Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers is a Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) firm. For over five decades, Kleiner Perkins (previously known as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers) has invested in technology and life science companies.
The firm has backed companies such as Sun Microsystems, Compaq Computer Corp., Lotus, Netscape Communications Corp., America Online Inc., and Amazon with a combined market cap of about $650 billion. KP's partners assemble management teams and often sit on boards of the companies they sponsor. An informal version of the Japanese "keiretsu" system encourages resource sharing and deal making among KP-backed companies.
Investments
Over the past 50 years, Kleiner Perkins has invested $10 billion in hundreds of companies like Amazon, Google and Genentech.
KP tries to eliminate risk in all areas of ventures: technological risk, financial risk, operating risk, and market risk. In its first decade, Kleiner Perkins invested in about 50 companies, mostly high-tech Silicon Valley start-ups, through three funds totaling $78 million. These funds were reportedly averaging annual returns of 50 percent.
One of KPCB's more notorious investments of the decade was in Go Corporation, whose purpose was developing a pen-operated computer. The company collapsed after spending six years and $75 million on the project. KPCB VI, the firm's sixth fund, raised $173 million in 1992; it returned $878 million in the next ten years.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers - China
KPCB China's investment advisory team was founded in 2007 with the goal of building a dialog between entrepreneurs and investors in China. Kleiner Perkins focus their global investments in China due to China's rapidly growing economy and startup culture. The advisory team operates independently and focuses on Digital, Green Tech and Life science opportunities. The investment advisory team is focused on identifying and promoting innovation and supporting entrepreneurs and portfolio companies.
Timeline
KP 18 fund announced
Kleiner Perkins announces their 18th venture fund: $600 million to focus on early stage investing
Funded Companies
AngelListAngelList is a U.S. website for startups, angel investors, and job-seekers looking to work at startups.
San Francisco
Desktop MetalDesktop Metal is a Burlington, Massachusetts-based metal 3D printing company founded in 2015 by Ric Fulop, Jonah Myerberg, and Ely Sachs.
Burlington, Massachusetts
Square (company)A technology company that has developed solutions for making and receiving payments. It was founded in 2009 and is located in San Francisco, California.
NurxA telemedicine service company that delivers oral contraceptives and various testing kits to its customers. It was founded in 2015 and has headquarters in San Francisco, California.
BrexBrex is a credit card company that issues corporate credit cards.
Gusto (Company)Payroll and benefits company. It participated in the W12 cohort of Y Combinator.
Looker (company)Looker is a business intelligence software company providing data access tools to organizations and data analysts.
Santa Cruz, California
New York City
Boulder, Colorado
Chicago
London
Dublin
Tokyo
Nest (company)American home automation producer
Palo Alto, California
NextdoorNextdoor is a company providing a private communications platform for neighborhoods.It was founded in 2011 and is located in San Francisco, California.
Dollar Shave ClubDollar Shave Club offers a monthly membership service that delivers stainless steel razor blades and other personal grooming products to customers by mail.
Venice, Los Angeles
Marina del Rey, California
Proxy (company)A mobile application allowing its users access their office, building or apartment
Stockholm
Shanghai
Intercom (company)A technology company developing and providing a communications platform for web and mobile businesses to interact with customers.
California
United States
SmileDirectClubSmileCareClub is a company that offers aligner therapy using a series of plastic aligners that gradually shift teeth into desired position.
Nashville, Tennessee
Practice FusionPractice Fusion is a San Francisco-based developer of electronic health record and medical practice management software.
Rippling (company)A software company providing cloud-based employee management solutions. It combines human resources, information technology, and operations. It was founded in 2016 and has locations in San Francisco, California and Bangalore, India.
InstacartInstacart is an internet-based grocery delivery service company.
Zazzle
Redwood City, California
Loom (company)A software company making communication software for instantly sharing videos.
Propel (company)Propel builds software dedicated to helping low-income Americans improve their financial health with technology.
Brooklyn
InMobiA media company providing a mobile advertising and client connecting platform.It was founded in 2007 and is located in Bangalore, India.
Bangalore
Plaid (company)Plaid is a company providing businesses with tools and access to develop a digital financial system.
Amazon (company)A multinational technology company focusing in e-commerce and cloud computing.
Seattle
MoveworksMoveworks is an AI, machine learning, enterprise natural language understanding (NLU) and chatbot platform that resolves IT Service Desk support issues.
Culver City, California
Mountain View, California
CheggChegg is a California-based company founded in 2005 by Osman Rashid, Aayush Phumbhra and Josh Carlson.
Shape SecurityShape Security is a Mountain View, California-based company.
Santa Clara, CaliforniaAssociated investment funds
Menlo Park, California
PudongPeople
Al Gore
Advisor
Alicia Lau
Fellows Program Manager
Amanda Duckworth
Chief Marketing OFficer
Andy Chen
Employee
Anjney Midha
Employee
Annie Case
Investor
Beth Seidenberg
Advisor
Bing Gordon
Advisor
Brook Byers
Founder
Bucky Moore
Partner
Colin Powell
Advisor
David Mount
Employee
Eric Feng
Advisor
Ilya Fushman
Partner
Jackie Xu
Talent
Jason Doren
CAO & General Counsel
Josh Coyne
Investor
Katie Hutchison
Communications
Ker Zhang
Entrepreneur in Residence
KPCB
Employee
Lynne Chou O' Keefe
Advisor
Mamoon Hamid
Partner
Michael Abbott
Employee
Monica Desai
Investor
Further reading
Documentaries, videos and podcasts
Companies
References
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Venture capital firm
CompanyCompany attributes
Venture capital
Brook Byers
Thomas Perkins (businessman)
Eugene Kleiner
KPCB Edge
Grove Street AdvisorsCategories
Related Topics
Contributors
- 1
Rebecca Hammond
MA English I HDip Psychology - Following AI, behavioural and educational psychology - 2
Jed Christiansen
Special Projects & Business Development at Golden, Founder - Seed-DB. - 3
Aime Anne Nisay
QA Engineer of web and mobile applications - 4
Carla Faraguna
Golden People and Operations. - 5
Joshua Elkington
Axial - 6
Neelam Jhaveri
Techno Geek + Gamer + Fashionista + Sense of Humor = It's ME - 7
Melanie Manipula
Researcher, writer and a former librarian - 8
Dawson Sewell
Seeking to explain science and technology through simple writing.
