Forerunner

A venture capital firm dedicated to the modern consumer and the ambitious teams reshaping categories

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

Doubling down on ⚡ was a crystal-clear must-do.

*All of Forerunner runs on Town, so we know firsthand how transformative it can be
*This team is genuinely exceptional, caring about the experience of the people behind their products as much as anything else
* Agent-to-agent, human-to-agent (and vice versa) collaboration is all live and working wonders today

Proud to back this team as they build something so special ⚡

[Jean-Denis Greze 💡 @jgreze]

The biggest bottleneck at work is waiting on each other.

Today Town is announcing its $108M Series B, co-led by Forerunner Ventures and Menlo Ventures, to fix it with multiplayer AI assistants for work.

Most AI assistants are built for one person. Work doesn't happen alone. I think the moat is multiplayer. Everyone at a company gets a Townie. Townies ask each other questions, share only what their person would share, and do the work. The more a team works together, the more useful Townies get.

What's the thing you're always waiting on a teammate for?

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

@jbahrdestefano @ShyamToprani @pitdesi @TownAI @MenloVentures @instinct @Muse this is the way

[Kirsten Green @kirstenagreen]

It was an obvious choice to double down on @TownAI's series B.

It’s becoming clear that agency will define nearly every digital experience. Software will increasingly understand us, anticipate our needs, and act on our behalf. There’s so much possibility here, and we’re only just discovering what these experiences can become.

What interests me most is what will make some agents indispensable. Technical capability matters enormously, but how it serves the person using it may matter even more. How well does an agent understand the person? How naturally does it communicate and earn trust? And as we give software more agency, how do we make sure people gain more of their own?

That’s a big part of why we believe so much in Town. In witnessing the team execute, their respect for the people they’re building for comes through in both the big ambitions and the small decisions. They’re building an agent that gets to know you, deeply understands your work, collaborates with you to become more capable, and earns the trust to take on more over time. They want to do more than complete tasks. They want the person using Town to be more effective, informed, and in control.

The technical execution is exceptional. This team moves quickly, bringing in new capabilities, choosing the best models and tools for different needs, and improving quality, reliability, and cost. Your Townie can do all the things.  Making all of that feel intuitive and useful takes real judgment, especially when the technology keeps changing underneath you.

I admire how closely the two connect. Town becomes more useful as it understands you better. As it demonstrates good judgment and delivers value, you trust it with more. The technology and the relationship improve together.

I expect many extraordinary companies to emerge here, with different ideas about what agents can do and how we’ll interact with them. We’re all still getting our sea legs. I love being on this journey with a team that pushes it forward while thinking so carefully about the people it serves.

Congratulations to the entire Town team on the Series B. We're thrilled to continue building alongside you.

[Town @TownAI]

Most AI assistants are built for the edges of life: dinner reservations, flight changes, subscription cancellations.

We think the real opportunity is the center of it. Work fills 8+ hours of most people's day, and that's where Town helps.

We just raised $108M from @ForerunnerVC, @MenloVentures, @a16z, @firstround, and more to go all in.

[Kirsten Green @kirstenagreen]

Two things are true at this moment in time: We are having the wrong conversation about which agent is going to win "the agent race” — because everything is now an agent. It's like saying in 2009, which website are you investing in?

So taking away the agentic form factor as the whole point, we need to ask, what are we really underwriting? What do these products solve, why will people trust them, and why will they come back weekly—daily?

With Town, it’s an exceptional team building a product that deeply knows its customers and is providing real, durable value. That's what it was always about.

When it comes to collaborative software, I am a big believer in the importance of an independently owned service that can work across everything—your Google Suite, iMessage, Granola, and more—with the security and sophistication of leaders who really know identity protocols (maybe even like those who have built one of the most successful financial identity infrastructure platforms🙃).

Great write-up of @TownAI in @nytimes:

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

For consumer brands eager to get started with Marklo, sign up for a live private conversation with Jessica to learn more: https://t.co/vgu2ALTwLX

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

We're proud to back @JessicaHerrin and Marklo, a company that's seizing a timely opportunity:
- companies doing more with less by embedding intelligence at their core
- consumer brands opting for leaner operations to reach scale

Well-deserved milestone for this highly capable team:
https://t.co/nesYjNxq9v

[Mary Ann Azevedo @bayareawriter]

NEW from me: @JessicaHerrin built Stella & Dot into a business that sold more than $2B in products. Her next act tackles a problem she knows firsthand: figuring out what to market, when, and why.

Her new startup, Marklo, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by @ForerunnerVC. It uses brands’ sales, inventory and marketing data to help them choose what to promote and plan campaigns.

I spoke with Herrin and Forerunner’s @kirstenagreen about the venture, Herrin’s change of direction after COVID, and why her experience as a founder helped win investor backing.

Read more in the article link in the comments

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

We're proud to back Marklo — @JessicaHerrin has peak founder-market fit, having built and scaled multiple massive consumer brands. Marklo is the growth platform for the AI era, enabling lean teams to function with the sophistication of a big enterprise:
https://t.co/0yKt4KuvCa

[Everything Marketplaces (EM) @marketplaceshq]

.@JohnKoelliker shares his key fundraising learnings after raising $20M+ for @joinLeland from @ForerunnerVC @FjLabs @marketplacevc

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

"Trust is central to @TownAI's business model. Users pay $50-200/month, which @jgreze says keeps the company focused on serving them rather than advertisers. Like an actually good employee, the ambition is to earn the responsibility, not demand it upfront."

https://t.co/ljFQmJwuqG

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

Spotted: @Celesteamadon and @jgreze on a list alongside Zuck, Sam Altman, and Patrick Collison. First of many!
https://t.co/nWFWrsABkN

[Tracy Wu @trcywu]

By far the best thing about SF tech week this year was the IRL pop up experiences.

@mercury killed it with their bookstore. There was a coffee bar & DJ booth. It felt artsy and inclusive. Books had a great range in topics. It was a great respite from the real tech world.

@ForerunnerVC has a gallery on Powell st showcasing tech of the past and present. A @WisprFlow booth were you can test the speed of your voice against typing. Relics of tech that didn't stand the test of time (theranos, humane pin, clubhouse 🫢). Extremely artistic & well curated.

I hope there will be more next year!

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

In a perceived AI agent gold rush, it is better to sell picks and shovels than to mine for gold.

Enter @getseaworthy, the API key for last-mile fulfillment for agents to handle the real-world, offline logistics that enable them to do *anything.*

Launched by @duckbillai, Seaworthy is already powering the hard work behind many of the fan-favorite AI agents:
https://t.co/uXjSx1VsH8

[Meghan Verena Joyce @meghanvjoyce]

Today we are announcing @getseaworthy: the execution infrastructure that gives your agent real-world superpowers with a single API integration.

Armed with 30M+ actions worth of data, Seaworthy lets AI agents handle phone calls, payments, errands, and anything that breaks when it meets real-world chaos on the other end.

If you’ve ever wondered how your favorite AI assistant does it all, chances are they’re powered by Seaworthy. Check it out here: https://t.co/KyIYZ7u1GV

[Kirsten Green @kirstenagreen]

Ever wonder how your personal AI agent does it all, from waiting on hold with insurance carriers to fulfilling those oddly specific last-mile logistics?

Very good chance it's quietly being powered by Seaworthy, the API integration from @duckbillai. Seaworthy enables agents to get things done off-screen, reliably and at scale, with humans as a backstop. Because while AI is wildly capable, the real world is wildly unpredictable.

As the personal AI agent space gains tremendous tailwinds, Seaworthy is part of the essential enabling infrastructure - well done @meghanvjoyce and team on seizing this moment!

[Mashiat @marvelgirl_eth]

USER EXPERIENCE 2026

presented by @ForerunnerVC and Material Album

your girl just booked her first ever exhibition with A- team @plmsda @mikeswartz_ @haroonisdreamin @maddiedreese

come out to our opening night tonight in T- 2 hours

[Forerunner @ForerunnerVC]

We're helping put on a pop-up in Union Square that makes consumer AI more tangible and experiential.

People can now get an up-close view of the products taking shape today, which we believe can tip AI favorability toward more positive sentiment.

Check out @WisprFlow, @getcasa and dozens more at 236 Powell St through October ✨

[Kevin Twohy @kevintwohy]

User Experience Gallery - San Francisco

[brian benitez @NotoriousUSB]

i spy zoah! 👀

@kevintwohy shared some great shots of the USER EXPERIENCE gallery!

big thanks again to the @ux_place crew/@ForerunnerVC!

[marissamayer @marissamayer]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, your camera roll is worth millions.

That’s why we built Dazzle, an AI assistant that turns your camera button into a "get it done" button. No blank prompts, just instant context and action. 🚀

Read the full launch post: https://t.co/WYf8LylCoa 🎉

[Dazzle AI @itsdazzleai]

TechCrunch took Dazzle AI for a spin.

“Dazzle proved it’s taking a different approach.”

Here’s what stood out. 🧵

https://t.co/5l1QEORDZY