Josh Kopelman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Josh Kopelman
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (B.S.) |
| Alma mater | Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur Venture capitalist Philanthropist |
| Known for | Founder of Half.com |
| Spouse(s) | Rena Cohen |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | Carol and Dr. Richard Kopelman |
Joshua Kopelman is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist.
Kopelman was the founder of First Round Capital, a pioneering seed-stage venture fund that led the seed round in Uber. Kopelman has consistently been ranked as one of the world's top 20 venture capitalists. Before founding first round, he was a founder of Half.com, a fixed price marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of used books, movies, and music products. In 2000, Kopelman sold Half.com to eBay.
Early life and education
Kopelman grew up in Great Neck, New York, the son of Carol and Dr. Richard Kopelman. His father was a professor at Baruch College and his mother a real estate broker. He attended the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1993.
Career
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In 1992, during his sophomore year, Kopelman co-founded Infonautics Corporation, in Wayne, Pennsylvania. In 1996, Infonautics went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Kopelman left Infonautics in 1999 to found Half.com.
After selling Half.com to eBay, Kopelman remained with eBay for three years. In 2004, Josh co-founded TurnTide an anti-spam technology company that was acquired by Symantec.
Kopelman is an inventor on 16 U.S. patents for his work in internet technology. Josh was ranked 3rd on the 2018 New York Times list of Top Venture Capitalists and consistently ranks in the top 20 of the Forbes Midas List of the top 100 tech investors (#18 in 2011, #6 in 2012, #12 in 2013, #11 in 2014, #4 in 2015, #6 in 2016, #35 in 2017, #19 in 2018, #39 in 2019, and #79 in 2020). Kopelman has been named as one of the top ten angel investors in the United States by Newsweek magazine, one of "Tech's New Kingmakers" by Business 2.0 magazine and a "Rising VC Star" by Fortune magazine. He is also the winner of a second place ribbon in the 2011 Nantucket Watermelon Eating competition.
Kopelman is currently managing director of First Round Capital, a seed-stage venture fund. He is 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.
In 2007, Kopelman helped to coin the phrase the "implicit web" to describe the Semantic Web.
Personal life
In 1995, Kopelman married Rena Cohen, an attorney, in Great Neck, New York. In 2001, he and his wife created the Kopelman Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organization to provide “start-up” grants to social entrepreneurs. In 2002, the Kopelman Foundation funded a project to digitize and host the complete text of the Jewish Encyclopedia online. In 2016, he was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Kopelman currently lives in a suburb of Philadelphia, with his wife and two children.
