Maveron is an American venture capital firm that invests in consumer-only and early-stage companies, with offices in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

and

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. The firm was co-founded by Dan Levitan and former Starbucks chief executive

Howard Schultz Howard D. Schultz (born July 19, 1953) is an American businessman and author who was the chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and interim CEO from 2022 to 2023. Schultz owned the Seattle SuperS ...

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 In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

(AUM).

History

The firm was co-founded in Seattle by Dan Levitan, former investment banker at Schroder Wertheim & Co., and

, former CEO, president, and chairman of

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

. 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. Capella has 47 degree programs with over 1,600 courses. Approximately ...

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

zulily Zulily is an American e-commerce website with operations headquartered in Midvale, Utah. Its target audience are young mothers interested in brand-name goods for their children. Months after its website closed, all of Zulily's intellectual prope ...

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 founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

''' 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. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

, Drugstore.com, and Potbelly Sandwich Works. Active Maveron companies include Allbirds, AllStripes, Bookclub, BrewBird, Booster Fuels, CapHill Brands,

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

, Co-Star, Daring, DollsKill, Dolly, Eargo (NASDAQ: EAR), Engageli, Everlane, Flywire (NASDAQ: FLYW), Gallant, Illumix, Imperfect Foods, Inkbox, Landing, Lovevery, Modern Fertility, Nécessaire, Otis, Pacaso, Parade, Peach, Pluto VR, Pro.com, Spyce, Tempest, The Guild, The Wrap, Thirty Madison, Two Chairs, and Wave. Exits include August Lock, Capella Education, CircleUp, CourseHero, Cranium, Darby Smart, Decide, Earnest, General Assembly, Good,

Groupon Groupon, Inc. 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 ...

, 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, Shutterfly, 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