Maveron is an American

venture capital firm Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

that invests in consumer-only and early-stage companies, with offices in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

and

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. The firm was co-founded by

Dan Levitan Dan Levitan is a former investment banker turned venture capital investor. He is co-founding partner at Maveron, which invests in consumer-only businesses centered on technology-enabled products and services in commerce, education, and health and w ...

and former Starbucks chief executive

Howard Schultz Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who served as both chairman and CEO of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and as interim CEO since 2022. Schultz also owned the Seattle SuperSonics basket ...

in 1998. Maveron invests in consumer-only businesses centered on technology-enabled products and services in commerce, education, and health and wellness. As of 2020, the firm had a total of $1.3 billion in assets under management (AUM).

History

The firm was co-founded in Seattle by

, former investment banker at Schroder Wertheim & Co., and

, former CEO, president, and chairman of

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...

. During his time at Schroder Wertheim & Co., Levitan helped take Starbucks

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

in 1992, which is where his relationship with Schultz was formed. By 1993, Levitan and Schultz began investing together in several consumer businesses. In 1997, Levitan decided to leave New York and head west to Seattle to start Maveron with Schultz. The firm opened its doors in January 1998. Maveron's name is a combination of "maverick" and "vision". During the early 2000s, the fund and Schultz in particular, was criticized for investments in for-profit universities, namely

Capella University Capella University is a private for-profit, online university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school is owned by the publicly traded Strategic Education, Inc. and delivers most of its education online. Capella has 52 degree pr ...

. Maveron opened its San Francisco office in 2009. Maveron's early investment in

zulily Zulily, LLC is an American e-commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington and owned by Qurate Retail Group. Its target audience is young mothers interested in brand-name goods for their children. It holds no inventory, instead consolida ...

led to November 2013 public offering of 22% of shares (for $4.5 million) worth over a billion dollars by December. In 2014, the fund was featured on ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

''' top venture capital firms in the U.S., ranked #54 out of 100. In 2019, the fund raised an additional $180 million to finance investments. The firm often turns down surplus capital in order to ensure consistent investment delta (margin by which fund outperforms the stock market).

Portfolio

Maveron's early investments include

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

Drugstore.com drugstore.com was an internet retailer in health and beauty care products. Its web operations were launched on February 24, 1999, and shut down on September 30, 2016 after being acquired by Walgreens in March 2011 for $409 million. In June 19 ...

, and

Potbelly Sandwich Works Potbelly Corporation is a publicly traded American fast-casual restaurant chain that focuses on submarine sandwiches and milkshakes. Potbelly was founded in 1977 in Chicago, and its name refers to the potbelly stove. Potbelly's menu features a va ...

. Active Maveron companies include

Allbirds Allbirds, Inc. is an American company that sells footwear and apparel. The company claims to keep its products as eco-friendly as possible and is a certified B Corporation. Allbirds uses a direct-to-consumer model in conjunction with distributi ...

, AllStripes, Bookclub,

Booster Fuels Booster is a tech-enabled mobile energy delivery company that provides a more sustainable fueling experience for businesses and consumers. Based in San Mateo, California, they have transformed energy-as-a-service for customers, saving the average ...

, CapHill Brands,

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally ...

, Co-Star, Daring, DollsKill, Dolly,

Eargo Eargo is an American hearing aid manufacturer based in San Jose, California. History Eargo was founded in 2010 by Florent Michel, his son Raphael Michel, and Daniel Shen. Florent—an ear, nose, and throat surgeon—serves as the designer a ...

(NASDAQ: EAR), Engageli,

Everlane Everlane is an American clothing retailer that sells primarily online. The organization is headquartered in San Francisco, California and also has stores in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, and Palo Alto. The company was founded with ...

, Flywire (NASDAQ: FLYW), Gallant, Illumix, Imperfect Foods, Inkbox, Landing,

Lovevery Lovevery is an American company producing play-kit subscription boxes for children. Description Lovevery produces educational toys, books, and games via play-kit subscription boxes "designed to meet the developmental needs and brain developme ...

, Modern Fertility, Nécessaire, Otis, Pacaso, Parade, Peach, Pluto VR, Pro.com, Spyce, Tempest, The Guild,

The Wrap ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, Thirty Madison, Two Chairs, and Wave. Exits include August Lock, Capella Education,

CircleUp CircleUp is a financial technology company based in San Francisco that focuses on consumer goods startups. Since its official launch in April 2012, CircleUp has helped several consumer companies raise equity including Back to the Roots, Halo Top ...

, CourseHero, Cranium, Darby Smart, Decide, Earnest, General Assembly, Good,

Groupon Groupon is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon af ...

, Julep, Koru, Lucy Activewear, Madison Reed, Newsle, NextFoods, PayNearMe, Periscope,

Pinkberry Pinkberry is a franchise of frozen dessert restaurants headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. There are currently over 260 stores in 20 countries. The first store was opened in January 2005 by Hye Kyung (Shelly) Hwang and Young Lee. The restaurant ...

, Quellos Group,

SeatMe Yelp Inc. is an American company that develops the Yelp.com website and the Yelp mobile app, which publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. It also operates Yelp Guest Manager, a table reservation service. It is headquartered in San Fr ...

Shutterfly Shutterfly, LLC. is an American photography, photography products, and image sharing company, headquartered in Redwood City, California. The company is mainly known for custom photo printing services, including books featuring user-provided im ...

, Trupanion, and

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official site
Venture capital firms of the United States Investment companies of the United States Companies based in Seattle Financial services companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in Washington (state)

History

Portfolio

See also

References

External links