MENLO PARK, CA and LARCHMONT, NY, Jan 17, 2013 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --
Bessemer Venture Partners, a top venture capital firm backing great
entrepreneurs who lead transformative startups and other high growth
companies, ended 2012 on a high note counting five IPOs and a number
of major M&A exits. The partnership, known for investing early in
innovators such as Endeca, LinkedIn, Yelp and Pinterest, also made 20
new investments this year.
2012 IPOs
With 5 IPOs, BVP earned a spot among the top three VCs for
total IPOs in 2012, according to the NVCA. These include:
-- Eloqua (NASDAQ: ELOQ) went public in August. BVP invested in 2007.
Oracle recently announced the acquisition of Eloqua for $871 million
plus company cash.
-- Lifelock (NYSE: LOCK) went public in October. BVP was the first
institutional investor, leading the Series A and participating in each
later round. At the time of IPO, BVP was the largest shareholder in
Lifelock and remains so today.
-- Millennial Media (NASDAQ: MM) went public in March. BVP seeded the
company, co-led the Series A and participated in each later round,
sharing the role of largest shareholder.
-- Verastem (NASDAQ: VSTM) went public in January. BVP co-led the Series
A financing and participated in each later round.
-- Yelp (NYSE: YELP) Yelp went public in March. BVP was the first
institutional investor, investing in 2005 and securing a stake as the
largest shareholder. The firm remains the largest shareholder today.
2012 M&A Highlights
In 2012, BVP realized venture returns through a
number of major M&A exits. Highlights include:
-- Stromedix was acquired by Biogen in March for $75 million upfront,
plus up to $487.5 million in milestone based payments. BVP backed the
company in multiple rounds.
-- OMGPop was acquired by Zynga in March for $178 million. BVP was an
early investor.
-- Summit Microelectronics was acquired by Qualcomm in June for an
undisclosed sum. BVP participated in a number of the rounds of
financing.
-- SelectMinds was acquired in September by Oracle for an undisclosed
sum. BVP was the first and only venture investor in the Series A
round. There were no further rounds.
-- Truaxis was acquired by Mastercard in September for an undisclosed
amount. BVP incubated the company in its offices, then led and
participated in their later financing rounds as the largest
shareholder.
-- Traffix Systems was acquired by F5 Networks for $135 million in
February, less than six months after BVP's October 2011 investment in
the series B round. BVP was the largest shareholder.
2012 Investments
BVP made 20 new investments in 2012, and a number of
other follow-on investments. Highlights include:
-- ClearSlide, Inc., sales communications platform that helps sales
professionals to be more strategic and effective in their
presentations, emails, and in-person meetings
-- Health Essentials Holdings, Inc., provider of post-acute care
management services
-- Liazon Corporation, online private benefit exchange platform for small
and medium sized businesses MyHeritage Ltd., online application for
researching and building family trees
-- SendGrid, Inc., cloud-based email infrastructure relieves businesses
of the cost and complexity of maintaining custom email systems
-- Thinking Phone Networks, provider of cloud-based communications
services to corporate customers
-- Twitch.tv, the world's largest video platform and community for gamers
-- Xtime, leading cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and
scheduling platform for the automotive service industry
-- Zapier Inc., enables the integration of different web apps
-- 42Floors, Inc., online marketplace for commercial real estate
2012 follow-on investments include Box, Criteo, Fiverr, Twilio, Tilera
and Pinterest, in which BVP led the Series A and remains the largest
shareholder.
Industry Distinction
BVP's investment team was recognized within the
industry for their outstanding performance and expertise. Forbes
named BVP partners David Cowan, Rob Chandra, Byron Deeter, Bob
Goodman, and Jeremy Levine to the prestigious Midas List of Top 100
Tech Investors (2012). And, Bob Goodman, G. Felda Hardymon, and
Jeremy Levine were named to the AlwaysOn 2012 Venture Capital 100
list, while AlwaysOn named David Cowan and Byron Deeter as 2012 Power
Players in the Cloud and listed Bob Goodman and David Cowan as Mobile
Power Players of 2012.
BVP has 45 active investment professionals, focused on identifying
investment opportunities in start-ups in the Cloud Computing,
Education Technology, Healthcare IT and Services, Infrastructure 2.0,
Israel, India and Emerging Markets, Mobile, Online Retail and Trusted
Internet sectors. In 2013, the firm will continue to invest in these
and other areas, teaming with exceptional management teams and
fostering the growth of BVP portfolio companies.
BVP's track record is exceptional for its longevity, success and
breadth across multiple partners in a mix of sectors, stages and
geographies. The firm's investments range from $100,000 angel
investments to $50 million hyper-growth deals, in 15 countries from
six global offices. The success of 2012 follows a strong 2011, in
which the firm benefited from early investments in LinkedIn,
Cornerstone OnDemand and Endeca, among other exits, and raised a
$1.6B global venture capital fund.
About Bessemer Venture Partners
With $4 billion under active
management, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) is a global venture
capital firm with offices in Silicon Valley, Cambridge, Mass., New
York, Mumbai, Bangalore and Herzliya, Israel. BVP delivers a broad
platform in venture capital spanning industries, geographies, and
stages of company growth. From Staples to Skype, VeriSign to Yelp,
LinkedIn to Pinterest, BVP has helped incubate and support companies
that have anchored significant shifts in the economy. More than 100
BVP-funded companies have gone public on exchanges in North America,
Europe, and Asia. See www.bvp.com or follow BVP on Twitter
@bessemervp
Contact:
Tiffany Spencer
Bessemer Venture Partners
Email Contact
650-853-7000
SOURCE: Bessemer Venture Partners
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