Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999. Other high-profile investments include Ariba, Juniper Networks, Red Hat, Tropos Networks and Twitter. Benchmark Capital is noted for creating the first equal ownership and compensation structure for its partners. The firm's general partners include Alex Balkanski, Matt Cohler, Bruce Dunlevie, Peter Fenton, Bill Gurley, Kevin Harvey, Bob Kagle, Mitch Lasky and Steve Spurlock. Benchmark has invested in more than 150 startups since its inception in 1995, including Infinera, MySQL, OpenTable, Second Life, Tellme...