Benchmark

Benchmark is a venture capital firm founded in 1995 by Bob Kagle, Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff, Kevin Harvey, and Val Vaden. Investments The firm's most successful investment was a 1997 investment of $6.7 million in eBay for 22.1% of the company. In 2011, it invested $12 million for an 11% stake in Uber, worth $7 billion in 2019 and $9.4 billion in 2023. Other notable companies funded by the firm include 1-800-Flowers, Amplitude,AOL, Art.com/Allposters.com, Asana, Baixing, CTERA Networks, Cerebras Systems, Confluent, Cockroach Labs, CouchSurfing, Cyanogen, Digits, Discord, Duo Security, Domo, Inc., Docker, Dropbox, EBags.com, eBay, Friendster, HackerOne Instagram, JAMDAT, Juniper Networks, Marin Software, Metacafe, Minted, Modern Treasury, MySQL, New Relic, Nextdoor, OpenTable, Optimizely, Palm, Inc., ResearchGate, Seeking Alpha, ServiceSource, Sketch, Snapchat, Solv, Stitch Fix, Twitter, Tellme Networks, Uber, Ubiquity6, Vessel, WeWork, Xapo, Yelp, Inc., Zendesk, Zillow, Zipcar, and Zuora. Partner structure Benchmark is noted for creating the first equal ownership and compensation structure for its partners. The "maverick" firm differs from most VC firms, which are named for their founders and are structured hierarchically; Benchmark was described by Fortune as "a lean operation in which its six full-time partners share profits equally." While there are no differentiation between its "junior partners" and "senior partners," there is also no CEO-like position held.