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 ha ...

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

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

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 17th ...

. 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 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 Dan Levitan, 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 ...

. 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 sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

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 Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities. They are operated by their owners or investors, rather than a not-for-profit institution, religious organization, or government. Because they are not funded by tax money, their long ...

, 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 pro ...

. 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, 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 ...

. Active Maveron companies include Allbirds, 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 (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, Modern Fertility, Nécessaire, Otis, Pacaso, Parade, Peach, Pluto VR,

Pro.com Matt Williams (born August 21, 1972 in Dallas, Texas) is an American Internet entrepreneur and the CEO of Pro.com. Previous positions include CEO of Digg.com, executive roles at Amazon, and Entrepreneur-In-Residence at venture capital firm ...

, Spyce, Tempest, The Guild,

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

, Thirty Madison, Two Chairs, and Wave. Exits include August Lock, Capella Education, CircleUp, CourseHero, Cranium, Darby Smart, Decide,

Earnest Earnest may refer to: People Given name * Earnest Brown IV (born 1999), American football player * Earnest Byner (born 1962), American football player * Earnest Elmo Calkins (1868–1964), early advertising innovator * Earnest Sevier Cox (1880� ...

, 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 Lucy Activewear (sometimes styled as "lucy" rather than "Lucy"), formerly known as Lucy.com, was an American clothing retailer based in Alameda, California. Founded in November 1999 by former Nike executives, it specialized in activewear for wom ...

Madison Reed Madison Reed is an American brand of hair care and hair color products. The company has a subscription-based service through its online store as well as partnerships with Ulta, Sephora and QVC, among others. Madison Reed was founded in 2013 by ...

, 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 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 ima ...

Trupanion Trupanion is a pet insurance provider based in Seattle, Washington, that offers and administers cat and dog insurance, in the United States, Canada, Australia, and Puerto Rico. Founded in 1998, Trupanion offers comprehensive insurance plans that ...

, 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