AI on device. Kudos to Tom Hale and David Stout and the Oura and WebAI teams. You’re doing such important work the world needs…people need. https://lnkd.in/g5Zv3mky