# Josh Spear

> Josh Spear is a seed investor in New York backing Mobile, Travel and Internet. See 12 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Location: New York, United States
- Total investments: 12
- Last investment: Feb 2015
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/spear
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/joshspear
- Website: http://www.joshspear.com

Josh Spear is a trend spotter, blogger and brand strategist. He is Founding Partner, Chairman at Undercurrent, a digital think tank based in New York City that provides planning, strategy and ideation services to global brands hoping to engage a new generation of human beings that were born digital.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $850k–$2.5M |
| Series A | $5.5M–$7.9M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mobile | 4 | 33% |
| Travel | 2 | 17% |
| Internet | 2 | 17% |
| E-Commerce | 2 | 17% |
| Digital Media | 2 | 17% |

39 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 8 | 67% |
| Series A | 2 | 17% |
| Funding Round | 1 | 8% |
| Convertible Note | 1 | 8% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Atlas Obscura | Atlas Obscura is an online magazine and travel company that catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via user-generated content. The editorial articles comprise a mixture of features and news articles on topics including history, science, and food, in addition to travel and exploration, as well as hosting a collaborative, definitive guideto the world's most obscure places.Author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker and author Dylan Thuras founded it in 2009 and is based in Brooklyn, New York. | $2M | Seed | Feb 24, 2015 |  |
| Cover | Cover isn’t the only startup trying to tackle mobile payments at restaurants — there’s also TabbedOut, and, of course, Square. But those have some limitations. For TabbedOut, the check-out flow isn’t as simplified as what Cover is aiming for. And Square requires businesses to use its own POS system. | $5.5M | Series A | Jul 10, 2014 |  |
| MakeSpace | MakeSpace aims to make storage convenient and consumer-friendly, creating a tech-enabled storage experience. Customers pay only for the space they need, and schedule pickups, drop-offs, and other services through an app and digital photo inventory. The company is now available in 31 markets across North America. | $2.1M | Seed | Sep 26, 2013 |  |
| Hullabalu | Hullabalu is a company based in NYC, creating stories for the new generation. They are inspired by their love for fantastical worlds, the timeless classics they grew up with, and the kids who visit their office. | $1.8M | Seed | May 31, 2013 |  |
| Cover | Cover isn’t the only startup trying to tackle mobile payments at restaurants — there’s also TabbedOut, and, of course, Square. But those have some limitations. For TabbedOut, the check-out flow isn’t as simplified as what Cover is aiming for. And Square requires businesses to use its own POS system. | $1.5M | Seed | May 08, 2013 |  |
| BlackJet | BlackJet allows consumers to book seats on private jets in 10 seconds. Guaranteed seat availability. The most affordable private jet solution.BlackJet will have two primary routes available: New York to Los Angeles and New York to South Florida. But soon it will be connecting San Francisco with Los Angeles, New York, and Las Vegas. Otheradditional routes will primarily be based on user demand, Camp told me. | $2.1M |  | Oct 26, 2012 |  |
| WillCall | WillCall curates a list of the best shows happening in your city and makes it easy to buy tickets with just a few taps — no waiting in line or dealing with the box office required. It’s the music discovery and ticketing app for people who want to have fun. A lot of love is put into the shows featured on the WillCall list, so you'll have noexcuse to stay home. | $850K | Seed | Jul 18, 2012 |  |
| Rally | RallyPay and Rally.org use innovative payments and data technology to connect donors to causes and companies with their clients. It is an easy to use storytelling platform that's designed to empower technical and non-technical users to fundraise and build social awareness on a large scale. To date, Rally has enabled millions of individuals andorganizations to share, connect to, and broadcast their passions, provide solutions to problems, leverage social networks, and mobilize communities. Rally's users vary in size and scope and address a wide range of topics. The site has been used by everyone from political candidates for campaign fundraising to Jon Bon Jovi's non-profit foundation to help raise money for Hurricane Sandy relief. Others have created Rally campaigns to help cover the cost of medical expenses, pay for tuition, start companies, fund films and everything in-between. | $7.9M | Series A | Jun 26, 2012 |  |
| Circa | More and more people are relying on mobile as their primary source of news yet the content itself continues to be produced in a format that translates very poorly to mobile devices. Rather than trying to shoehorn existing content into a new environment, Circa is creating the first born-on-mobile news experience. It will deliver news in a uniqueformat – native to mobile devices with an experience intuitive to mobile users. Through comprehensive yet to-the-point news updates paired with an engrossing mobile experience, Circa redefines how news is produced, delivered and consumed. Circa is news reimagined.Circa was founded by | $900K | Convertible Note | Apr 27, 2012 |  |
| Percolate | Percolate's complete web and mobile marketing software increases productivity, elevates your brand and helps you generate more sales. From governance, planning and content creation to audience acquisition, customer management and analytics, Percolate unites your brand, your data and your stories across every team, location, integrated systemand customer interaction. | $1.5M | Seed | Dec 15, 2011 |  |

10 of 12 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [First Round Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/first-round-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Oreilly AlphaTech Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/oreilly-alphatech-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [SV Angel](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sv-angel) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Transmedia Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/transmedia-capital) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Acequia Capital (AceCap)](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/acequia-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [A-Grade Investments](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/a-grade-investments) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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## FAQ

### What does Josh Spear invest in?

Josh Spear invests primarily in Mobile, Travel and Internet startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 12 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Josh Spear's check size?

Josh Spear typically joins rounds of $850k–$2.5M at Seed and $5.5M–$7.9M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Josh Spear participates in.

### When did Josh Spear last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Josh Spear closed in Feb 2015. Shizune tracks 12 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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