partnering with entrepreneurs that change the way we
Since our founding in 1998, our focus has remained consistent: early, true partnerships with non-normal entrepreneurs building consumer brands. It's great entrepreneurs — with passion, curiosity and rigor, courage and integrity — that create iconic brands.
As a firm, we specialize in what we do best: consumer. We invest under the premise that value creation comes through identifying where consumer behavior is changing, especially before it's obvious – and we are obsessed with observing how people live, work, learn, play, eat, and stay well. Often, we look at how technology and consumer centricity are disrupting archaic industries such as real estate, health care, finance, education, food, and energy.
We seek companies that change culture and the way we live. We call it "creating a cauldron of consumer passion."
do better than just profit
redefining
consumer
1992
Starbucks IPO. The public debut of a global consumer brand focused on more than just coffee but one centered around human connection and innovation. Howard notes that he wished there were consumer focused VC's when he raised money.
1994
Netscape launches, a milestone in the beginning of the modern internet.
1998
Maveron is founded. Our first investment was eBay on June 30, 1998. Three months later, eBay went public.
2004
Maveron's first institutional fund. This same year, for the first time, there were more people in the U.S. with access to broadband internet than dial-up.
2007
Maveron leads an investment in Trupanion, now the nation's largest medical insurance business, and the first modern pet economy unicorn. This marked a new beginning of treating pets like human family members.
2008
The great recession. We retrenched – smaller team, smaller fund – and after asking ourselves what we do best, we returned to our roots of early-stage investing in consumer brands.
2008
Amidst the recession, Apple's App Store launches, catalyzing an entirely new category of consumer companies.
2013
Zulily goes public (the company was started in our offices, and we solely funded the seed and Series A). Part of a wave of eCommerce businesses leveraging the ubiquity of the mobile phone. This marks a new change in behavior: consumers impulse purchasing on their phones.
2016
Allbirds (backed at the Series A) pioneers a new form of retail: direct-to-consumer via the internet. TIME magazine deems Allbirds as "the world's most comfortable shoes."
2018
Keeps (part of Thirty Madison, backed by Maveron at the Seed) launches as an entirely digital company, focused on preventing hair loss. They become the #1 online hair loss business in America.
2020
Maveron leads the Series A in Pacaso, the category leader in second home ownership. Some say Pacaso is the fastest U.S. company to become a unicorn – just five months after launch.
2021
Maveron becomes a B Corp, emphasizing our commitment to doing well by doing good and donating a percentage of our profits to causes we believe deeply in.
2021
In a world where funds keep getting bigger, Maveron acts like a maverick and raises a $225M Fund 8, to focus on the next generation of ubiquitous consumer brands.