Rothenberg Ventures

Frontier Tech Ventures (Formerly Rothenberg Ventures)
Private
Industry Venture capital
Founded 2012
Founder Mike Rothenberg
Headquarters 1062 Folsom Street
San Francisco, California, USA
Website

Frontier Technology Venture Capital, formerly known as Rothenberg Ventures, is a venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco, CA. It is headed by CEO Mike Rothenberg. The focus is on early-stage frontier technologies between R&D and mass market adoption.[1] Currently, that includes investments and reviews of startups in the following areas: virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, machine learning, drones, robotics, space, 3D printing, autonomous cars, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and quantum computing.[2] In 2014, the firm started River, the world's first virtual-reality accelerator.[3] 1-Page was one of the firm's first companies to IPO and went public on the Australian Stock Exchange.[4]

In August 2016, the firm was alleged to be under SEC investigation, with multiple key employees departing and the website being taken offline.[5] On September 12, 2016, the firm dropped Rothenberg’s name from its title, replacing it with Frontier Tech Venture Capital, just prior to public reporting of the lawsuits and federal investigations plaguing the firm.[6]

Founder and team

Mike Rothenberg is the founder and CEO of Frontier Technology Venture Capital. Prior to Frontier Tech Ventures, Mike invested at Audax Private Equity, consulted at Bain & Company, and coordinated Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders program.[7] From 2005-07, Mike’s ETL team identified, invited, and hosted speakers Mark Zuckerberg, Marissa Mayer, Reid Hoffman, Evan Williams, and Tony Fadell. He returned to the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders program in 2015 to speak about starting a venture capital firm.[8] Mike is a graduate of the Stanford School of Engineering (B.S. 2006 and M.S. 2007) and Harvard Business School (MBA 2013). In high school, Rothenberg was a top 30 U.S. math Olympian.

History

Founded in 2012, the firm began with a $5 million seed fund[9] raised by Rothenberg. The firm focuses on providing support to its portfolio companies.

To date, the firm has over 60 companies in its portfolio.[10] On November 4, 2013, data research company Mattermark awarded Rothenberg Ventures' portfolio its highest average ranking.[11]

Portfolio and exits

Frontier Tech Ventures has $20M in assets under management, with more than 60 companies in its portfolio.[12] The firm invested in Revel,[13] Robinhood,[14] Gusto,[15] August Locks,[16] Luxe, Bustle,[17] SOLS,[18] Matterport,[19] Patreon,[20] and SpaceX, among others.[21]

The firm has had three liquidity events to date: Swing by Swing,[22] Propeller,[9] and 1-Page.

Virtual reality

Frontier Tech Ventures built the world's first virtual-reality startup accelerator, River,[3] and has invested in 30-plus VR companies to date, including AltSpaceVR, Fove, and Matterport.[23]

Founder Field Day

In May 2014 Frontier Tech Ventures hosted Founder Field Day at AT&T Park.[21] Hundreds of founders were selected, given customized schedules, and attended fireside chats by industry luminaries in Rothenberg Venture's network. The day ended in a Third Eye Blind concert at The Fillmore. The day was free for all attendees. The firm hosts 8-10 curated networking events a month. The event was the subject of a Harvard Business School case.[24]

Controversies

In September of 2016, the firm's CEO, Mike Rothenberg, was reported to be under investigation by the SEC, DOJ, and FBI for deceptive financial practices including wire fraud, bank fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and retaliation against a lower-level employee who was fired and allegedly threatened with a lawsuit after bringing these allegations to the SEC.[25] The potential charges reportedly stem from Mike Rothenberg wiring himself large payments and loans without the knowledge or approval of his limited partners.[25] Other reports suggest that the investigation is due to the discovery that Mike Rothenberg had founded and funded his own virtual reality production company with $5 million from Rothenberg Ventures without informing his investors or disclosing the investment in annual reports, despite the size of that investment being allegedly 50x larger than the firm's standard investment.[6]

In October 2016, the San Francisco Planning Department issued an enforcement letter ordering the firm to cease violating Planning Code Section 102 — operating a general office on the third floor of 1062 Folsom Street.[26]

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/rothenberg-ventures
  2. ↑ http://www.rothenbergventures.com
  3. 1 2 http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/19/rothenberg-river-virtual-reality-accelerator/
  4. ↑ http://www.afr.com/technology/web/silicon-valley-startup-1page-surges-on-asxdebut-20141016-11cqdo
  5. ↑ Buhr, Sarah; Loizos, Connie. "At Rothenberg Ventures, the rise and fall of a virtual Gatsby". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  6. 1 2 Smiley, Lauren (2016-09-13). "Mike Rothenberg's VC firm was young, splashy, and loaded with cash. Now it's all come crashing down". Retrieved 2016-09-13.
  7. ↑ http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/06/meet-mike-rothenberg-the-27-year-old-whose-seed-fund-could-be-the-best-bang-for-your-cap-table-buck/
  8. ↑ http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=3494
  9. 1 2 http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/06/meet-mike-rothenberg-the-27-year-old-whose-seed-fund-could-be-the-best-bang-for-your-cap-table-buck/
  10. ↑ http://rothenbergventures.com/family/
  11. ↑ http://www.slideshare.net/Mattermark/mattermark-investor-benchmarking-analysis
  12. ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/rothenberg-ventures
  13. ↑ http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2014/07/09/vc-millennials-rothenberg-ventures/
  14. ↑ http://pando.com/2013/12/18/robinhood-gets-3m-to-take-from-wall-street-and-give-to-main-street-with-its-mobile-first-zero-commission-brokerage/
  15. ↑ https://zenpayroll.com/investors
  16. ↑ http://blog.august.com/2015/03/25/august-raises-38-million-in-series-b-funding/
  17. ↑ http://fortune.com/2014/12/18/bustle-raises-15-5-million/
  18. ↑ http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/04/29/sols-a-3-d-printing-start-up-raises-6-4-million/?_r=0
  19. ↑ http://matterport.com/in-the-news/matterport-raises-16-million-series-b-financing-lead-3d-expansion/
  20. ↑ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/patreon
  21. 1 2 Konrad, Alex (July 9, 2014). "VC For The Millennial Set: How Upstarts At Rothenberg Ventures Scheme To Connect Founders". Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved September 3, 2014.
  22. ↑ http://www.back9network.com/article/back9-acquires-top-ranked-golf-app-swing-by-swing
  23. ↑ http://www.roadtovr.com/rothenberg-ventures-gung-ho-investing-virtual-reality/
  24. ↑ http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=48790
  25. 1 2 Buhr, Sarah. "Mike Rothenberg allegedly wired $5.2 million from Silicon Valley Bank without investor permission". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  26. ↑ https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/17/rothenberg-ventures-could-face-fines-over-setting-up-its-office-in-a-building-zoned-for-residential-use/
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