forerunner-ventures
(10)
Forerunner
Forerunner made its name by noticing what consumers wanted before spreadsheets could prove it. Now the firm behind Chime, Oura and Glossier is applying that habit to AI - with $3 billion, a compact team and an unusually broad definition of consumer.
Dazzle AI
Dazzle AI is a Palo Alto consumer-AI startup founded by former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer that aims to close the gap between what people want to do and what they can actually do with AI. Emerging from the assets of Mayer's earlier venture Sunshine, Dazzle is building a consumer-facing AI application - described as a next-generation personal assistant - and raised $8 million in seed funding in December 2025 at a $35 million post-money valuation, led by Forerunner's Kirsten Green.
Homeroom
Homeroom is a San Francisco software company that runs the back office for school auxiliary programs - after-school enrichment classes, extended care, summer camps, leagues and tutoring. Founded by Stanford classmates Casandra Espinoza Stewart and Christina Walker, it started as a three-sided marketplace connecting parents, schools and class vendors, then grew into an all-in-one platform handling registration, rosters, attendance check-in/out, contractor payments, compliance and financial reporting. It raised $3.5M in seed funding led by Forerunner Ventures in 2019 to chase a roughly $23 billion U.S. after-school market where more than 40% of children are not enrolled in any program.
Casandra Stewart
Casandra Espinoza Stewart is the CEO and co-founder of Homeroom, a San Francisco software platform that brings the messy, paper-bound world of after-school enrichment, summer camps and extended care online. A Stanford public-policy grad and former Greylock Partners analyst, she traded venture capital for venture building, teaming up with former teacher Christina Walker to give PTAs, parents and class vendors one place to schedule, book and get paid. Homeroom hit a $1M GMV run rate in month one and raised $3.5M in seed funding led by Forerunner Ventures in 2019.
Meena Mallipeddi
Meena Mallipeddi is the co-founder and CEO of AmplifyMD, an EHR-integrated, multi-specialty virtual care platform and national physician network that helps hospitals close specialist coverage gaps. Raised in a family of doctors and trained as a Stanford honors grad, Cambridge Gates Scholar, and a 15-year technology and healthcare equity investor, she left the markets to build the company alongside her husband and co-founder, Anand Nathan. Since founding in 2019, AmplifyMD has grown to 300+ programs across 150+ clinical sites, a network of nearly 300 physicians, and 15+ specialties, raising $43M total including a $20M Series B in 2025 led by Forerunner Ventures.
Meghan Joyce
Meghan Verena Joyce is the co-founder and CEO of Duckbill, a Boston startup that pairs AI with human experts to act as an executive assistant for your personal life - booking appointments, filing claims, and clearing the to-do list. Before founding Duckbill in 2022, she ran Uber's biggest East Coast markets, served as COO and EVP of Platform at Oscar Health, and advised the U.S. Treasury during the recession. She has raised $33 million for Duckbill, led by Forerunner Ventures, and sits on the boards of The Boston Beer Company and Guardant Health.
Nick Ornitz
Nick Ornitz is the co-founder and CEO of Topline Pro, a New York-based company building generative-AI software for home service professionals - roofers, painters, landscapers, cleaners and electricians. He started the company with Shannon Kay after the two met at Harvard Business School and dropped out to build it, pivoting from an earlier video-consult idea called ProPhone after Y Combinator. Topline Pro now positions itself as a full-time AI team that runs the marketing, sales and operations of a trade business in the background, and has driven more than $655 million in booked work for customers across all 50 states. Ornitz raised a $27M Series B led by Northzone in 2025, bringing total funding to $44M, and was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Enterprise Technology list in 2023.
Stress-Free Auto Care
Stress-Free Auto Care is a tech-enabled chain of automotive repair shops modernizing a $200B+ legacy industry. Founded in 2016 and based in Mountain View, California, it operates 30+ ASE-certified shops across California and Texas, pairing proprietary software with neighborhood mechanics to offer transparent pricing, digital vehicle inspections, text updates, and live video feeds of repair bays.
Yinon Weiss
Yinon Weiss is a serial entrepreneur, decorated military veteran, and the Founder and CEO of Stress-Free Auto Care - a tech-enabled auto repair chain with 30+ locations across California and Texas. Before Stress-Free, he co-founded RallyPoint (the 'LinkedIn for the military') and CarDash (a transparent auto repair marketplace that went through Y Combinator S17 and was acquired). A UC Berkeley bioengineering grad with a Harvard MBA, Weiss served 10 years on active duty as a Marine Corps Scout/Sniper Platoon Commander and Army Special Forces officer, earning the Bronze Star before transitioning to Silicon Valley entrepreneurship.
Kirsten Green
Kirsten Green is the founder and managing partner of Forerunner Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with nearly $3 billion in AUM that made early bets on Dollar Shave Club, Warby Parker, Glossier, Bonobos, and Chime. A former equity research analyst who walked mall parking lots every Friday counting shopping bags, Green built Forerunner over a decade of SPV investments before raising her first institutional fund in 2012. Her consumer-first thesis - that following where people spend their time and money reveals where the economy is heading - has made her one of the most recognized venture investors in the world, appearing on the Forbes Midas List and Forbes World's 100 Most Powerful Women consecutively since 2017.