Kleiner Perkins facts for kids
 |
|
|
Formerly
|
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) |
|---|---|
| Private | |
| Industry | Venture capital |
| Founded | 1972 in California |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters |
,
U.S.
|
| Products | Investments |
Kleiner Perkins is a company that helps new businesses grow. It used to be called Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). This American company is a venture capital firm. This means they invest money in new companies, especially those just starting out or growing fast.
Since it began in 1972, Kleiner Perkins has supported over 900 businesses. Some famous companies they helped include Amazon.com, Google, Twitter, and Electronic Arts. By 2024, they had created many investment funds to help even more companies.
Kleiner Perkins has its main office in Menlo Park, California. This area is known as Silicon Valley, a hub for technology companies. They also have offices in San Francisco and Shanghai, China.
Contents
History of Kleiner Perkins
Kleiner Perkins started in 1972. Later, Frank J. Caufield and Brook Byers joined as partners. The company's name then changed to Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (KPCB). The firm is named after its four founders: Eugene Kleiner, Tom Perkins, Frank J. Caufield, and Brook Byers.
Eugene Kleiner was a founder of Fairchild Semiconductor. Tom Perkins was an early leader at Hewlett-Packard. Brook Byers joined the firm in 1977. Kleiner Perkins was the first venture capital firm to open an office on Sand Hill Road. This road later became famous for having many venture capital companies.
Growth in Silicon Valley
Located in Menlo Park, California, Kleiner Perkins was close to the growing technology industry. In the early 1970s, many computer and semiconductor companies were in the Santa Clara Valley. Even when the stock market had problems in 1974, Kleiner Perkins kept investing.
By 1996, Kleiner Perkins had invested about $880 million in around 260 companies. Besides the original founders, other important people joined the firm. These included John Doerr, Vinod Khosla, and Bill Joy.
New Partners and Funds
In 2005, Colin Powell joined Kleiner Perkins as a "strategic" partner. Al Gore became a partner in 2007. This was part of a partnership with another investment company. Mary Meeker joined in 2010. That year, Kleiner Perkins started investing in companies that were already growing.
Mary Meeker left in 2019 to start her own company. Later, in 2017 and 2018, Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman joined as investing partners. The New York Times has called Kleiner Perkins "perhaps Silicon Valley's most famous venture firm."
Recent Developments
In September 2018, Kleiner Perkins announced a change. Their team that focused on digital growth became a new, independent company. In January 2019, the firm started a new plan under Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman. They raised US$600 million for their 18th fund.
The firm announced its 19th fund on January 31, 2019. This fund focuses on early investments in areas like consumer products, business software, and financial technology. In 2021, they raised a new growth fund called Select I. In 2022, they announced two more funds: Select II and KP20. Most recently, in 2024, they launched their 21st venture capital fund, KP21, and their sixth growth fund, Select III.
Kleiner Perkins Investments
Kleiner Perkins invests in many different types of companies. In March 2008, they started the iFund. This was a $100 million fund to invest in ideas related to the iPhone. They doubled this investment a year later. In October 2010, they launched a $250 million fund called sFund. This fund focused on social media startups. Companies like Facebook and Amazon.com also invested in this fund.
In early 2016, the firm raised $1.4 billion for two more funds, KP XVII and DGF III. Since it started, Kleiner Perkins has invested early in over 900 technology and life sciences companies.
Notable Company Investments
Some of the well-known companies they invested in include:
- Amazon.com
- America Online
- Beyond Meat
- Compaq
- Electronic Arts
- Genentech
- Intuit
- Netscape
- Nest
- Sun Microsystems
They also have current investments in companies like DJI, Coursera, Desktop Metal, Gusto, Plaid, Robinhood, and Slack. Some very recent investments include Modern Health and TogetherAI.
Successful Early Investments
Kleiner Perkins made a smart investment in Netscape in 1994. They paid $5 million for about 25% of the company. They made a good profit when Netscape first offered its shares to the public.
They invested $8 million in a company called Cerent. This investment was worth about $2 billion when Cerent was sold to Cisco Systems in 1999. In 1999, Kleiner Perkins also invested $12 million in Google. This early investment helped Google become the huge company it is today. They also made over $1 billion from an $8 million investment in Amazon.com.
Key Partners
Important leaders and advisors at Kleiner Perkins include:
- John Doerr (chairman)
- Brook Byers (founder)
- Al Gore
- Ilya Fushman
- Mamoon Hamid
- Ted Schlein
See also
- List of venture capital firms
