Benchmark (venture capital firm)

Benchmark is a venture capital firm founded in 1995 by Bob Kagle, Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff, Kevin Harvey, and Val Vaden. The firm is known for its equal partnership structure and focus on early-stage investing, typically leading the first institutional round of funding while taking a board seat with each company it invests in.

Founding, partner structure

Benchmark was founded in 1995 by five partners: Bob Kagle, Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff, Kevin Harvey, and Val Vaden. The firm is noted for creating the first equal ownership and compensation structure for its partners, where there are no "junior partners" or "senior partners," and there are also no CEO-like position held, differing from other VC firms which are named for their founders and are structured hierarchically. The firm has stated the reason for maintaining this approach is to "force discipline and accountability to focus on what matters" for its founders and limited partners, as their profits are driven by investment performance as opposed to management fees. The collective decision-making structure also means that Benchmark shares responsibility for the performance of the companies the firm invests in, not just the single partner who joins the company's board of directors.

Prior partners with the firm include Bill Gurley (who stepped back from his position after serving with the firm for twenty-one years), Mitch Lasky, and Matt Cohler (who each stepped back from their roles as partners after each spending more than a decade with the firm).

Investments

The firm's most successful investment was a 1997 investment of $6.7 million in eBay for 22.1% of the company. In 2011, it invested $12 million for an 11% stake in Uber, worth $7 billion in 2019 and $9.4 billion in 2023.

Benchmark’s first eight funds, raised and invested between 1995 and 2019, returned more than seven and a half times the money invested, net of fees and carry.

The firm has made exits from several companies, including Amplitude, Asana, Confluent, eBay, Elastic, New Relic, Nextdoor, Red Hat, Snap, Stitch Fix, and Uber.

In popular culture

Benchmark Capital was featured in the Apple TV+ original TV series '' WeCrashed'' starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway. In the show, Anthony Edwards portrays Benchmark co-founder Bruce Dunlevie, who became WeWork's first major investor on the 1st of April in 2012 when Benchmark led WeWork's $17 million Series-A seed funding.

Benchmark was also featured in the Showtime original '' Super Pumped'' starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. In the series, Kyle Chandler plays former Benchmark general partner Bill Gurley, portraying his involvement in leading Ubers' $11 million round of fundraising in February 2011.

See also

* List of venture capital firms

References

External links

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{{Private equity and venture capital

Companies based in Menlo Park, California
Financial services companies established in 1995
Venture capital firms of the United States