Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers’ latest investment in Snapchat values the instant messaging application at close to $10 billion, according to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal. That puts the ephemeral message service in a small band of venture-backed private technology companies valued at over or around the $10 billion mark. But which VCs are backing the members of this elite club?
The investors behind the $10 billion club
Snapchat
Snapchat, the latest member of the $10 billion club, reached that valuation despite no significant revenue. The messaging app, co-founded by Evan Spiegel, allows users to send temporary messages to each other. The company has been linked with acquisition offers from Facebook, Google and most recently Microsoft. However, Spiegel appears to be determined to keep Snapchat as independent as possible.
Snapchat has raised a total of $163 million in funding to date, and Kleiner’s most recent investment, reportedly confirmed in May and part of a larger round, was worth $20 million. Lightspeed Venture Partners, the Menlo Park, California-based VC provided the funds for Snapchat’s $485,000 seed round and also invested in the company’s $12.5 million Series A and $80 million Series B rounds. Other notable early investors include Benchmark Capital and SV Angel.
Investors
Seed funding: Lightspeed Venture Partners ($485k)
Series A: Benchmark Capital, SV Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners ($12.5 million)
Series B: Tencent, SV Angel, General Catalyst Partners, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Lightspeed Venture Partners, Benchmark Capital ($80 million)
Series C: Coatue Management ($50 million)
Series D: Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers (unconfirmed)
Uber
Uber is the highest valued startup in the $10 billion club, after it raised a $1.2 billion round at a valuation of $18.2 billion in June this year. The taxi hailing app has secured a total of $1.5 billion in funding over six rounds. Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers was involved in a fairly late stage investment in Uber as well, participating in the most recent round in June. Meanwhile, Benchmark again got involved early, investing in the Series A round in February 2011.
Investors
Seed funding: Travis Kalanick, Garrett Camp ($200k)
Angel: First Round, Founder Collective, Lowercase Capital + individual investors ($1.3m)
Series A: First Round, Lowercase Capital, Benchmark, Alfred Lin, Innovation Endeavors, Scott Banister ($11 million)
Series B: Jeff Bezos, Menlo Ventures, Troy Carter, Summit Action Fund, CrunchFund, Goldman Sachs, Benchmark ($37 million)
Series C: Benchmark, TPG Growth, Google Ventures ($258 million)
Series D: Menlo Ventures, Google Ventures, Summit Partners, BlackRock, Wellington Management, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, Fidelity Investments ($1.2 billion)
AirBnB
AirBnB’s remarkable story took the company from Y Combinator to a $10 billon valuation in six years. The accommodation rental website has raised a total of $800 million over six rounds.
Investors
Seed funding: Sequoia Capital, Y Ventures ($600k)
Series A: Jeremy Stoppelman, SV Angel, Greylock Partners, Keith Rabois, Y Ventures, Elad Gil, Sequoia Capital ($7.2 million)
Series B: Andreessen Horowitz, Digital Sky Technologies, Ashton Kutcher, CrunchFund, Jeff Bezos, General Catalyst Partners ($112 million)
Series C: Founders Fund, CrunchFund, Sequoia Capital, Ashton Kutcher ($200 million)
Series D: TPG Growth, T. Rowe Price, Dragoneer Investment Group ($475 million)
Dropbox
Dropbox, the online storage company, has raised over $600 million in equity funding and is valued at $10 billion. Another Y Combinator graduate, Dropbox received early backing from Sequoia Capital and Accel Partners before a Series B round involving 12 major investors.
Investors
Seed funding: Y Combinator ($15k)
Series A: Sequoia Capital, Pejman Nozad, Ali Partovi, Hadi Partovi, Amidzad Partners ($1.2 million)
Series A: Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital ($6 million)
Series B: Accel Partners, Valiant Capital Partners, RIT Capital Partners, AFSquare, Glynn Capital Management, Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs, Benchmark , Institutional Venture Partners, SV Angel, Index Ventures, Greylock Partners ($250 million)
Series C: T. Rowe Price, BlackRock ($350 million)
Xiaomi
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi Corporation revealed its Series D round of funding in August 2013 valued the company at $10 billion. Xiamoi smartphones outsell iPhones in China and the company most recently turned its attentions to India, where it is expected to succeed with its low-cost smartphone offerings. Xiaomi offers little information on its funding history, although it has been reported it raised $216 million in Series C investment in June 2012.
Investors
Series A: QiMing Venture Partners, Morningside Group ($41 million)
Series B: Undisclosed ($90 million)
Series C: Undisclosed ($216 million)
Series D: Undisclosed