TMCnet News

Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital Tops Forbes' 14th Annual Midas List
[March 25, 2015]

Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital Tops Forbes' 14th Annual Midas List


Forbes' 2015 Midas List represents the world's 100 smartest technology investors, including 221 public and private companies with valuations greater than $1 billion and a total of 766 deals. Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital (News - Alert) maintained the No. 1 spot for the second year in a row on Forbes' 2015 Midas List (p. 68), produced in partnership with TrueBridge Capital Partners. Forbes magazine's April 13, 2015 issue cover story, Venture Cowboy (p. 66), features new billionaire Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital, who assembled the greatest angel portfolio. He is ranked No. 3 on the list, and his top deal this year was Uber. More women are in the top 25 than ever before, including Jenny Lee of GGV Capital at No. 10, Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers at No. 15, and Rebecca Lynn of Canvas Venture Fund at No. 23. Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz, who had the No. 2 spot last year, fell to No. 19 in this year's rankings.

The top firms with the most partners on the list include Sequoia Capital (ten), Accel Partners (eight), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (four), Benchmark Capital (four), and Greylock Partners (four). Uber accounted for two investors in the top ten; Twitter also accounted for two investors in the top ten; Alibaba placed one investor and Facebook (News - Alert) accounted for one investor in the top ten. The top ten, listed by name, firm and deals are:





     
1) Jim Goetz - Sequoia Capital (WhatsApp, Palo Alto (News - Alert) Networks, Nimble Storage)
2) Peter Fenton - Benchmark Capital (Twitter, Yelp (News - Alert)!, New Relic)
3) Chris Sacca - Lowercase Capital (Uber)
4) Josh Kopelman - First Round Capital LLC (LinkedIn)
5) Steve Anderson - Baseline Ventures (Twitter, ExactTarget, Tremor Video)
6) Douglas Leone - Sequoia Capital (FireEye, ServiceNow, Meraki)
7) Paul Madera - Meritech Capital Partners (Facebook, 21Vianet, Fusion-io)
8) Neil Shen - Sequoia Capital (Alibaba)
9) Bill Gurley - Benchmark Capital (Uber)
10) Jenny Lee - GGV Capital (Xiaomi)
 

The complete list may be found at www.forbes.com/midas. The Midas List is a data-driven ranking of the world's 100 top venture capitalists based on all exits (IPOs or acquisitions) above $200 million over the last five years. Forbes assessed an investor's involvement in each deal and put a premium on new deals and capital that was risked at the earliest investment stages. Forbes also took into account public performance of VC-backed IPOs.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

  • Best Employers (p. 92) - The hot economy is stoking demand for top talent. So who's winning? We asked Statista.com to poll 20.000 American employees. The result: an exclusive ranking of 500 companies and institutions worth watching.
  • Five is All You Need (p. 78) - Against the tide of billion-dollar funds and large venture firms, the small band of contrarians at Benchmark have built many of Silicon Valley's biggest startups. Its new partners have a big legacy to maintain.
  • The Anti-Social Network (p. 42) - Alan Schaaf transformed a simple file uploader into a viral content empire. Now he has to turn Imgur into a business.
  • Apple (News - Alert), Google, Cyanogen? (p. 82) - A brazen startup has a very real shot at busting up the world's smartphone duopoly.
  • Dodging Tax Bombs (p. 50) - How to keep the IRS at bay and pocket more profits.
  • Major League Bucks (p. 18) - As the 2015 baseball season gets under way, a look at franchise values, greatly enhanced of late by mega television revenue.

For the full list, visit www.forbes.com/midas

Follow Forbes on Twitter (www.twitter.com/Forbes)


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]