Little Perkins, one of Silicon Valley’s legacy venture capital firms, is kicking off 2022 by celebrating five decades in business and raising $ 1.8 billion in funding for two new funds – KP20 and Select2.
KP20 is an $ 800 million venture fund that focuses on early-stage investments in corporate, consumer, hard-tech, fintech, and healthcare companies, while Select2 is a $ 1 billion fund – the highest amount the company has in one place – which extends its core investment strategy to focus on investments with high flexion in the same five areas.
Select2 follows that $ 750 million Kleiner Perkins Select the company announced last April.
Partner Ilya Fushman told TechCrunch that the company’s focus today is the same as it was when Kleiner Perkins was founded in 1972: “Venture is a non-scalable boutique craft that requires incredibly dedicated practitioners with diverse and complementary backgrounds, technology , Operations and investments. “.”
With a history of early investors in tech darlings like Google, Amazon, Netscape, and Genentech, Fushman said the team of investors curated over the past four years will take over the next generation of the company, while the new funds will be able to back it up the next generation of iconic companies, he said.
Kleiner Perkins investor team. Credit: Little Perkins
In addition to the funds, Kleiner Perkins promoted several team members as new partners: Annie Case, a consumer marketplaces and digital health expert, and Josh Coyne, who leads enterprise software investments.
Case told TechCrunch that she sees more investment in mental and behavioral health and alternative medicine in digital health, while on the consumer side, a lot is happening in educational technology, largely due to school districts and parents adapting to the classroom experience during the global pandemic . The company is also spending more time looking for opportunities in crypto and Web3.
As for raising $ 1.8 billion in one go, Fushman says Kleiner Perkins is adapting to today’s conditions as companies grow not only bigger and faster, but also industry, technology and international growth. The magnitude of the opportunities is greater than ever, and this is reflected in the exit ratings and the number of companies starting up each year.
And having more fund capital available allows the company to use it in later rounds or jump in with a larger check and still be able to provide similar risk assistance that Kleiner Perkins is known for early on.
“The overall venture capital market makes it an exciting time to grow beyond the early stages and provide a full spectrum of capital,” said Fushman. “If we help companies grow, we can do something from the Select fund if we see them hit a tipping point or if we miss Serie A.”
