Benchmark, the VC firm that has backed Twitter, Instagram, OpenTable, Uber, Zendesk, and Nextdoor among many others, has closed its 8th fund, totaling $425 million, according to an SEC filing. Reuters had previously reported a few weeks ago that the firm was in the process of raising a new fund.
Notably missing from this new fund are partners Bruce Dunlevie and Kevin Harvey. The word on the street is that the firm is looking to add new, younger talent to its partnership. Listing on the filing are partners Matt Cohler, Bill Gurley, Peter Fenton, Mitch Lasky, and operating partner Steven Spurlock.
As we noted in this profile of the firm in October, Benchmark has stayed lean in a new world where Sand Hill Road is clamoring to offer its own value-added services. The firm hasn’t added marketing, PR, recruiting, finance or content partners, nor has the firm raised a much larger $1 billion fund for additional investments. In fact, this fund is the same size as the previous fund.
At the time of the profile, Benchmark has raised more than $3 billion raised and created $13 billion in value, backing more than 250 companies since its inception in 1995. Since that year, the firm had seen 36 IPOs and 90 M&A exits. And 21 of those exits took place since the beginning of 2011 (seven IPOs and 14 M&As which represented a total market value of more than $9 billion). This doesn’t count Twitter, which went public a few weeks ago, or some of the potential IPOs the firm could see in the New Year, including Zendesk and New Relic, along others.
One of the major differences in Becnhmark’s structure from other VCs is that it is an equal partnership–each partner has the same compensation and equity. That structure manifests itself in a different operation strategy–partners don’t exclusively work on the companies they source; company building is a firm-wide effort. While Lasky may sit on a startup’s board, Fenton may be involved with recruiting for the company.
We’ve contacted Benchmark for confirmation of the raise and will update if we hear back.