Floodgate Fund is a

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm based in the United States created by Mike Maples Jr. and Ann Miura-Ko. It was originally named ''Maples Investments,'' but was renamed ''Floodgate Fund'' in March 2010. It is focused on investments in technology companies in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

Investments

In October 2021, Floodgate raised $146 million for its seventh fund. In previous years, their sixth fund closed at $131 million, their fifth fund closed at $76 million, the fourth fund closed at $75 million and their third fund at $73.5 million. Floodgate has invested in a number of companies including

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

Digg Digg (stylized in lowercase as digg) is an American news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select articles specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and viral phenomenon, viral Internet iss ...

location-based service Location-based service (LBS) is a general term denoting software service (economics), services which use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor ...

s company

Gowalla Gowalla is a location-based social networking service. It originally launched in 2007 and closed in 2012, but was relaunched on March 10, 2023. Users are able to check in at "Spots" in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile appli ...

, professional networking service

BranchOut BranchOut was a Facebook application designed for finding jobs, networking professionally, and recruiting employees.Needleman, RafeBranchOut making SEO push with vanity URLs ''CNET''. September 9, 2011.Arrington, MichaelBranchOut Unlocks The Lin ...

Chegg Chegg, Inc., is an American Educational technology, education technology company based in Santa Clara, California. It provides homework help, digital and physical textbook rentals, textbooks, online tutoring, and other student services. The comp ...

, Formstack, Milk Inc., TaskRabbit, self-storage marketplace SpareFoot, and

seasteading Seasteading is the creation of permanent dwellings in international waters, so-called seasteads, that are independent of established governments. No structure on the high seas has yet been created and recognized as a sovereign state. Proposed ...

platform company Blueseed. As of 2017, they've also invested in

Lyft Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering ride-hailing services, motorized scooters, and bicycle-sharing systems in the United States and Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand a ...

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Sundial Media Group. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Ref ...

, LabDoor, education startup MissionU, legal discovery startup, TextIQ, Okta and Rappi. Floodgate was also an early investor in

Applied Intuition Applied Intuition is an American software company specializing in building artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and advanced software for vehicle manufacturers. Founded in 2017 and based in Mountain View, California, Applied Intuition devel ...

, a software company for autonomous vehicles.

Media coverage

Floodgate Fund and Mike Maples have been covered in ''

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech, high-tech and Startup company, startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. I ...

'' and ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

''. Mike Maples of Floodgate was also interviewed about his investment philosophy by Sarah Lacy for TechCrunch TV.

References

External links

* {{official website Financial services companies established in 2010 Venture capital firms of the United States American companies established in 2010