Bessemer Venture Partners Enjoys Strong 2013 Results

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), a top venture capital firm backing great entrepreneurs who lead transformative startups counted four IPOs and a number of major M&A exits in 2013. Each IPO highlights BVP's roadmap expertise; two made records in global markets and all showcase BVP's long-term commitment to portfolio companies, from early stage through exit. The partnership, known for investing early in innovators such as Pinterest, Twilio and Yelp made 23 new investments in 2013.  

2013 IPOs
Four BVP portfolio companies listed in 2014 including three in which BVP led an early round. Companies that went public in 2013:

• Acceleron Pharma– BVP first invested in in late 2007, when the company had one drug (ACE-011) in Phase One trials and a promising pipeline, and supported Acceleron through subsequent rounds. Acceleron, which develops protein therapeutics for cancer and rare diseases, had its IPO in September. MARKET CAP $1.7B*
• Criteo – Bessemer led Criteo's 2010 financing and participated in all subsequent rounds, funding the leader in digital performance display advertising. Criteo's October IPO was the largest EU Internet IPO, and the largest EU tech IPO of the millennium. MARKET CAP $2.3B*
• OvaScience – In 2011, BVP was a founding investor in Ovascience, a company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of new treatments for infertility.  A year later, OvaScience filed its Form 10 (the first high-profile biotech company to do so) and listed on the NASDAQ in April. MARKET CAP $191M*
• Wix – In 2007, Wix had a vision of empowering the average person to create rich content on the web, but didn't yet have a product. BVP became the first institutional investor and supported the company in each additional round. Following BVP's initial investment, Adam Fisher joined the Board of Directors as Chairman, remaining through the IPO.  The November IPO of Wix was the largest Israeli IPO in more than a decade. MARKET CAP $1.3B*

2013 M&A Highlights
In 2013, BVP realized venture returns through a number of major M&A exits. Highlights include:

• Intucell—BVP funded the entire $6M series A and made an introduction to their first customer:  AT&T.  On the heels of a $50M partnership with AT&T, Intucell was able to pitch other partners, grow the company and get to "break even."  Without raising more money, the company sold to Cisco two years later for nearly half a billion dollars.
• Eloqua went public in August 2012 and was acquired by Oracle for $960M. BVP led the 2007 financing of Eloqua and joined the Board.
• Adap.tv was acquired by AOL in September for nearly half a billion dollars, making it the largest acquisitions under CEO Tim Armstrong.  BVP led Adap.tv's 2011 financing.
• Soluto was acquired by Asurion for an undisclosed amount. BVP was the largest shareholder, investing in 2009 and participated in the subsequent round.
• Liazon—In November, Towers Watson announced their acquisition of Liazon for $215M—the latest example of a non-tech company acquiring a tech firm.  BVP invested in 2012, the company grew 400% and sold for a strong return in less than a year.

Incubating and Investing
BVP continues to invest in entrepreneurs and companies at all stages.  2013 was the year that both MindPirate, which builds games for mobile and wearable technology platforms, and Nitrous.io, which enables coding in the cloud, emerged from incubation. And, in addition to stealth investments, BVP made 23 new investments while continuing to support its existing portfolio with 38 follow-on investments.

Many of BVP's new investments underscore the firm's deep sector expertise.  With the addition of Adaptive Planning, Anaqua, Anunta, DocuTAP, DoubleDutch, Dynamic Yield, Hightower, Instructure, Mojave Networks, NewVoiceMedia and Wandera to the portfolio, BVP continues to expand one of the largest cloud computing portfolios in the venture capital industry.  BVP's mobile roadmap led to investments in DoubleDutch, Hightower, Mojave Networks and Wandera.   And, the partnership continues to build on its 20-year history of investing in cyber security with five investments in the sector: Defense.net, Internet Identity, ThreatTrack, Endgame and Mojave Networks.  

Follow-on investments included Pinterest, Shopify, and Twilio; each notable because BVP was an early investor, remains the largest investor and invested repeatedly to support long-term growth. The firm also provided capital to support Box, Snapdeal, GetInsured, Nitrous.io, Twitch, Yodle and United Capital among others.  (The firm's investment in Box is notable because it's among the largest investments in BVP history.)

Industry Distinction
BVP's investment team was recognized within the industry for their outstanding performance and expertise. Forbes again named BVP partners David Cowan, Byron Deeter, Bob Goodman and Jeremy Levine to the prestigious "Midas List of Top 100 Tech Investors" (2013).  Brian Feinstein was listed among Forbes "30 Under 30."  Steve Kraus was also recognized by Forbes as a top five healthcare investor and named 2013 'Rising Star VC' by the New England Venture Capital Association. AlwaysOn recognized five BVP partners in the 2013 Power Players Lists: named David Cowan and Byron Deeter as Power Players in the Cloud; Mobile Power Players – Byron Deeter, David Cowan, Bob Goodman and Umesh Padval; Digital Media Power Players – Byron Deeter, Bob Goodman and Jeremy Levine.  

International Impact
BVP continued to benefit from its global footprint.  Paris-based Criteo, the display advertising leader across Europe, the Americas, and Asia went public in the largest French IPO in history.   And, with exits from Intucell, Soluto and Wix, BVP's Israel practice, led by Adam Fisher, had a particularly good year.  The office, which opened for business in late 2007 and is supported by a small team of two investors, counts six exits in less than seven years, including three of Israel's largest venture exits to date:  Wix, Mellanox and Intucell. European companies New Voice Media and Wandera bolstered the firm's industry-leading SaaS portfolio.  And, BVP continued to help portfolio companies with international strategies, hiring, expansion, customers and partners.

In early 2013, BVP named four new partners, Kent Bennett, Brian Feinstein, Ethan Kurzweil and Trevor Oelschig, bringing the firm to 15 investing partners and 45 active investment professionals. In 2014, the firm will continue to invest in Cloud Computing, Consumer Internet, Developer Platforms, Education Technology, Healthcare IT and Services, Infrastructure 2.0, Israel, India and Emerging Markets, Mobile, and Cyber Security startups and partner with exceptional entrepreneurs to build and grow durable 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 success of 2013 follows a strong 2012, in which the firm saw five IPOs – Yelp, Eloqua, Millennial Media, Lifelock and Verastem - and several major M&A exits.

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) invests in early-stage, hyper-growth startups, partnering closely with entrepreneurs to build durable businesses. BVP is a global firm with offices in Menlo Park, Cambridge, New York, Mumbai, Bangalore, Herzliya and Sao Paolo. With $4 billion under management, BVP invests anywhere from $100,000 to $75 million in innovative companies like LinkedIn, Yelp, Skype, CornerstoneOnDemand, Pinterest, Box and Twilio. Over 100 BVP companies have gone public. Learn more at bvp.com and follow us on Twitter @BessemerVP

* Market caps shown are fully diluted and calculated based on the treasury stock method.  Market data priced as of close of business on 1/29/14.  

Press contact:

Ashley Gagnier
[email protected]

SOURCE Bessemer Venture Partners