diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6a5869a88b1..e1a91cba211 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
     - Decouple Profiler from Transaction ([#3101](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3101))
     - Add options and sampling logic ([#3121](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3121))
     - Add ContentProvider and start profile ([#3128](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3128))
+- Report process init time as a span for app start performance ([#3159](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-java/pull/3159))
 
 ### Fixes
 
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/api/sentry-android-core.api b/sentry-android-core/api/sentry-android-core.api
index 7ebc195e81d..a586e3118df 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/api/sentry-android-core.api
+++ b/sentry-android-core/api/sentry-android-core.api
@@ -424,6 +424,7 @@ public class io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics {
 	public fun getAppStartTimeSpanWithFallback (Lio/sentry/android/core/SentryAndroidOptions;)Lio/sentry/android/core/performance/TimeSpan;
 	public fun getAppStartType ()Lio/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics$AppStartType;
 	public fun getApplicationOnCreateTimeSpan ()Lio/sentry/android/core/performance/TimeSpan;
+	public fun getClassLoadedUptimeMs ()J
 	public fun getContentProviderOnCreateTimeSpans ()Ljava/util/List;
 	public static fun getInstance ()Lio/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics;
 	public fun getSdkInitTimeSpan ()Lio/sentry/android/core/performance/TimeSpan;
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/PerformanceAndroidEventProcessor.java b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/PerformanceAndroidEventProcessor.java
index ec7e3b74d9c..20299ced08f 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/PerformanceAndroidEventProcessor.java
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/PerformanceAndroidEventProcessor.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ final class PerformanceAndroidEventProcessor implements EventProcessor {
   private static final String APP_METRICS_CONTENT_PROVIDER_OP = "contentprovider.load";
   private static final String APP_METRICS_ACTIVITIES_OP = "activity.load";
   private static final String APP_METRICS_APPLICATION_OP = "application.load";
+  private static final String APP_METRICS_PROCESS_INIT_OP = "process.load";
 
   private boolean sentStartMeasurement = false;
 
@@ -155,6 +156,23 @@ private void attachColdAppStartSpans(
       }
     }
 
+    // Process init
+    final long classInitUptimeMs = appStartMetrics.getClassLoadedUptimeMs();
+    final @NotNull TimeSpan appStartTimeSpan = appStartMetrics.getAppStartTimeSpan();
+    if (appStartTimeSpan.hasStarted()) {
+      final @NotNull TimeSpan processInitTimeSpan = new TimeSpan();
+      processInitTimeSpan.setStartedAt(appStartTimeSpan.getStartUptimeMs());
+      processInitTimeSpan.setStartUnixTimeMs(appStartTimeSpan.getStartTimestampMs());
+
+      processInitTimeSpan.setStoppedAt(classInitUptimeMs);
+      processInitTimeSpan.setDescription("Process Initialization");
+
+      txn.getSpans()
+          .add(
+              timeSpanToSentrySpan(
+                  processInitTimeSpan, parentSpanId, traceId, APP_METRICS_PROCESS_INIT_OP));
+    }
+
     // Content Providers
     final @NotNull List<TimeSpan> contentProviderOnCreates =
         appStartMetrics.getContentProviderOnCreateTimeSpans();
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java
index 06bd04b3dbd..6ddcbd16644 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/main/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetrics.java
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ public enum AppStartType {
     WARM
   }
 
+  private static final long CLASS_LOADED_UPTIME_MS = SystemClock.uptimeMillis();
+
   private static volatile @Nullable AppStartMetrics instance;
 
   private @NotNull AppStartType appStartType = AppStartType.UNKNOWN;
@@ -121,6 +123,10 @@ public void addActivityLifecycleTimeSpans(final @NotNull ActivityLifecycleTimeSp
     activityLifecycles.add(timeSpan);
   }
 
+  public long getClassLoadedUptimeMs() {
+    return CLASS_LOADED_UPTIME_MS;
+  }
+
   /**
    * @return the app start time span if it was started and perf-2 is enabled, falls back to the sdk
    *     init time span otherwise
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/PerformanceAndroidEventProcessorTest.kt b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/PerformanceAndroidEventProcessorTest.kt
index 1d98aae5390..934638ead31 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/PerformanceAndroidEventProcessorTest.kt
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/PerformanceAndroidEventProcessorTest.kt
@@ -246,6 +246,13 @@ class PerformanceAndroidEventProcessorTest {
         // then the app start metrics should be attached
         tr = sut.process(tr, Hint())
 
+        assertTrue(
+            tr.spans.any {
+                "process.load" == it.op &&
+                    appStartSpan.spanId == it.parentSpanId
+            }
+        )
+
         assertTrue(
             tr.spans.any {
                 "contentprovider.load" == it.op &&
diff --git a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetricsTest.kt b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetricsTest.kt
index 1f41f4cea81..0885024b003 100644
--- a/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetricsTest.kt
+++ b/sentry-android-core/src/test/java/io/sentry/android/core/performance/AppStartMetricsTest.kt
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import org.mockito.kotlin.mock
 import org.robolectric.annotation.Config
 import kotlin.test.Test
 import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+import kotlin.test.assertNotEquals
 import kotlin.test.assertNull
 import kotlin.test.assertSame
 import kotlin.test.assertTrue
@@ -100,4 +101,9 @@ class AppStartMetricsTest {
         val sdkInitSpan = AppStartMetrics.getInstance().sdkInitTimeSpan
         assertSame(sdkInitSpan, timeSpan)
     }
+
+    @Test
+    fun `class load time is set`() {
+        assertNotEquals(0, AppStartMetrics.getInstance().classLoadedUptimeMs)
+    }
 }