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Josh Kopelman

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Joshua Kopelman is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. Kopelman has consistently been ranked as one of the world's top 20 venture capitalists. He was the founder of First Round Capital, and before that, a founder of Half.com, which he sold to eBay in 2000. He also founded Infonautics and TurnTide. Kopelman was chairman of the board of The Philadelphia Inquirer from 2015 to 2024, when he was elected chair emeritus.

Josh Kopelman
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania (B.S.)
Alma materWharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Occupations
  • Entrepreneur
  • Venture capitalist
  • Philanthropist
Known forFounder of Half.com, Infonautics, TurnTide, First Round Capital
SpouseRena Cohen
Children2
Parent(s)Carol and Dr. Richard Kopelman

Early life and education

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Kopelman grew up in Great Neck, New York on Long Island, the son of Carol and Dr. Richard Kopelman.[1] His father was a professor at Baruch College and his mother a real estate broker.[1]

He attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania,[1] graduating in 1993[2] with a BS in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing.[3] In 1992, during his sophomore year at the Wharton School, Kopelman co-founded Infonautics, based in Wayne, Pennsylvania.[1]

Career

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Infonautics and Half.com

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Kopelman in 2008

In 1996, his startup Infonautics went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Three years later, in 1999, Kopelman left Infonautics to found Half.com, a fixed price marketplace platform[4] for used books, music and videos.[5] He sold Half.com to eBay in 2000 for $300 million.[6]

After selling Half.com to eBay in 2000, Kopelman remained with eBay for three years.[3]

Turntide

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In 2004, Kopelman co-founded TurnTide, an anti-spam technology company that was acquired by Symantec[7] within six months of its founding.[3]

First Round

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Kopelman in 2016

In 2004 Kopelman was the co-founder of First Round Capital, a seed-stage venture fund.[3] In 2007, Kopelman helped to coin the phrase the "implicit web" to describe the Semantic Web.[8] Kopelman in 2013 was managing director of First Round Capital, and an investor, director, and advisor to OnDeck Capital, Flatiron Health, Aster Data Systems, Knewton, Gigya, AltSchool, The Black Tux, Five Below, Massdrop, Like.com, IronPort, Mint.com, Monetate, LinkedIn, ModCloth, AppNexus, BankSimple, Swipely, True & Co., Wanelo, Warby Parker, Ring.com, Numerai, OpenX, LiveOps, Boxed.com, Clover Health, Upstart and Discourse.[9] As of 2014, Kopelman was an inventor on 16 U.S. patents for his work in internet technology.[10] First Round by 2014 had invested in 300 technology startups.[3] In 2016, he remained with First Capital as a managing director.[11] After First Round Capital invested in "Uber-Cab" in 2010 for $510,000, the firm profited significantly in 2019 when Uber had its initial public offering.[12] In March 2020, he took part in a $4.2 million funding round for Coursedog.[13]

Boards

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He joined the board of the Philadelphia Media Network, later The Philadelphia Inquirer, in 2015.[14] In 2016, he was elected chairman of the board of directors of The Philadelphia Inquirer,[15] a position he continued to retain as of 2020.[16] He finished his term in June 2024 after reaching his term limit. Kopelman was elected by the board to a three-year term as chair emeritus.[14]

Recognition

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In 2008, Kopelman ranked 3rd on the New York Times list of Top Venture Capitalists[17] and has ranked in the top 20 of the Forbes Midas List of the top 100 tech investors, including 18th in 2011,[18] 6th in 2012,[19] 12th in 2013,[20] 11th in 2014,[21] 4th in 2015,[22] 6th in 2016,[23] 35th in 2017,[24] 19th in 2018,[25] 39th in 2019,[26] and 79th in 2020.[27]

In 2007, Kopelman was named one of "Tech's New Kingmakers" by Business 2.0 magazine,[28] as a "Rising VC Star" by Fortune magazine in 2008,[29][30] and as one of the top ten angel investors in the United States by Newsweek in 2014.[30]

Personal life

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In 1995, Kopelman married Rena Cohen, an attorney, in Great Neck, New York.[1] Kopelman and his wife as of 2021 lived in a suburb of Philadelphia with their two children.[31] In 2001, he and his wife created the Kopelman Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organization to provide start-up grants to social entrepreneurs.[32] In 2002, the Kopelman Foundation funded a project to digitize and host the complete text of the Jewish Encyclopedia online.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e New York Times: "Rena M. Cohen, Joshua Kopelman" August 13, 1995
  2. ^ "Alumni Leaders at Wharton". Undergraduate.
  3. ^ a b c d e Josh Kopelman, CNBC, April 16, 2024, retrieved March 3, 2025 {{citation}}: no-break space character in |url= at position 49 (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  4. ^ "Infonautics' players: What are they up to?". bizjournals.com. 2003-04-28. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  5. ^ Hinkelman, Michael (2019), He disrupted the system - and profited from it, The Philadelphia Inquirer, retrieved March 3, 2025 {{citation}}: no-break space character in |url= at position 113 (help)
  6. ^ McGrath, Tom (August 5, 2017), We Want Answers: Josh Kopelman on Technology’s Next Wave of Disruption, Philadelphia Magazine, retrieved March 3, 2025 {{citation}}: no-break space character in |url= at position 81 (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  7. ^ "TurnTide's tale a rare example". bizjournals.com. 2004-07-26. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  8. ^ "Friday Q&A: Josh Kopelman of First Round Capital". technical.ly. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2019-01-10.
  9. ^ "On civilized discourse". 8 February 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  10. ^ "List of Patents". Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  11. ^ First Round Capital Says Goodbye to Co-Founder, Hello to New Fund, Fortune, September 8, 2016, retrieved March 3, 2025 {{citation}}: no-break space character in |url= at position 97 (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  12. ^ Feliciano Reyes, Juliana (June 15, 2010), Philly venture capital firm sees massive return as Uber goes public, The Philadelphia Inquirer, retrieved March 3, 2025 {{citation}}: no-break space character in |url= at position 102 (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  13. ^ Mascarenhas, Natasha (March 9, 2020), Coursedog lands $4.2 million to make class scheduling smarter, TechCrunch, retrieved March 2, 2025 {{citation}}: no-break space character in |url= at position 96 (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  14. ^ a b The Inquirer’s board named attorney Lisa Kabnick as its new chair as Josh Kopelman finished term, The Philadelphia Inquirer, retrieved March 3, 2025 {{citation}}: no-break space character in |url= at position 103 (help)
  15. ^ Jeff Gammage (1 June 2016). "Josh Kopelman replaces Gerry Lenfest as PMN chair". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  16. ^ McCoy, Craig R. (June 6, 2020), Stan Wischnowski resigns as The Philadelphia Inquirer’s top editor, The Philadelphia Inquirer, retrieved March 2, 2025 {{citation}}: no-break space character in |url= at position 91 (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  17. ^ Nicas, Jack (15 April 2018). "NY Times VC List". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  18. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  19. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  20. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  21. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  22. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  23. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  24. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  25. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  26. ^ "Forbes Midas List" (PDF). 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-06-10.
  27. ^ "The Midas List 2020". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  28. ^ "Business 2.0 Magazine - Tech's new Kingmakers". Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  29. ^ "Fortune Magazine - 8 rising VC stars". Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  30. ^ a b "FRC Biography". Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  31. ^ "Josh Kopelman". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  32. ^ Jessica Endy (12 October 2012). "Federation to Recognize Local Communal Leaders". Jewish Exponent. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
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