Investor Profile: 1Up Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

1Up Ventures is a Kirkland, Washington-based venture firm with one of the narrowest mandates in venture capital: it invests only in independent video game developers. Founded in 2019, it describes itself as a community of the most talented, experienced and creative independent game developers in the world, built on the belief that developers who work together will each be more successful than any of them would be alone.

Thesis

The thesis is community as strategy. Each fund invests in around 50 different game companies around the world and then connects their founders, so studios share information, lessons and support. The firm deliberately does not invest in tools, platforms, publishers or adjacent technologies that do not directly make games. For 1Up, the developer is the asset, and the community is the product that compounds across funds.

Sectors and stages

1Up invests only in game development, across PC, console and mobile studios, and only at early stage: Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A. Its geographic footprint spans the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, among other markets, and it emphasises a diverse and inclusive community of developers building games for everyone.

Fund size and cheque size

The firm does not publish a fund total on its official site, so its fund size is not publicly disclosed by the firm itself. Third-party profiles report assets under management of about $23.9 million, and report an investment range of $150,000 to $300,000, with around $250,000 as the sweet spot. One fund breakdown instead describes around 50 checks of $500,000 each; the draft uses the $150,000 to $300,000 range because it is the figure tied to the firm's stated early-stage, developer-only model. Founders should treat any cheque figure as indicative, not as a published term.

Portfolio

Portfolio studios confirmed across the sources read include Torpor Games, maker of the political drama Suzerain; Funomena, co-founded by Robin Hunicke; Playable Worlds, established by Raph Koster; Sprocket Games; Lost Lake Games; and Dead Astronauts, a seed-stage studio. The firm also participated in a $55 million Series A for The Believer Company, founded by former Riot executives. Its early portfolio, described in its inaugural funding announcement, already showed the pattern: small, creative, independent teams rather than large platform bets.

Partners and programmes

Ed Fries, former Microsoft vice president who built and ran the game publishing business through the launch of the first Xbox, is founder and general partner. Kelly Wallick, founder of Indie MEGABOOTH, is founding partner and community builder. Amir Satvat is general partner, Chris Wheaton is fund administrator, and Emily Greer, two-time game-industry founder, is venture partner. The firm's signature support is the community itself: shared industry data, expert sessions and retreats funded substantially from management fees. PUBG Corporation provided a $10 million inaugural investment in the fund in 2020.

How to apply for funding from 1Up Ventures

The route starts at the firm's own site, 1upfund.com, which its founder names as the firm's website alongside 1upventures.com. The firm positions itself as a follow-on, community add-on investor rather than a lead for large rounds, so founders should approach with a playable vision, a small creative team and a clear reason to join a peer community, not only a request for capital.