Mark Suster — Upfront Ventures

Managing Partner

THE LATEST: In the past year, Upfront Ventures invested tens of millions of dollars in Los Angeles companies, including Bird Rides Inc., the Santa Monica-based scooter company; Palms-based Bionaut Labs Inc., a builder of remote-controlled micro-robots to help people with neurological disorders; Santa Monica-based Valence Enterprises Inc., a LinkedIn-like social networking platform for Black professionals; Marina del Rey-based security startup Open Raven; and Glendale-based cloud security firm Britive Inc.
BACKGROUND: Upfront Ventures invests almost 50% of its funding in Los Angeles-based companies, including Ring, Bird, GOAT and Parachute Home. Suster joined the venture capital firm in 2007 and became managing partner in 2011. By 2019, Upfront had $2 billion in capital under management. In January 2020, a few short months before the global pandemic shut down the world’s economies, Suster rented out the Rose Bowl for its Upfront Summit, an annual invite-only conference that Suster started in 2012 to showcase the L.A. tech sector and attract more investment to the region. Suster has founded and sold two companies, including Koral Technologies Inc., a content collaboration business that was the third company ever acquired by Salesforce.com Inc. in 2007.
YEARS ON THE LA500: 6
Return to the 2021 edition of the LA500.