Benchmark (venture capital firm)

Benchmark is a venture capital firm founded in 1995 by Bob Kagle,^[1] Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff,^[2] Kevin Harvey,^[3] and Val Vaden.^[4] The firm is known for its equal partnership structure^[5] 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.^[2]

The firm's most successful investment was a 1997 investment of 6ドル.7 million in eBay for 22.1% of the company.^[6] In 2011, it invested 12ドル million for an 11% stake in Uber, worth 7ドル billion in 2019 and 9ドル.4 billion in 2023.^[7]

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.^[5]

Notable companies funded by the firm include 1-800-Flowers, Demandforce, Amplitude,^[8] AOL, Art.com/Allposters.com, Asana,^[9] Baixing, CTERA Networks, Cerebras Systems,^[10] Confluent,^[11] Cockroach Labs,^[12] CouchSurfing,^[13] Cyanogen,^[14] Digits,^[15] Discord,^[16] Duo Security,^[17] Domo, Inc.,^{[18] [19]} Docker,^[20] Dropbox,^[21] EBags.com, eBay, Friendster, HackerOne ^[22] Instagram,^{[23] [24]} JAMDAT, Juniper Networks, Marin Software,^[25] Metacafe, Minted, Modern Treasury,^[26] MySQL, New Relic,^{[27] [28]} Nextdoor,^{[29] [30]} OpenTable, Optimizely,^[31] Palm, Inc., ResearchGate,^[32] Seeking Alpha, ServiceSource, Sketch,^[33] Snapchat,^{[34] [35] [36]} Solv,^[37] Stitch Fix,^{[38] [39]} Twitter,^[40] Tellme Networks,^[41] Uber,^{[42] [43]} Ubiquity6,^[44] Vessel,^[45] WeWork,^{[46] [47] [48] [49]} WorldWinner,^[50] Xapo,^[51] Yelp, Inc.,^[52] Zendesk,^[53] Zillow,^[54] Zipcar,^[55] and Zuora.^{[56] [57]}

Benchmark is noted for creating the first equal ownership and compensation structure for its partners.^[58] The "maverick" firm^[59] differs from most VC firms, which are named for their founders and are structured hierarchically; Benchmark was described by Fortune as "a lean operation in which its six full-time partners share profits equally."^[59] There are no "junior partners" or "senior partners," and there are also no CEO-like position held.^[60] 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,^[2] as their profits are driven by investment performance as opposed to management fees.^[5] 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.^{[2] [5]}

Benchmark’s five founding partners were Bob Kagle,^[1] Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff,^[2] Kevin Harvey,^[3] and Val Vaden.^[4] Other prior partners include Mitch Lasky and Matt Cohler (who each stepped back from their roles as partners after each spending more than a decade with the firm),^[61] and Bill Gurley (who stepped back from his position after serving with the firm for twenty-one years).^[62]

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ドル million Series-A seed funding.^{[citation needed ]}

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ドル million round of fundraising in February 2011.^[63]

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