About FIRST IN
FIRST IN is a venture capital firm founded in 2020. It is primarily based out of Washington, DC, United States. As of Oct 2026, FIRST IN is an active investor, having invested in 36 companies, with 5 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and Enterprise Infrastructure. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series A round of Fortastra Overall, FIRST IN portfolio has seen 3 unicorns and 7 acquisitions including key companies like Anduril, Earnest and Castelion. A lot of funds co-invest with FIRST IN, with names like BlueYard sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. FIRST IN has team of 9 people including 3 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 1 more
Portfolio Soonicorns
Deals in last 12 months
FIRST IN's List of Top Investments
FIRST IN has a portfolio of 36 companies, including 3 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in Smack Technologies and Aurelius Systems.Their portfolio spans across United States, China and India. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Enterprise Infrastructure and 12 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by FIRST IN:
1. Anduril
Provider of AI-driven defense and autonomous systems across air, land, sea, and space domains. It develops integrated platforms that enhance situational awareness, real-time decision-making, and operational effectiveness for defense and security applications. It delivers a range of autonomous systems and software-defined defense infrastructure, including surveillance systems, unmanned platforms, and command-and-control technologies designed to operate in complex and contested environments. Its solutions support modern military needs such as border security, force protection, and multi-domain mission coordination.
Key facts about Anduril
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: Costa Mesa (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series H
- Total Funding till date: $11.3B
- Employee Count: 9,670 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Fidelity Investments, Baillie Gifford and 87 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series H, May 13, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Earnest
Earnest is a direct lender providing student loan refinancing and personal loans. Student loans ranging from $5K to $5M can be refinanced by students as well as parents with interest rates starting from 2.75% APR. Loans are offered to students graduated from Title IV accredited schools who are employed currently. Earnest offers both fixed and variable interest loans and claims to generate average savings of $21K through refinancing. Earnest looks beyond credit score and evaluates a person’s full education, employment, and financial profile. Earnest also offers personal loans up to $50K with fixed interest rates starting at 5.25% APR.
Key facts about Earnest
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Last Known Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $107M
- Employee Count: 379 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Adams Street Partners, Cross Creek and 24 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Nov 17, 2015, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
3. Castelion
It is a modern defense production company that specializes in building advanced military hypersonic, vehicle, and strike systems for future war deterrence. They apply modern hardware development and manufacturing processes to address national security challenges.
Key facts about Castelion
- Founded Year: 2022
- Location: El Segundo (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $1.3B
- Employee Count: 265 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: T. Rowe Price, Summit Partners and 23 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Aug 19, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. ZeroTier
The open-source software creates a layer2 virtual network that can be installed and run on any server. It also provides the support of establishing peer-to-peer connections with other participants in the network but it uses centralized servers for peer discovery.
Key facts about ZeroTier
- Founded Year: 2011
- Location: Irvine (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $15.9M
- Employee Count: 34 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: FIRST IN, Airbridge Equity Partners and 6 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jul 26, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. Immuta
Data access governance and data marketplace platform. The platform unifies policy setting, visibility, and auditing across multiple platforms. It offers metadata registry, data discovery, policy entitlements, and unified audit functionality. The platform facilitates data product publishing, discovery, and access approval. It provides data access control through a single interface. It provides real-time reports on data governance and compliance by tracking actions against enterprise data.
Key facts about Immuta
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Boston (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series E
- Total Funding till date: $267M
- Employee Count: 190 as on Aug 31, 2026
- Investors: Intel, Dell Technologies Capital and 34 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series E, May 05, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
FIRST IN's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
FIRST IN has invested in 36 companies over the last 5 years, with an average of 3 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2025, it made 2 investments, while as of Oct 2026, it has made 6 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Fortastra and most recent follow-on round was in Smack Technologies.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 5 | 1 | 6 |
2025 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2024 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2023 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2022 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2021 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
FIRST IN's Investments by Stage
FIRST IN has made 14 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $6.26M, 5 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $20.7M and 1 investment in Series B stage with an average round size of $25M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 14 |
Series A | 5 |
Series B | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
FIRST IN's Investments by Sector
FIRST IN has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, Enterprise Infrastructure, Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech, Aerospace, Maritime and Defense and High Tech. Notably, it has invested in 30 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 30 Tech companies, 24 Software companies and at least 15 companies focusing on Saas.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 13 |
Enterprise Infrastructure | 9 |
Aerospace, Maritime and Defense Tech | 4 |
Aerospace, Maritime and Defense | 3 |
High Tech | 3 |
Others | 9 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
FIRST IN's Investments by Geography
FIRST IN has made most investments in United States (18), followed by China where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 18 |
China | 1 |
India | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
FIRST IN's recent investments
FIRST IN has made 6 investments in 2026 so far. Fortastra and Smack Technologies are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by FIRST IN:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 08, 2026 | United States | Series A | 3813 | [+4] | |
Aug 18, 2026 | United States | Series B | 1395 | [+8] | |
Apr 23, 2026 | China | Seed | 5087 | [+4] | |
Mar 02, 2026 | United States | Series A | 3053 | [+8] | |
Feb 05, 2026 | United States | Seed | 1005 | [+3] |
Unicorns in FIRST IN's Portfolio
FIRST IN has 3 unicorns in its portfolio - Castelion, Immuta and Anduril. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Castelion. It became a unicorn in 2025, 1 years after FIRST IN first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in FIRST IN's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
67 | Defense company applying modern hardware development and manufacturing processes to national security challenges | 2022 | El Segundo | Series C | wmj{kfq | ||
63 | Data access governance and data marketplace platform | 2015 | Boston | Series E | cqr{unk | ||
75 | Provider of AI-driven defense and autonomous systems across air, land, sea, and space domains | 2017 | Costa Mesa | Series H | uwg{nii |
Acquired companies in FIRST IN's Portfolio
7 companies from FIRST IN's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Phylum in Jan 2025 by Veracode for $*****.Here are FIRST IN's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 06, 2025 | Jun 23, 2021 | Seed | 8313 | |
Nov 20, 2024 | Dec 07, 2021 | Series B | 6065 | |
Jun 07, 2022 | - | - | 6969 | |
Apr 30, 2018 | - | - | 6826 | |
Nov 03, 2017 | - | - | 2633 |
Team profile of FIRST IN
FIRST IN has a team of 9 members including 3 Partners and 1 Venture Partner located in United States and Australia. FIRST IN's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in FIRST IN:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Sydney | - | - | |
Partner | Aspen | - | ||
Partner | San Diego | - | ||
Venture Partner | Austin | - | - |
Co-investors of FIRST IN
Over the past 5 years, 153 investors have co-invested in FIRST IN's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before FIRST IN: Neu Capital, Squadra Ventures and 17 others have invested in rounds before FIRST IN. There is 1 company where Neu Capital has invested before FIRST IN and 1 company where Squadra Ventures has invested before FIRST IN.
- Top Co-investors of FIRST IN: 75 investors entered a company along with FIRST IN. These include investors like BlueYard (2 companies).
- Invested after FIRST IN: A total of 59 investors have invested in FIRST IN's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include First In Ventures (2 companies), General Catalyst (2 companies) and Booz Allen Hamilton (2 companies).
Recent News related to FIRST IN
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Fortastra Raises $30M to Scale On-Orbit Security SpacecraftVentureburn•Oct 09, 2026•FIRST IN, Fortastra, Firstinonline
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Rilian Inks $17.5M Seed and Seed ExtensionMassinvestor•Apr 24, 2026•Firstinonline, 8VC, Dalian Rilian Realty Agent, Tamarack Global and 3 others
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SCATR Corp. Raises $12.6 Million Series A Led by First InThe Globe and Mail•Apr 22, 2026•Scatr, FIRST IN
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Vanguard Defense Raises $5 Million Seed RoundMassinvestor•Mar 25, 2026•Vanguard Defense, First Venture, FIRST IN
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First In Announces Final Closing of SBIC Critical Technologies Fund 3 with $148 Million of Investable CapitalBusiness Wire•Mar 05, 2026•FIRST IN
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Smack Technologies Announces $32M in Funding to Build First Frontier AI Lab for National SecurityBusiness Wire•Mar 02, 2026•Smack Technologies, Fortitude Ventures, Fulcrum Venture Group, Costanoa and 9 others
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AnySignal Grabs $24M Series A Financing RoundMassinvestor•Dec 09, 2025•Upfront Ventures, First In Ventures, AnySignal, BlueYard and 1 other
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Jane Street Leads Antithesis's $105M Series A RoundPR Newswire•Dec 03, 2025•Jane Street, Antithesis, Amplify Partners, Spark Capital and 7 others
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Castelion Corp has filed a notice of an exempt offering of securities to raise $359,998,733.00 in New Funding.intelligence360•Dec 02, 2025•Castelion, SpaceX, Space VC, Champion Hill Ventures and 10 others
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Weapons Startup Castelion Strikes $100M Series AZephyrnet•Jan 29, 2025•BlueYard, FIRST IN, Lavrock Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and 6 others
