Alex Konrad, 4/28/15
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2015/03/25/midas-top-ten-list-2015/
When it comes to the top venture investor by returns, no one’s topping Jim Goetz. But as the private valuations of ride-sharing service Uber and Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi soar above $40 billion and exits from Alibaba’s record-setting public offering to Amazon’s billion-dollar deal for streaming site Twitch begin to pile up, the ranks of the 2015 Midas List are changing fast.
Sequoia Capital partner Goetz stays at #1 due to WhatsApp, the mobile messaging company acquired by Facebook in Oct. for $22 billion. The sole investor in WhatsApp, Goetz struck gold, returning more than $3 billion to Sequoia, more than 6x its entire $434 million 2010 fund. Add that to a string of IPOs like HubSpot, which went public in 2014, Nimble Storage and Barracuda Networks in 2013 and the 2012 IPOs of Ruckus Wireless RKUS -1% and Palo Alto Networks PANW -1%, in which Sequoia’s held its position in the now $11 billion-plus market cap company. Goetz is on a historic hot streak that embodies the Midas touch.
In the rest of the top 10, a new guard is moving in. They’re headlined by the list’s first woman investor in the top 10, GGV Capital partner Jenny Lee. Last year’s #52, Lee is one of the most respected investors in the Chinese tech scene, a former jet and drone engineer who helped GGV get into Xiaomi, the highest-valued private startup in the world, as well as mobile games maker Yodo1, Chukong Technologies and social platform YY, which went public in the U.S. in 2012. (Read more on Lee’s investing approach and her thoughts on women in venture here.)
A couple seed investors, Benchmark and several Chinese-focused investors are moving in. With two IPOs in one day (New Relic and Hortonworks) in Dec. and his board position at Twitter, it’s a good time to be Benchmark partner Peter Fenton, who inches up from #3 to #2 for 2015. He’s joined by partner Bill Gurley, the Uber board member and NextDoor investor who slots in at #9. (Read more on Benchmark’s unique partnership here.) Then a couple of seed investors with early bets in Instagram and Twitter crack the top five: there’s venture cowboy Chris Sacca at #3, now a billionaire thanks to his bets on those companies, Uber, and a slew of others like Kickstarter and Stripe, and his long-time mentor, Steve Anderson of Baseline Ventures, who rises from #8 to #5. Sandwiched between them is Josh Kopelman, the heavy-hitter at First Round Capital who cracks the top 10 then year as the highest-ranked East Coaster on the list.
Sequoia stalwart Doug Leone stays at #6 joined by perennial Paul Madera, the growth-stage expert from Meritech Capital Partners, at #6 and #7. But alongside Gurley, the back of the top 10 sees some major change. At #8 is newly-minted billionaire Neil Shen, the managing partner at Sequoia Capital China and former Ctrip.com cofounder (the “Expedia of China”) who managed the firms investments in Alibaba, Vipshop (IPO 2012) and Qihoo 360 (IPO 2011) among others. Then there’s Lee.
Dropping from the top 10 this year are a trio of familiar billionaires: Peter Thiel of Founders’ Fund, now #12, Jim Breyer, the longtime Accel Partners billionaire who now runs his own fund, Breyer Capital, at #13, and Reid Hoffman the LinkedIn and Greylock Partners billionaire who falls all the way to #34. They’re joined on the list by several other billionaires, Michael Moritz of Sequoia at #16, Aneel Bhusri of Workday and Greylock at #17, Yuri Milner of DST at #21 (read more on Milner here), and John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers at #30.
That firm has become a flash point of tech circles as the defendant in a gender discrimination lawsuit brought by former partner Ellen Pao. While the optics from the case have hammered the firm’s image and raised serious questions about its culture, the firm’s been prolific in exits. No firm had more exits since Jan. 1 of 2014 that are large enough to count for Midas consideration, with 13 for the the firm, headlined by JD.com, Lending Club and Opower’s IPOs as well as the acquisitions of Dropcam and RelateIQ. That beats out Bessemer Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Sequoia with 12 apiece and Institutional Venture Partners with 10.
Kleiner Perkins also accounts for two of the five female partners on the Midas List in 2015. Leading all partners in ranking is Mary Meeker, the growth stage expert who moves up to #15. But joining the list this year is Beth Seidenberg, the biotech expert and doctor who debuts at #91. They join Lee, Canvas Venture Fund’s Rebecca Lynn at #23 and returnee Ann Lamont of Oak Investment Partners at #49.
This year sees China-focused investments surpass the East Coast as the hottest area not within a drive of San Francisco to find startups in which to invest. At least 13 investors on the list focus primarily on Chinese startups, from Tiger Global’s Scott Shleifer debuting at #48 to returnee Suyang Zhang of IDG Capital Partners and Sequoia Capital China’s Kui Zhou and Steven Ji, who debuts at #22. Sequoia’s three China investors help it pass Accel Partners for most partners on the list this year, leading 10 to 8 (Accel gets a boost from a partner in its London office, Bruce Golden #79).
The two finished #1 and #2 of top firms on the list in 2014 as well but Sequoia gets a little distance with ten partners instead of nine while Accel stays at eight. Like last year, Kleiner Perkins, Greylock and a host of others are on their heels at with four partners each.
That makes Benchmark’s batting average even more impressive: With newest partner Eric Vishria only at the firm a few months, Benchmark placed all four of its longer-standing partners on this year’s list.