this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . march 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message coordinates 37 25 25 n 122 12 37 w 37.4237 n 122.2103 w 37.4237 ; 122.2103 kleiner perkins caufield & byers type private industry venture capital founded 1972 ; 44 years ago 1972 headquarters sand hill road menlo park california united states key people eugene kleiner tom perkins brook byers bill joy john doerr products investments private equity funds website www.kpcb.com kleiner perkins caufield & byers kpcb is a venture capital firm located on sand hill road in menlo park in silicon valley . the wall street journal and other media have called it one of the largest and most established venture capital firms 1 and by dealbook as one of silicon valley s top venture capital providers . 2 kpcb specializes in investments in incubation and early stage companies . 3 since its founding in 1972 kleiner perkins caufield & byers has backed entrepreneurs in more than 500 ventures including aol amazon.com navigenics citrix compaq electronic arts genentech genomic health geron corporation 4 google intuit juniper networks nebula 5 netscape sun microsystems symantec verisign webmd and zynga . kpcb focuses its global investments in three practice areas digital clean tech and life sciences . 6 contents 1 firm 2 history 3 investments 4 notable partners 5 references 6 external links firm edit kpcb was formed in 1972 . it has traditionally focused on early stage investments but also does later stage investments . 7 8 the firm was named after its four founding partners eugene kleiner tom perkins frank j. caufield and brook byers . other notable members of the firm include partners john doerr and raymond j. lane as well as high profile individuals such as sun microsystems co founder bill joy who joined as partner in january 2005 former u.s. secretary of state colin powell who joined in july 2005 in the newly created position of strategic limited partner vinod khosla and former u.s. vice president al gore who joined as partner in november 2007 9 10 as part of a collaboration between kpcb and gore s firm generation investment management gim to promote green technology business and policy solutions . 11 in addition to menlo park headquarters the company has offices in shanghai china and in beijing china . 12 history edit history of private equity and venture capital early history origins of modern private equity the 1980s leveraged buyout boom the 1990s leveraged buyout and the venture capital bubble the 2000s dot com bubble to the credit crunch v t e during the 1970s the growth of the venture capital industry saw the emergence of independent investment firms on sand hill road including kleiner perkins caufield & byers founded in 1972 . kleiner and perkins came from technology industry backgrounds ; kleiner was a founder of fairchild semiconductor and perkins was from hewlett packard s early computer hardware division . citation needed located in menlo park california kleiner perkins had access to the growing technology industries in the area . by the early 1970s there were many semiconductor companies based in the santa clara valley as well as early computer firms using their devices and programming and service companies . venture capital firms suffered a temporary downturn in 1974 when the stock market crashed and investors were naturally wary of this new kind of investment fund . nevertheless kleiner perkins was still active in this period . kleiner invested in tandem computers an early manufacturer of computer systems founded in 1975 by jimmy treybig . 13 it was not until 1978 that venture capital experienced its first major fundraising year as the industry raised approximately 750 million . in may 2012 ellen pao an employee sued the firm for gender discrimination in pao v. kleiner perkins 14 which kpcb has vigorously denied . 15 on march 27 2015 after a month long trial the jury found against ellen pao on all claims . 16 in june 2015 ellen pao filed an appeal . 17 in september 2015 ellen pao announced she would no longer appeal the jury verdict . 18 investments edit the company has been an early investor in more than 300 it information technology and biotech firms over the past thirty five years including amazon.com america online brio technology compaq electronic arts flextronics genentech google intuit lotus development lsi logic macromedia netscape quantum segway sun microsystems tandem 19 and the 3do company . 20 some current private investments include apperian chegg clean power finance codecademy cooliris coursera datameer 21 eestor findthebest lending club lendup ocarina networks one kings lane optimedica shape security simplivity leanplum shopkick swiftype and vertica . kpcb paid 5 million in 1994 for around 25 % of netscape and profited from netscape s ipo and subsequent 4 billion acquisition by america online . 22 an investment of 8 million in cerent was worth around 2 billion when the optical equipment maker was sold to cisco systems for 6.9 billion in august 1999 . in 1999 kleiner perkins and sequoia capital paid 25 million for 20 % of google as of february 2014 google s market capitalization stood at about 400 billion . as initial investors in amazon.com kpcb scored returns of over 55 000 % at the december 1999 peak of that stock although the value of that investment was subsequently reduced by downturns in amazon.com s stock price . also in 1999 kleiner perkins and venrock invested in geron corporation founded by michael d. west 4 now ceo of biotime 23 which went on to initiate the first embryonic stem cell based clinical trial . 24 in march 2008 kpcb announced the ifund a 100 million venture capital investment initiative that funds innovators developing applications services and components for apple s iphone and ipod touch platform including shopkick path booyah and shazam . kpcb s other mobile initiatives also include an investment in inmobi a mobile ad network based out of bangalore . kpcb doubled their ifund investment in april 2009 to 200 million . 25 in april 2008 it was reported that kpcb was raising funds for a 400 million growth stage clean technology fund . 26 in october 2010 kpcb has launched a new 250 mn fund called sfund to fund the startups in the social space with facebook zynga and amazon.com as its co investors . 27 in november 2014 the firm invested in austin based ambiq micro which is preparing to launch a new line of ultra low power chips . kpcb is the lead investor in a 15 million round of capital . 28 it made its first investment in a bitcoin related company in 2015 leading a 12.5 million investment round for align commerce . 29 30 notable partners edit john doerr current john maeda al gore current raymond j. lane aileen lee mary meeker current colin powell current references edit austin scott 2010 01 22 . one of these venture firms is not like the other . the wall street journal . gore s dual role in spotlight advocate and investor . the new york times dealbook . 3 november 2009 . capital markets kleiner perkins caufield & byers . bloomberg businessweek . retrieved 27 july 2011 . a b sec schedule 13g filed feb. 17 1999 . morgan timothy prickett . nasa s former cto launches nebula cloud controller . the register . retrieved 12 march 2013 . kpcb portfolio companies kpcb information technology richtel matt 2008 05 01 . kleiner perkins goes late on energy . the new york times . greentech initiative . kleiner perkins caufield & byers . retrieved 2007 11 13 . coile zachary 13 november 2007 . gore joins valley s kleiner perkins to push green business . san francisco chronicle . retrieved 2007 11 13 . generation investment management and kleiner perkins caufield & byers create international alliance to accelerate global climate solutions . kleiner perkins caufield & byers generation investment management . 2007 11 12 . retrieved 2007 11 13 . kpcb offices tandem computers fundinguniverse.com mcbride sarah 22 may 2012 . kleiner partner sues firm for discrimination . reuters . retrieved 15 june 2012 . kleiner perkins vigorously denies ellen pao s gender discrimination claims . betabeat . 31 may 2012 . retrieved 15 june 2012 . elder jeff 28 march 2015 . jury backs kleiner perkins in sex bias case . the wall street journal . kocalitcheva kia 2015 08 11 . ellen pao appeals order to pay kleiner perkins trial costs . fortune . retrieved 2015 10 01 . http www.wsj.com articles ellen pao wont appeal trial loss in case against kleiner perkins caufield byers 1441906196 executive joins kleiner perkins the new york times 14 march 1984 . 75 power players . next generation . imagine media 11 66 67 . november 1995 . kleiner perkins coffhil & beyers sic were one of the initial investors in the 3do company and as a result they made a lot of money . analytics company datameer raises 6 million from redpoint ventures and kleiner perkins . corcoran elizabeth october 13 1996 . venture capital firm kleiner perkins has long nurtured internet enterprises . washington post . retrieved september 2 2014 . biotime seeks geron stem cell assets . thescientist . 13 november 2012 . retrieved 2008 04 27 . cressey daniel 12 october 2010 . geron treats first patient with embryonic stem cell based therapy . nature news blog . kpcb doubles ifund investment to 200mm haislip alexander ; dan primack 24 april 2008 . kleiner perkins raising green growth fund . private equity week . retrieved 2008 04 27 . the kleiner perkins sfund a 250 mn bet that social is just getting started . retrieved 22 october 2010 . http www.statesman.com news business silicon valleys kleiner perkins invests in austin nh4x8 chernova yuliya 17 november 2015 . kleiner perkins makes first bitcoin related deal with aligh commerce . wall street journal . retrieved 18 november 2015 . shin laura 17 november 2015 . kleiner perkins makes first bitcon startup investment with b2b payments provider align commerce . forbes . retrieved 18 november 2015 . external links edit san francisco bay area portal kleiner perkins caufield & byers v t e private equity and venture capital basic investment types buyout venture mezzanine growth secondaries equity co investment history history of private equity and venture capital early history of private equity private equity in the 1980s private equity in the 1990s private equity in the 2000s terms and concepts buyout financial sponsor management buyout divisional buyout buy sell agreement leveraged recapitalization dividend recapitalization venture angel investor business incubator post money valuation pre money valuation seed money startup company venture capital financing venture debt venture round structure private equity firms and funds limited partnership limited liability company carried interest management fee publicly traded private equity business development company venture capital trust private investment in public equity pipe pledge fund investors corporations institutional investors pension funds insurance companies fund of funds endowments foundations investment banks merchant banks commercial banks high net worth individuals family offices sovereign wealth funds crowdfunding related financial terms aum cap table capital call capital commitment capital structure distribution waterfall ebitda envy ratio high yield debt ipo irr leverage liquidation preference m & a pme taxation of private equity and hedge funds undercapitalization vintage year private equity and venture capital investors private equity firms venture capital firms angel investors portfolio companies retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kleiner perkins caufield % 26 byers & oldid 743498392 categories companies based in menlo park californiacompanies established in 1972venture capital firms of the united states1972 establishments in californiakleiner perkins caufield & byerslife sciences industryhidden categories articles needing additional references from march 2015all articles needing additional referencesuse dmy dates from october 2012coordinates not on wikidataall articles