Veteran venture capital firm Greylock Partners announced Tuesday that it has expanded its current fund, Greylock XIII, to $1 billion. The new capital came entirely from existing partners and was oversubscribed.
Greylock XIII originally closed at $575 million in November 2009.
The firm also announced the formation of Greylock Growth, a fund focused on late-stage companies in both the consumer and enterprise Internet spaces. Businesses funded by Greylock Growth will typically receive investments sized between $25 and $200 million, intended to keep them in the “winner’s circle,” according to partner David Sze.
On the complete opposite side of the investment timeline, Greylock also manages the Discovery Fund, which has completed 20 seed stage investments since launching in September 2010. The Discovery Fund, which is managed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, competes with angels to fund companies at the earliest stage. In tandem with Greylock XIII and Greylock Growth, the Discovery Fund rounds out the firm’s commitment to investment opportunities at all stages of a business’ development.
Greylock XIII originally closed at $575 million in November 2009.The firm also announced the formation of Greylock Growth, a fund focused on late-stage companies in both the consumer and enterprise Internet spaces. Businesses funded by Greylock Growth will typically receive investments sized between $25 and $200 million, intended to keep them in the “winner’s circle,” according to partner David Sze.
On the complete opposite side of the investment timeline, Greylock also manages the Discovery Fund, which has completed 20 seed stage investments since launching in September 2010. The Discovery Fund, which is managed by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, competes with angels to fund companies at the earliest stage. In tandem with Greylock XIII and Greylock Growth, the Discovery Fund rounds out the firm’s commitment to investment opportunities at all stages of a business’ development.
Here are some of the most recent additions to Greylock’s portfolio:
- 1000memories is a free website for family and friends to commemorate the life of a loved one with stories, pictures, videos and audio. Two weeks ago, the company raised $2.5 million in a Series A round led by Greylock, along with several notable angels, including Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake, Ron Conway, Keith Rabois, Mike Maples, Paul Buchheit, Chris Sacca, Ben Ling, Aydin Senkut, and others. Greylock partner David Thacker joined the startup’s board.
- One Kings Lane is a private shopping site for premium home décor and designers perhaps best known for being founded by Susan Feldman and Alison Pincus, wife of Zynga CEO Mark Pincus. A little over two weeks ago, the startup raised $23 million in Series B financing, co-led by existing investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Greylock as a new investor. Greylock partner James Slavet joined the board of directors as an observer.
- The biggest and most recent contribution from Greylock, however, must be its participation in the $950 million round for daily deals site Groupon. The venture capital round was recorded as one of the largest for a startup in history, and Greylock was sure not to miss the opportunity.
Other noteworthy Greylock investments (and the year the firm invested): Airbnb (2010), Digg (2005), Facebook (2006), Gowalla (2009), LinkedIn (2004), Pandora (2009) and Zipcar (2006).
Now it’s time for returns. At least two of those companies, LinkedIn and Pandora, are set to go public this year and Greylock owns 16 percent and 14 percent of each, respectively. Facebook is also widely expected to see its own IPO sometime in the next two years and, since Greylock was such an early investor, the returns from that offering will undoubtedly be the envy of many a VC firm.
