socalTECH

MAY 24, 2010

Twitter said that third party ad networks are not necessarily looking to preserve the "unique user experience" of the site, and also said it came because it is looking to use its "Promoted tweets" to preserve the "integrity and relevance" of user timelines. is backed by GRP Partners, Greycroft Ventures, and LowerMyBills founder Matt Coffin.

Idealab

socalTECH

AUGUST 16, 2012

Little Black Bag , the women's merchandise and online commerce site that is a take on the Japanese concept of a "lucky bag sale", has raised $8M in a Series B round, just six months after its Series A funding. The new funding round was led by GRP Partners, and also included DCM. Both are existing investors in the company.

GRP Partners

socalTECH

MARCH 17, 2010

EMN8 is backed by GRP Partners, Sid R. According to the filing, representatives from RMT Family Partners and Allegis Capital are now on its board. The firm no longer lists former investor Steamboat Ventures on its web site as an investor. The funding has not been announced by the company. EMN8 is headed by Perse Faily.

Steamboat Ventures

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 23, 2009

San Diego-based OnTech , a maker of self-heating coffee and other beverages, has gone under, according to the firm's web site. The firm was venture backed by GRP Partners, Fort Washignton Investment Advisors, and DFJ Frontier. According to OnTech online store, the firm shut down on November 8th.

GRP Partners

socalTECH

OCTOBER 8, 2010

Tanz said that the Toolbar is already running on 450 publisher sites, and that it is seeing around 125 million impressions a month for the toolbar. The toolbar is apparently running on sites such as AskMen.com and a number of Internet Brands properties. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners

socalTECH

JUNE 24, 2010

GumGum allows publishers to include fully licensed photos and images on their site, adding small advertisements at the bottom. The firm is venture backed by GRP Partners, First Round Capital, and Crosscut Ventures. READ MORE>>.

Advertising

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2010

MySpace said that beginning today, publishers on the site can create a profile and control what messages they would like to insert into their activity stream.

Advertising

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2012

The site also incorporates status updates via email or MMS of pets during a user's vacation, and allows pet sitters to set their own pricing and schedule. Aaron Hirschorn is a former venture capitalist, who has spent time at Monitor Ventures and GRP Partners. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). I think it’s a beautifully designed site and product. Let me not bury the lede. So there you have it.

CTO Coach

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Los Angeles-based startup Little Black Bag , a new e-commerce startup backed by GRP Partners and DCM, said this week that it has launched its online shopping site--a play on the Japanese concept of "fukobukuro". The startup said it lets shoppers buy and trade "mystery" fashion shopping products, tailored to their interests.

GRP Partners

socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2011

Los Angeles-based GRP Partners , has invested in UK-based TreeHouse , an online, video-focused site for helping users learn web design and development. GRP's investment was led by Mark Suster, who announced the deal on his blog. The deal was worth $600,000.

Invest

socalTECH

JULY 8, 2013

Gradient X is backed by Rincon Venture Partners, GRP Partners (now Upfront Ventures), CrossCut Ventures, Founder Collective, Siemer Ventures, Baroda Ventures, and Double M Partners. You don''t have to buy every impression on an app or site. What is Gradient X?

Advertising

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2009

in a funding from GRP Partners, Rincon Venture Partners, and Great Pacific Capital. The funding actually closed back in March, but the firm had declined to release details until it relaunched its web site. The firm is headed by former Callwave CFO Jason Spievak. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2009

Zag has previously received funding from Anthem Ventures, Arcturus Capital, Capital One, Capricorn Management, GRP Partners, and the Tech Coast Angels. The firm recently spun out True Car, an automotive pricing information site. READ MORE>>.

Zag

socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2009

Zag is venture backed by Anthem Ventures, Arcturus Capital, Capital One, Capricorn Management, GRP Partners, and the Tech Coast Angels, along with USAA. The firm recently spun out True Car, an automotive pricing information site. READ MORE>>.

Zag

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2009

According to Zag, the firm will provide a turnkey, fully integrated auto buying program for the site, which will offer resources to research and compare vehicles, read AAA editorial reviews, and configure and purchase vehicles. Financial details of the win was not disclosed. READ MORE>>.

Zag

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

I know that I have not yet earned these kudos based on investment returns (although my partners have. GRP Partners last fund is the single best performing VC fund in the US (prequin data) for its vintage year). They created a reason for their customers to aggregate on their site on a regular basis. accessibility.

Blogging

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He eventually applied his lessons learned in these experiences when he founded Zag, a company that helps consumers buy cars over the Internet at pre-negotiated prices with nearly 4,000 dealers across the country [disclosure: my firm GRP Partners is an investor in Zag]. And it carries no inventory.

Zag

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2012

They’ve been a long-term investor in our fund – GRP Partners – and it was important to me to spend time with them in their home market and meet the people with whom they deal locally.

Press

socalTECH

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Zag has now signed up 14 AAA motor clubs, and also provides its technology to Capital One Auto Finance, Overstock.com, and other sites. Zag is headed by former CarsDirect CEO Scott Painter, and is venture backed by Anthem Venture Partners, Capital One Auto Finance, GRP Partners, Arcturus Capital, Callaway Cars and the Skoll Fund.

Zag

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

We were founded in 2009 by Mark Suster from GRP Partners. We don't get excited about derivative businesses, like yet another daily deal site, or another niche flash sales site. For readers, LaunchpadLA is all about? Sam Teller: Launchpad is an accelerator in Santa Monica.

Class

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

However, one, longtime local fund-- GRP Partners --appears to have found the right formula for venture success, and has just raised a brand new, $200 million fund. The firm just announced that new fund, and a new name, Upfront Ventures (www.upfront.com).

Funding

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Gilt Group is currently the largest private sale web site in US. SimpleGeo provides sites with LBS databases and tool sets (such as SpotRank ), while also helping sites warehouse and analyze the large volumes of generated LBS data; all services and data accessible through simple APIs. Time will tell.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I still like spending time with our teams – at GRP Partners we have a great team – but I don’t have large numbers of people to be responsible for. When your site crashes and you get slammed by customers and in the press – you’re all in the sh*tter together.

Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I had to laugh a bit reading it.

Startup

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2010

in a venture round from GRP Partners and Rincon Ventures, for the firm's mobile ad management platform. Mark Suster lead GRP's investment in the firm, and Jim Andelman led Rincon's investment. I've been in the ad network business, helping Adconian, and know the web site publishing world.

Startup

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

My firm GRP Partners recently funded a young LA based company named Ad.Ly Wordpress), video (YouTube), pictures (Flickr), review sites (Yelp) and collaborative content (Wikipedia). Advertising has driven the majority of Internet innovation. Also, lost of people leaving comments on websites and having a dialog with other users.

Ideas

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2013

Burstly is headed by Evan Rifkin, and backed by GRP Partners, Rincon Venture Partners, SoftBank Capital, and Founder Collective. No one knew what was going on then, this was before iOS 3, and he contracted me to make the site and help create the brand. Burstly is located in Santa Monica. What is Burstly?

Startup

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2013

We spoke with Christopher Webb, the firm's CEO, to hear about how ChowNow's goal is to make mobile, social orders something any restaurant can afford and implement--and how a new $3M funding round from GRP Partners, Double M Capital, Daher Capital, Karlin Ventures, and Velos Partners is helping it to deliver on its mission.

Mobile

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

Previously known as GRP Partners, Upfront Ventures has focused on early stage investments since 1996. By using SteelHouse, ecommerce sites can use live data to instantly respond to a customer’s wants and needs for stronger transaction values, increased conversion rates, and an overall better customer experience.

Startup

SoCal Delicious

MARCH 1, 2010

Mark Suster, a partner at GRP Partners in Los Angeles, spoke with Fastcompany.com about what makes L.A.s startup scene so hot. What makes L.A. a great place for startups? Lets start with the basics. If you look at Google in the way they operate, you have two products, one is called AdWords, one is called AdSense, okay?

Los Angeles

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. VCs in seed clothing: Chris Dixon, Mark Suster, and Naval Ravikant interviewed - Venture Hacks , May 5, 2010 I recently got on the phone for a cross-continent conference call with Chris Dixon from Founder Collective , Mark Suster from GRP Partners , and our own Naval Ravikant.

Startup

SoCal CTO

JUNE 14, 2008

Stamps.com - two back-ends - mainline service vs. marketing site. From BBM's web site: media RSS - extensions to RSS subscription format to support time based media, enclosures, copyrights and other meta-data needed for media. Mark Suster Partner GRP Partners He's an ex-Salesforce.com employee.

Platform

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

Today I’m announcing that GRP Partners is doubling down on the Twitter ecosystem by investing in DataSift , a company who provides a real-time data platform and tools to third-party developers and corporations. And from this simple accident came the most powerful driver on Twitter.

Platform