CRV, formerly known as Charles River Ventures, is a bi-coastal venture capital firm founded in 1970 that is headquartered in Palo Alto, California and has offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts. CRV is named after the Charles River located in Boston, Massachusetts, and was initially headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts before relocating its headquarters to San Francisco, California. The firm focuses on investing in early-stage startups in the fields of enterprise, consumer, and deep insight bioengineering. Charles River Ventures rebranded to CRV in 2014 shortly after raising their 16th investment fund.
The company invests in ideas and startups using the concept of equality with the entrepreneurs leading each company. As per CRV's manifesto, partnerships are built with equal title, pay, carry, and votes with every investment. The partners of the firm will form deal teams where a few partners asses companies and decide if they want to pitch the company to the rest of the CRV team. If a deal team decides to pitch a company to the rest of the CRV partners, any CRV partner that takes out their mobile device for any reason during a pitch is fined $10,000.
Notable investments found in CRV's portfolio include Twitter, Zendesk, Amgen, Hubspot, Equallogic, Yammer, Airtable, Bird, Millennial Media, Netezza, EqualLogic, and Parametric Technologies.CRV added growth ventures to the company in 2018 in an attempt to invest in exclusive companies as they mature. From 2004 to 2014 CRV had 8 exits with over $1 billion valuations or above, and as of August 2019 the firm has made a total of 479 investments, 121 lead investments, and 121 exits. CRV has made 657 investments and 260 exits since the company was founded in 1970.
In 2017 CRV raised their first dedicated growth equity fund worth $400 million that was led by General Atlantic. In 2018 CRV chose to scrap their dedicated growth equity fund, and raise their 17th fund worth $600 million with $150 million for allocation into growth equity. After CRV scraped their dedicated growth equity fund and completed raising their 17th investment fund they released the following public statement:
CRV is one of first firms in country to raise a 17th fund and we are incredibly honored by the support from the two audiences that matter most: Entrepreneurs and LPs. The new fund allows us to execute on our continued early-stage focus but with an additional mandate to invest in very selective growth opportunities we believe can drive venture returns.
Investment funds
Charles River Partnership XIII
April 1, 2007
$285 million
Charles River Partnership XIV
March 30, 2009
$320 million
Charles River Partnership XV
February 28, 2012
$375 million
Charles River Partnership XVI
July 7, 2014
$393 million
Fund XVII
May 11, 2018
$600 million
Timeline
Funded Companies
Symantec is a Mountain View, California-based cybersecurity company providing security, storage, and systems management solutions for consumers and enterprises.
Zendesk is a customer service software company developing solutions for customer relationships and customer service founded in 2007 by Morten Primdahl.
RethinkDB provides an open-source distributed NoSQL document-oriented database storing JSON documents and scaling data for applications.
Upstream Security is an artificial intelligence company founded by Yoav Levy that develops automotive cloud security software.
InCountry is a San Francisco-based data residency-as-a-service platform that enables global data compliance for international business.
Mercury is a company making banking products for startups based in San Francisco and backed by a16z.
Scribd is a digital library providing subscription service for e-books, audiobooks and other documents.
DrChrono is a company providing EHR, Practice Management, and Revenue Cycle Management Solution APIs. It participated in the W11 cohort of Y Combinator.
A company developing a cloud-based collaboration platform for professional teams to build software specific to their line of work or particular project. It was founded in 2013 and is located in San Francisco, California.
A technology company building products for enabling the autonomous operation of self-driving vehicles.
An insurance technology company offering a platform for healthcare organizations to access health insurance data to improve their ability to bring new products and services to market.
DoorDash is a food delivery company. It participated in the S13 cohort of Y Combinator.
An e-learning company that has a digital education platform. It was founded in 2011 and is located in Mountain View, California.
Viz.ai is a healthcare startup that uses artificial intelligence to identify early signs of stroke.
See how Rethink and our smart, collaborative robot Sawyer, are leading the way with a complete cobot solution that enables manufacturers to automate more.
NoRedInk is a San Francisco-based e-learning and educational technology company founded in 2012 by Jeff Scheur to help students writing abilities.
A technology that designs carbon nanotube electronics, which can be used as memory devices. It was founded in 2001 and is located in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Wave Accounting is a Toronto-based financial services and accounting software company.
Freenome is a San Francisco-based company which uses genetic analysis for early cancer detection and risk assessment.
CloudGenix is a U.S-based company developing software-defined WAN.
Yammer is a San Francisco-based social enterprise company founded by David O. Sacks.
Lola is an e-commerce company delivering a lifelong brand of feminine hygiene products.
Associated investment funds
People
Adam Enbar
Employee
Anil Rachakonda
Employee
Annie Kadavy
Employee
Bill Tai
Employee
Bruce Sachs
Employee
Claudean Ostrom
Employee
Danny Crichton
Employee
David Cancel
Advisor
David Gifford
Investor
Devdutt Yellurkar
Employee
Elias Bizannes
Employee
George Zachary
Employee
Hillary Frank
Employee
Izhar Armony
Employee
Jake Cui
Employee
Jim Scheinman
Employee
Jon Auerbach
Employee
Justine Moore
Employee
Mark Jacobstein
Employee
Mathew G. Johnson
Employee
Matt Heiman
Employee
Max Gazor
Employee
Murat Bicer
Employee
Olivia Moore
Employee
Paulina Rychenkova
Employee
Further reading
A VC firm redesigned its website to say 'F*ck Trump'
Biz Carson
Web
August 24, 2016
After a partner's cancer scare, this tech fund is now investing in health
Christina Farr
Web
June 9, 2017
An old-guard investment firm, CRV, has made a hire to compete for the new megadeals
Theodore Schleifer
Web
November 5, 2018
Charles River Ventures Invests in $35 Million Series B Financing Round for TerraPower
Charles River Ventures
Web
June 14, 2010
Charles River Ventures Raises $320 Million For Its Fourteenth Fund
Erick Schonfeld
Web
March 30, 2009
Charles River Ventures Raises $375 Million For Its 15th Fund
Alexia Tsotsis
Web
February 28, 2012
Charles River Ventures Raises $393 Million For Its 16th Fund
Colleen Taylor
Web
July 3, 2014
Charles River Ventures Wins Big On Zendesk's IPO, But For Boston Venture It's Bittersweet
Alex Konrad
Web
May 15, 2014
Charles River Ventures' Seven $1 Billion+ Wins
Peter Cohan
Web
December 17, 2013
Chatbot Builder Drift Gets $32M from GC, Sequoia, HubSpot, CRV
Jeff Bauter Engel
Web
September 26, 2017
CRV announces $600M fund, focuses on growth investing
Brett Rochkind
Web
May 11, 2018
CRV hires Anna Khan as a general partner focused on enterprise
Kate Clark
Web
July 31, 2019
CRV leads $5 mln round for Standard Cognition - PE Hub
Iris Dorbian
Web
October 10, 2017
CRV XVII: 48 Years of History and a New Chapter
CRV
Web
May 11, 2018
Exclusive: CRV scraps growth equity fund it had already raised
Dan Primack
Web
May 11, 2018
How A Boston Venture Capital Firm Grew Into A Silicon Valley Powerhouse
Matthew Lynley
Web
February 27, 2014
Latest venture capital firm scouting space in Cambridge: Charles River Ventures
Scott Krisner
Web
May 13, 2011
This VC had a near-death experience and it totally changed what he invests in
Christina Farr
Web
May 20, 2017
Venture Firm Is Giving Loans a Try
Miguel Helft
News
November 1, 2006
Documentaries, videos and podcasts
- Startups - George Zachary of Charles River Ventures - TWiST #237
March 1, 2012
George Zachary (Charles River Ventures) at Startup Grind 2014
February 4, 2014
George Zachary (Charles River Ventures) at Startup Grind San Francisco
September 18, 2012
Mistakes to Avoid When Scaling Your Startup - Box, GoodData, Lightspeed VP, Charles River Ventures
October 7, 2013
The Yammer Story with David Sacks, Emergence Capital Partners, and Charles River Ventures
January 10, 2013
Watch Your Step, Giants Ahead George Zachary, Charles River Ventures Eric Migicovsky, Pebble
February 11, 2015
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