Kleiner Perkins

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Kleiner Perkins, formerly Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), is an American venture capital firm which specializes in investing in incubation, early stage and growth companies. Since its founding in 1972, the firm has backed entrepreneurs<ref name="kpcb-bloomberg">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in over 900 ventures,<ref name="1:6">"Assets": Kleiner Perkins, 2019</ref><ref name="kpcb-companies1">Template:Citation</ref> including America Online,<ref name=nyt-ea/> Amazon.com,<ref name=Cnet/> Tandem Computers, Compaq,<ref name=exec-joins/> Electronic Arts,<ref name=nyt-ea/> JD.com, Square,<ref name=kpcb-portfolio/> Genentech,<ref name=exec-joins/> Google, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, Nest, Palo Alto Networks, Synack, Snap, AppDynamics, and Twitter.<ref name=kpcb-portfolio/> By 2019 it had raised around $9 billion in 19 venture capital funds<ref name="1:5">"Future Raises $8.5M in Series A Funding Led by Kleiner Perkins to Digitize the Personal Training Experience": Kleiner Perkins, 5/23/2019</ref> and four growth funds.<ref name=kpcb-companies1/>

Kleiner Perkins is headquartered in Menlo Park in Silicon Valley,<ref name=offices-kpcb/> with offices in San Francisco<ref name="offices-kpcb">Kleiner Perkins Offices at KPCB.com Template:Webarchive</ref> and Shanghai, China.<ref name="kpcb-china">Template:Citation</ref>

History

Template:History of private equity and venture capital The firm was formed in 1972 as Kleiner Perkins. When Caufield and Byers became partners as well, the name was changed to Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (KPCB)<ref name="IT">KPCB Information Technology Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name="nyt-goeslate">Template:Cite news</ref> in Menlo Park, California,<ref name="vfunding">Template:Citation</ref> with a focus on seed, early-stage, and growth companies.<ref name=IT/><ref name=nyt-goeslate/> The firm is named after its four founding partners: Eugene Kleiner, Tom Perkins, Frank J. Caufield, and Brook Byers.<ref name=vfunding/> Kleiner was a founder of Fairchild Semiconductor, and Perkins was an early Hewlett-Packard executive.<ref name=vfunding/><ref name="tandem-fundingu">Template:Citation</ref> Byers joined in 1977.<ref name=corcoran-perkins/> It was the very first venture capital firm to open an office on Sand Hill Road and is credited with creating the cluster of venture capital firms in that area.<ref name="Nicholas_Page_212">Template:Cite book</ref>

Located in Menlo Park, California, Kleiner Perkins had access to the growing technology industries in the area. By the early 1970s, there were many semiconductor companies based in the Santa Clara Valley as well as early computer firms using their devices and programming and service companies. Venture capital firms suffered a temporary downturn in 1974, when the stock market crashed and investors were naturally wary of this new kind of investment fund. Nevertheless, the firm was still active in this period.Template:Citation needed By 1996, Kleiner Perkins had funded around 260 companies a total of $880 million.<ref name=corcoran-perkins/> Beyond the original founders, notable members of the firm have included individuals such as<ref name="team-kpcb">Template:Cite news</ref> John Doerr,<ref name="Kaplan_mentions_Doerr_page_301-302"> Template:Cite book</ref> Vinod Khosla,<ref name="Greentech" /> and Bill Joy.<ref name="fortune-joy">Template:Cite news</ref>

Colin Powell joined as a "strategic" partner in 2005,<ref name="nyt-powell">Template:Cite news</ref> while Al Gore joined as a partner<ref name="nytgore">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in 2007<ref name="Greentech">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="coile-push">Template:Cite news</ref> as part of a collaboration between Kleiner Perkins and Generation Investment Management.<ref name="Greentech announcement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mary Meeker joined the firm in 2010,<ref name=team-kpcb/> and that year Kleiner Perkins expanded its practice to invest in growth stage companies.<ref name="r-files">Template:Cite news</ref> Meeker departed in 2019 to found Bond Capital.<ref name="1:4">"Mary Meeker Makes First Investment Out of Bond Capital": Fortune, Polina Marinova, published 5/21/2019</ref> Mamoon Hamid from Social Capital and Ilya Fushman from Index Partners joined in 2017 and 2018 respectively, both as investing partners.<ref name="1:3" />

The New York Times has described Kleiner Perkins as "perhaps Silicon Valley's most famous venture firm".<ref name=nyt-powell/> The firm was described by Dealbook in 2009 as "one of Silicon Valley's top venture capital providers",<ref name=nytgore/> and The Wall Street Journal in 2010 called it one of the "largest and most established" venture capital firms.<ref name="Austin">Template:Cite news</ref> By 2019 it had raised around $9 billion in 19 venture capital funds<ref name="1:5" /> and four growth funds.<ref name=kpcb-companies1/>

In May 2012, Ellen Pao, an employee, sued the firm for gender discrimination in Pao v. Kleiner Perkins,<ref name="reuters-pao">Template:Cite news</ref> which the firm has vigorously denied.<ref name="denies">Template:Cite news</ref> On 27 March 2015, after a month-long trial, the jury found against Pao on all claims.<ref name="wsj-bias">Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2015, Pao filed an appeal.<ref name="fortune-pao">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In September 2015, Pao announced she would no longer appeal the jury verdict.<ref name="wsj-noappeal">Template:Cite news</ref>

In September 2018, Kleiner Perkins announced it was spinning out its digital growth team into a new independent firm.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The firm announced its 19th fund on 31 January 2019<ref name="1:5" /> after raising $600 million. The fund is focused on early stage investments<ref name="2:6">"The Funded: Kleiner Perkins, TCV raise big new funds": Silicon Valley Business Journal, Cromwell Schubarth, 2/1/2019</ref> in the "consumer, enterprise, hard tech and fintech" sectors.<ref name="1:7">"Why VC Firm Kleiner Perkins Wants to ‘Return to Its Roots’ With a New $600M Fund": Fortune, Polina Marinova, 2/1/2019</ref> The firm raised US$600 million for its 18th fund, KP XVIII, in January 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Investments

In March 2008 Kleiner Perkins announced the iFund, a $100 million venture capital investment initiative that funds concepts related to the iPhone, and doubled that investment a year later.<ref name="doublefund">KPCB doubles iFund investment to $200MM Template:Webarchive</ref> It was reported in April 2008 that Kleiner Perkins was raising funds for a $500 million growth-stage clean-technology fund.<ref name=nyt-goeslate/><ref name="haislip">Template:Cite news</ref> In October 2010, the firm launched a $250 million fund called sFund to focus on social startups, with co-investors such as Facebook, Zynga and Amazon.com.<ref name="getting-started">Template:Cite news</ref> In early 2016, the firm raised $1.4 billion in KP XVII and DGF III.<ref name="cnbctwofunds">Template:Cite news</ref>

The firm has been an early investor in more than 900<ref name="1:6" /> technology and life sciences firms since its founding,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> including Amazon.com,<ref name=Cnet/> America Online,<ref name="nyt-ea">Template:Cite news</ref> Applied Intuition,<ref name=":WSJ2019">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Beyond Meat, Citrix,<ref name="1:9" /> Compaq,<ref name="exec-joins">Template:Cite news</ref> Electronic Arts,<ref name=nyt-ea/> Genentech,<ref name=exec-joins/> Google,<ref name=Cnet/> Glean,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Intuit,<ref name=getting-started/> Lotus Development,<ref name="power-players">Template:Cite journal</ref> Netscape,<ref name=corcoran-perkins/> Shazam,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Shyp,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Nest,<ref name="1:9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Sun Microsystems,<ref name=power-players/> and Twitter.<ref name="kpcb-portfolio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Some current investments include DJI, Handshake, Coursera,<ref name=kpcb-portfolio/> Shape Security,<ref name="Fortune-ss">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Farmers Business Network, Interos,<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> IronNet Cybersecurity, Desktop Metal, Gusto, Plaid, Rippling, Robinhood, Slack, UiPath, Netlify, Loom, Viz.ai, and Looker.<ref name="2:1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Very recent investments include Modern Health,<ref name="2:2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Pillar,<ref name="2:3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Future,<ref name="2:4">"Future launches $150/mo exercise app where real coaches nag you": TechCrunch, Josh Constine, published 6/2019</ref> TogetherAI<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and STORD.<ref name="2:5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Kleiner Perkins paid $5 million in 1994 for around 25% of Netscape and profited from Netscape's IPO.<ref name="corcoran-perkins">Template:Cite news</ref> Its investment of $8 million in Cerent was worth around $2 billion<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> when the optical equipment maker was sold to Cisco Systems<ref name=vfunding/> for $6.9 billion in August 1999.<ref>Cisco buys Cerent, Monterey Networks - CNET (August 1999)</ref> In 1999, Kleiner Perkins<ref name=Cnet/> paid $12 million for a stake in Google.<ref name="1:2">"How John Doerr, the old prospector, finally struck Google": CNET, published 5/3/2004</ref> As of 2019, the market cap of Google's parent company was estimated at around $831 billion.<ref name="1:1">"Google has lost $70 billion off its market cap after a 'nasty combination' of slowing ad traffic and a drop in sales per click (GOOG)": Business Insider, Theron Mohamed, 4/30/2019</ref> As initial investors in Amazon.com Kleiner Perkins scored returns<ref name=Cnet/> in excess of $1 billion<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> on an $8 million investment.<ref name="Cnet">Template:Cite news</ref>

Key partners

Template:See also The firm currently has five partners managing investments:<ref name="1:3">"People": Kleiner Perkins, published 2019</ref><ref name="team-kpcb2">Template:Cite news</ref>

• John Doerr (chairman)
• Brook Byers (founder)
• Al Gore<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Ilya Fushman
• Mamoon Hamid
• Wen Hsieh
• Bucky Moore
• Ted Schlein

See also

• List of venture capital firms

External links

• www.kleinerperkins.com