Frontline Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Frontline Ventures is the venture capital firm that specializes in facilitating frictionless transatlantic expansion. Founded with a clear thesis that the world's most successful B2B software companies will require presence and success in both North America and Europe, Frontline operates as a dual-fund strategy: Frontline Seed backs ambitious European B2B software startups at Pre-Product, Pre-Seed, and Seed stages with clear intentions to expand to the US; Frontline Growth supports US-based B2B software companies at Series B-D that are planning to expand into Europe over the next 12-18 months.
The firm's core belief is that Europe represents the world's second-largest B2B software market after the US, with a population of 740M and total GDP of $25T, accounting for over 30% of global revenues for top-performing companies at IPO. The transatlantic market (US + Europe) represents 70% of global software spend and 70% of global venture capital dollars.
Sector Focus
Frontline maintains a sector-agnostic approach, investing across B2B software:
Enterprise Software & Infrastructure: Developer tools, cloud-native platforms, databases, enterprise security, vertical SaaS
AI & Machine Learning: AI agents, LLM applications, AI-powered platforms, domain-specific AI
Financial Services: Payments, lending, financial crime management, accounting, insurance tech
Healthcare & Life Sciences: Biotech, genomics, lab automation, healthcare imaging, pharma supply chain
Operations & Business Services: Food procurement, HR tech, payroll, travel/expense, benefits administration
Specialized: Satellite/drone tech, digital health, climate tech, cybersecurity, music distribution
Stage Focus
Frontline Seed: Pre-Product, Pre-Seed, Seed stage. Average 3 weeks to term sheet (record: 3 days). 75% Seed-to-Series A graduation rate vs. 15% European average.
Frontline Growth: Series B-D, participates alongside top US investors. Does not lead rounds.
Check Size & Investment Range
Frontline Seed: $250K-$3M+ ($250K-$1M pre-seed/pre-product, $1M-$3M+ seed)
Frontline Growth: $5M-$20M+ (minority position, value-add focused)
Lead Tendency
Partnership approach - Frontline emphasizes collaborative value-add over capital provision. Growth fund does not lead rounds but participates meaningfully. Active operational support in market entry and expansion.
Recent Activity (2025-2026)
Recent Investments:
- January 2026: Tucuvi (Series A, Spain)
- December 2025: Donna (Seed, Belgium)
- December 2025: Seapoint (Pre-Seed $3M, financial platform)
- November 2025: Cellbyte (Seed, biotech)
- June 2025: Kota (Series A $14.5M)
- April 2025: Hydrolix (Series C $80M)
- March 2025: Flagright (Seed $4.3M)
Notable Exits:
- October 2025: Navan IPO on Nasdaq ($NAVN) - Frontline's first IPO. Travel/expense platform, ~$5B market cap, $700M+ revenue
- Multiple acquisitions including Melio, Clearco
- January 2026: Sweepr exit
Portfolio Status: 150+ companies, 6 unicorns, 1 IPO, 35+ exits including 27+ acquisitions. Both funds actively deploying.
Team & Expertise
Frontline has 5 partners with deep operating experience. Stephen McIntyre and Brennan O'Donnell successfully launched European offices and led go-to-market operations for Google, Twitter, Airtable, Yammer, and SurveyMonkey.
Partners (5): Zoe Chambers (London), William McQuillan (London), Will Prendergast (Dublin), Stephen McIntyre (Dublin), Brennan O'Donnell (Palo Alto)
Principals & Associates (5): George Radford (London), Jamie Bristow (New York), Ruth Sheridan (London), Dylan Scully (Dublin), Philipp Werner (London)
Advisory: Extended network includes EMEA executives from Stripe, Slack, Figma, Notion, Klaviyo, Cloudflare, Dropbox, Meta, and Databricks.
Geographic Focus
Frontline Seed: UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Greece
Frontline Growth: Palo Alto, NYC, Seattle, other US hubs. European expansion advisor.
Decision Process
Structure: Partnership-based with collaborative approach Speed: 3 weeks average (3-day record) to term sheet Involvement: Active operational support, board seats in Growth, advisory in Seed Warm Intros: Likely preferred through network
Founder Profile
Ambitous founders with global vision, technical expertise, clear expansion plans. European founders targeting US, US founders targeting Europe. Seeking operational support beyond capital.
Thought Leadership
Publishes major reports: European Expansion Report (200+ US companies), The US Playbook (market entry frameworks), Survey: What Founders Want (founder preferences)
Track Record Highlights
- 75% Seed-to-Series A graduation rate (vs. 15% European average)
- Portfolio includes LangChain, StrongDM, Regal, Lattice, Vanta
- Navan IPO (Oct 2025, $5B+ valuation) - first portfolio IPO
- 150+ companies backed, 6 unicorns, 35+ exits
- 10+ years of transatlantic expansion expertise
Key Differentiators
- Unique geographic focus on transatlantic expansion
- Dual-team structure with both US and European expertise
- Operating experience from Google, Twitter, Airtable scale-ups
- Exceptional speed (3 weeks to term sheet)
- Strong portfolio outcomes (unicorns, IPO)
- Curated 50+ EMEA executive advisory network
- Founder-centric resources and long-term partnership approach