Mayfield raises $750 million across two funds
Silicon Valley mainstay the Mayfield Fund has raised $750 million across two new funds, the firm said today.
The venture capital firm said its Mayfield XVI will continue to invest in early-stage companies, while its Mayfield Select II will invest in later-stage rounds of breakout portfolio companies. One difference in the new Select fund will be its ability to invest in growth-stage companies outside of its portfolio.
In its blog post announcing the new funds, Mayfield managing partner Navin Chaddha recalled the timing of its fund XIII, raised in September 2008 right after the market crash.
In the wake of the crisis, Chaddha writes, Mayfield stuck to core principles. The firm decided not to dramatically increase the size of its investment vehicles (unlike some of its peers, which now hold several billion under management in current funds), and kept to a four-year fundraising cycle.
Kleiner Perkins, by contrast, went through a $600 million investment vehicle in about a year and went back out to market to raise another fund shortly thereafter.
“We stuck to our conviction of staying as an early-stage venture investor over four subsequent funds even as the venture industry was shifting. We went deeper into domains we were already experts in vs. following shiny new objects. We raised funds at a measured pace of every four years and built a team of investors who were company builders,” Chaddha wrote.
To date, Mayfield has backed a slew of companies that have gone on to successful exits, including Lyft, Marketo, ServiceMax and SolarCity — all deals that came out of the 2008 financial crisis and its subsequent funds. Current portfolio companies, like the CRISPR-focused biotech company Mammoth Biosciences and retail investments like PoshMark, show that the firm hasn’t lost its luster for picking new deals.
The secret to the firm’s continued success is its focus on what Chaddha considers to be the “craftsman model” of investors “working closely with a handful of entrepreneurs.”
“As many of our peers raised mega-funds, it took courage and discipline for us to stay focused rather than follow the crowd. We raised a similar size fund every four years and invested in thirty companies per fund. We primarily led Series A investments and were comfortable with the fact that the companies we invested in will evolve,” Chaddha wrote.
So what’s next for the venerable firm as it heads into its latest fund? Chaddha flags biology as technology; human-centered artificial intelligence; the resurgence of chip design; the future of work; privacy and security; and next-generation consumer brands as areas where Mayfield will look to commit capital.
Silicon Valley mainstay the Mayfield Fund has raised $750 million across two new funds, the firm said today. The venture capital firm said its Mayfield XVI will continue to invest in early-stage companies, while its Mayfield Select II will invest in later-stage rounds of breakout portfolio companies. One difference in…
Recent Posts
- Apple’s latest AirPods Pro with USB-C have returned to their all-time low
- Hisense’s new 5,000 nits mini-LED TV is so bright you may need to wear shades
- The drinking fountain button is tragically misunderstood
- Google fired a software engineer over an anti-war demonstration — he says he wasn’t even protesting
- Amazon expands enterprise AI play with wider availability of its Q chatbot
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011