Venture CapitalOverviewThomas Williford

May 2019

Key Observations 1. Venture Capital funding is increasing, but concentrating into fewer deals.

Key Observations 2. Traditional and corporate VC firms are placing more funding into seed and Series A deals.

Key Observations 3. The top 20 Venture Capital firms produce the highest returns and secure the best deals.

VC Firm Ranking Criteria

Returns to Investors

- Total Assets Managed

- Number of exits (acquisitions or IPOs)

- Pedigree of partners and investors.

Longevity of Firm

- How many funds has the firm raised?

- Has the firm retained its best investors?

- Pedigree of the firm’s reputation.

Impact on Society

- Have the investments changed the world?

- Has the firm impacted the VC industry?

- Does the firm have a vision beyond generating returns?

Honorable Mentions - VC Firms

Kleiner Perkins - Dominant in the past, but slipped considerably in recent years.

NEA - The counterculture to most VCs, yet the largest VC firm in America.

General Catalyst - Great recent performance. Most upward potential.

Y Combinator - An excellent hybrid between an accelerator and a VC firm.

Softbank - $100 Billion Vision Fund enables huge investments in emerging tech.

Founders Fund

Top 5 Venture Capital Firms

5

Greylock

4

Benchmark

3 1

SequoiaAndreessen-Horowitz

2

5 - Greylock

Notable Partners:Reid Hoffman, Bill Helman

Current Portfolio Highlights: Coinbase, Roblox, Coda

Exits:Instagram, Redhat, Pandora

Ranking Analysis - Greylock

Total Assets Managed

3.1 Billion

Exits to date:

192

Pedigree of Partners (1-10):

7 - Losing talent recently

How many Funds has the Firm Raised:

14

Has the firm retained its best investors:

Somewhat

Pedigree of the Firm’s Reputation (1-10):

8.5 - Founded 1965

Firm’s Investment Impacts on World (1-10):

8

Firm’s Impact on VC Industry (1-10):

6

Firm’s Vision beyond Returns (1-10):

6

4 - Benchmark

Notable Partners: Bill Gurley, Peter Fenton

Current Portfolio Highlights:Zillow, Tinder, Nextdoor

Exits from Seed/Series A Investments:Ebay, Uber, Snapchat

Ranking Analysis - Benchmark

Total Assets Managed

2.9 Billion

Exited Companies:

151

How Many Funds has The Firm Raised:

13

Has the Firm Retained its Best Investors:

Yes

Pedigree of the Firm’s Reputation (1-10):

8 - Founded 1995

Firm’s investment impacts on world (1-10):

7.5 - Ebay

Firm’s Impact on VC Industry (1-10):

6

Vision beyond Generating Returns (1-10):

9 - Open source, no “CEO”

Pedigree of Partners (1-10):

7

3 - Founders Fund

Notable Partners:Peter Thiel, Brian Singerman

Current Portfolio Highlights:SpaceX, Anduril, Oscar Exits: Facebook, Zynga, Spotify

Ranking Analysis - Founders Fund

Total Assets Managed

3.4 Billion

Exited Companies:

75

Pedigree of Partners (1-10):

9 - PayPal, Palantir

How many Funds has the Firm Raised:

6

Has the Firm Retained Its Best Investors:

Somewhat

Pedigree of the Firm’s Reputation (1-10):

8 - Founded in 2005

Firm’s Investment Impacts on World (1-10):

7

Firm’s Impact on VC Industry (1-10):

7 - Emphasis on innovation.

Firm’s Vision beyond Returns (1-10):

9.5 - Equip founders for “Zero to One”

2- Andreessen Horowitz

Notable Partners:Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz

Current Portfolio Highlights: Lime, Illumio, Coinbase

Exits:Github, Dollar Shave Club, Pinterest

Ranking Analysis - Andreessen Horowitz

Total Assets Managed:

9.4 Billion

Exited Companies:

108

How Many Funds has the Firm Raised:

13

Has the Firm Retained its Best Investors:

Yes

Pedigree of the Firm’s Reputation (1-10):

9 - founded 2009

Firm’s Investment Impacts on World (1-10):

7

Firm’s Impact on VC Industry (1-10):

9 - Registering firm as fin. Advisors

Firm’s Vision beyond Returns (1-10):

7 - Software is Eating the World

Pedigree of Partners (1-10):

9 - Founded NetScape, OpsWare

1 - Sequoia:

Notable Partners: Michael Moritz, Alfred Lin, Neil Shen

Current Portfolio Highlights: DoorDash, Verkada, Bird

Exits:Apple, Oracle, DropBox

Ranking Analysis - Sequoia Total Assets Managed:

15.3 Billion

Exited Companies:

248

Pedigree of Partners (1-10):

9

How Many Funds has the Firm Raised:

22 different categories

Retention of Best Investors:

Yes

Pedigree of Firm’s Reputation (1-10):

10 - Founded in 1972

Firm’s Investment Impact on World (1-10):

10 - Led Apple, Sequoia China

Firm’s Impact on VC Industry (1-10):

9.5 - Best VC model for decades

Firm’s Vision beyond Returns (1-10):

9 - Empowering Apple, Google

VC Investor Ranking Criteria

Impact on Startups

- Has this investor’s guidance as a board member helped startups succeed?

- Has this investor founded any successful startups?

History of Investment

- Has the investor backed profitable ventures consistently?

- Does the investor back profitable ventures early?

Impact on VC

- Has the investor had a significant impact at a firm?

- Has the investor changed the thought framework for how VC investments are conducted?

-

Honorable Mentions - VC Investors Reid Hoffman - Greylock

Bill Gurley - Benchmark

Neil Shen - Sequoia China

Fred Wilson - AVC

Ron Conway - SV Angel

Elad Gil - Angel Investor

Alfred Lin - Sequoia

Peter Levine - Andreessen Horowitz

Mary Meeker

Top 5 Venture Capital Investors

5

Peter Fenton

4

Michael Moritz

3 1

Marc Andreessen Peter Thiel

2

5 - Peter Fenton Benchmark

Current Portfolio Companies - Docker, Buoyant, TimescaleDB

Exits - Twitter, Yelp, Elastic

Quote - “The best time to invest is right before the company’s rising ‘adoption curve’ meets the declining risk curve.”

Ranking Analysis - Peter Fenton Has this investor’s guidance as a board member helped startups succeed? (1-10):

7 - Twitter @ 25 employees, Yelp

Has this investor founded any successful startups? (1-10):

1 - None founded himself.

Has the investor backed profitable ventures consistently? (1-10):

9.5 - on Midas List of Top 100 investors since 2007

Does the investor back profitable ventures early? (1-10):

8 - Well known for backing companies early

Has the investor had a significant impact at a firm?

9 - Seven years at Accel, best current Benchmark investor

Has the investor changed the thought framework for how VC investments are conducted?

Yes - Back companies early to achieve large gains

4 -Michael MoritzSequoia Capital

Current Portfolio Companies - Stripe, Instacart, Klarna

Exits - Google, Yahoo, LinkedIn

Quote - “There's nothing more invigorating than being deeply involved with a young team of founders out to do something incredibly special.”

Ranking Analysis - Michael Moritz Has this investor’s guidance as a board member helped startups succeed?

8 - Helped Google succeed

Has this investor founded any successful startups?

1- None founded himself

Has the investor backed profitable ventures consistently? 9

Does the investor back profitable ventures early?

8.5

Has the investor had a significant impact at a firm?

9 - Leader at Sequoia for a decade

Has the investor changed the thought framework for how VC investments are conducted?

9.5 - In tune with to Steve Jobs’ mindset and excellence

3 - Mary Meeker Kleiner Perkins ->Buoy

Current Portfolio Companies - Peloton, Houzz, LegalZoom

Exits - Square, Waze, Docusign

Quote - “I love data. I think it's very important to get it right, and I think it's good to question it.”

Ranking Analysis - Mary Meeker Has this investor’s guidance as a board member helped startups succeed?

9 - Balances involvement and freedom with the startup

Has this investor founded any successful startups?

1 - No startups founded

Has the investor backed profitable ventures consistently?

9.5 - Multiple decades backing great startups

Does the investor back profitable ventures early?

9 - Good record of entering startups ahead of Silicon Valley

Has the investor had a significant impact at a firm?

10 - Headlined Kleiner Perkins and founded Buoy

Has the investor changed the thought framework for how VC investments are conducted?

9.5 - One of the most respected investors in Silicon Valley

2 - Peter Thiel Founders Fund

Current Portfolio Companies - Palantir, SpaceX, AirBnB

Exits - PayPal, Facebook, Joyent

Quote - “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters.”

Ranking Analysis - Peter Thiel Has this investor’s guidance as a board member helped startups succeed?

Great Facebook and Palantir guidance

Has this investor founded any successful startups?

10 - PayPal, Palantir

Has the investor backed profitable ventures consistently?

9 - Maintained top investments since early 2000s

Does the investor back profitable ventures early?

10 -First outside investor in Facebook, early SpaceX investor

Has the investor had a significant impact at a firm?

9.5 - Co-founded Founders Fund, led it to a top 5 fund

Has the investor changed the thought framework for how VC investments are conducted?

9.5 - Use investing to drive change from Zero to One

1 - Marc Andreessen Andreessen Horowitz

Current Portfolio Companies - Lime, Slack, Soylent

Exits - Mosaic, Netscape, Lyft, Zynga

Quote - “You are cruising along, and technology changes. You have to adapt.”

Ranking Analysis - Marc Andreessen Has this investor’s guidance as a board member helped startups succeed?

9 - Very involved in leading startups to succeed

Has this investor founded any successful startups?

10 - Netscape, Opsware

Has the investor backed profitable ventures consistently?

9.5

Does the investor back profitable ventures early?

9.5

Has the investor had a significant impact at a firm?

10 - Founded a top 3 VC firm in Andreessen Horowitz

Has the investor changed the thought framework for how VC investments are conducted?

Yes - emphasis on identifying software startups early

Sources http://www.hbs.edu/newventurecompetition/business-track/Documents/FH%20Boston%20Financing%20HBS%20NVC.pdf

https://www.angelkings.com/top-venture-capital-firms

https://www.techinasia.com/sequoia-accel-andreessen-horowitz-smartest-vcs-west

https://medium.com/startup-grind/all-the-venture-capital-fundraising-bloggers-you-should-be-following-6ea9817039c4

https://www.cbinsights.com/research/top-venture-capital-partners/

https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/the-state-of-us-venture-capital-activity-in-15-charts

https://angel.co/benchmark-capital

https://www.cbinsights.com

https://www.linkedin.com/

https://foundersfund.com

https://www.sequoiacap.com

https://a16z.com

https://pitchbook.com/profiles/investor/11295-73