Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners
Private Ownership
Industry Venture capital
Founded 1911
Headquarters Redwood City, California, United States
Website www.bvp.com

Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) is the oldest venture capital firm in the United States, founded in 1911. The firm has over $5 billion under management and invests globally, operating offices in Redwood City, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Israel, and India.[1][2]

History

Bessemer Venture Partners is the longest-standing venture capital practice in the United States. BVP was originally formed in 1911 as a family trust, using funds from Bessemer Investment Company, in the New York City office of Henry Phipps, a co-founder of Carnegie Steel.[3][4] In 1974, the trust expanded beyond immediate family management and became a venture capital firm.[3]

In 2003, BVP expanded its operations to India with the opening of an office in Bangalore.[5] The firm's investments in India include Snapdeal[6] and UrbanClap.[7]

In 2007, BVP closed BVP VII, a $1 billion fund with $350 million earmarked for investing in India.[8] In the same year, the firm opened an office in Israel.[9] The firm's investments in Israel include Sisense, Wix (NASDAQ: WIX), Intucell (acquired by Cisco), Ravello (acquired by Oracle), Leaba (acquired by Cisco), and Traffix (acquired by F5), among others.[10]

In 2011, BVP closed BVP VIII, a $1.6 billion fund that was its largest fund to date.[11]

In 2015, BVP closed BVP IX, a $1.6 billion fund that the firm is currently investing.[12]

As of 2017, BVP had 16 partners.[13]

People

Current and former partners and investors of BVP include Bob Goodman (part owner of the Atlanta Hawks basketball team)[14], Harvard Business School professor Felda Hardymon,[15] and investors Adam Fisher, Ed Colloton, Byron Deeter, David Cowan, and Jeremy Levine. Additional BVP alumni include Sarah Tavel of Benchmark, Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz, Ravi Mhatre co-founder of Lightspeed, and Blue Apron co-founder Matt Salzberg. Bessemer's operating partners including former Oracle CFO Jeff Epstein Lockheed Martin CTO Ray Johnson, and AT&T Business Solutions CEO Andy Geisse. Partner emeritus Chris Gabrieli is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is a former candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. Current Bessemer investor Josh Harder is the 2018 Democratic nominee U.S. Congress in California's 10th congressional district.[16]

Investments

Bessemer Venture Partners invests in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage private companies. The firm is primarily focused on investing in the enterprise, consumer, and healthcare sectors.[17]

BVP has helped build over 120 IPOs and 150 M&A transactions, including Yelp (NYSE: YELP), LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD), Twitch (acquired by Amazon), Dropcam (acquired by Google), MindBody (NASDAQ: MB), Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), Box (NYSE: BOX), OvaScience (NYSE: OVAS), LifeLock (acquired by Symantec), and Wandera.[18]

The firm is also notable for publishing its "anti-portfolio," a list of all their missed investment opportunities that went on to be very successful businesses.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "Bessemer Venture Partners: Private Company Information - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  2. ↑ Miller, Ron. "Bessemer Looks Forward With New $1.6B Fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  3. 1 2 Berry, John F.; Berry, John F. (1982-08-01). "Bessemer Trust: A Tradition of Conservative Cash Management". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  4. ↑ "June 16, 1911 letter of Henry Phipps". Bessemer Trust. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
  5. ↑ Partners, Bessemer Venture. "Bessemer Venture Partners Expands India Team Industry Veteran Devesh Garg Named Managing Director". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  6. ↑ "Snapdeal | crunchbase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  7. ↑ Shu, Catherine. "UrbanClap, India's Largest Services Marketplace, Fetches $25 Million Series B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  8. ↑ Buckman, Rebecca (2007-07-19). "Bessemer to Lift India Investment". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  9. ↑ Rusli, Evelyn M. "Bessemer Venture Partners Closes $1.6 Billion Fund". DealBook. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  10. ↑ "Bessemer Venture Partners - Exits | crunchbase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  11. ↑ Rusli, Evelyn M. "Bessemer Venture Partners Closes $1.6 Billion Fund". DealBook. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  12. ↑ Miller, Ron. "Bessemer Looks Forward With New $1.6B Fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  13. ↑ "Meet the Bessemer Venture Partners Team". Bessemer Venture Partners. 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  14. ↑ Bessemer Venture Partners. 2015-10-02 http://www.myajc.com/sports/basketball/ressler-hawks-have-plans-add-ownership-group/ukD2hZfJVETocPHmmI1jXJ/. Retrieved 2017-05-16. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ↑ Bessemer Venture Partners. 2015-10-02 https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/08/hbs-professor-nabs-lifetime-achievement-award-from-nvca/. Retrieved 2017-05-16. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ↑ title="VC Josh Harder is running for Congress|https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/11/vc-josh-harder-is-running-for-congress-in-californias-10th-district.html"
  17. ↑ "Bessemer Venture Partners Appoints Five Investing Partners". Wall Street Journal. 2013-01-24. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  18. ↑ "Bessemer Venture Partners - Exits | crunchbase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  19. ↑ "The Anti-Portfolio". Bessemer Venture Partners. 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
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