Which Venture Capitalists Are Consistently In The Top Tech Exits?

Which venture capital firms are seeing the most big exits, and how are those names changing with time?

We analyzed the top 100 tech exits by valuation over two separate periods using CB Insights data. The first period covered Q1’09 to Q3’12, and the second period starts in Q4’12 and ends in the most recent quarter, Q2’16. Both periods are equal in length, containing 15 quarters.

We compiled a list of investors with at least six of the top 100 exits in each period, and ranked them according to how many of these exits they were involved in.

When analyzing the rankings, a few interesting points emerge:

• This data is evidence of consistency in VC performance. Since there were 26 unique VCs across the two lists and 10 VCs that placed on both lists, more than one-third of the 26 firms managed to back at least 6 of the top 100 tech exits in each 15-quarter period. Almost all of the repeat firms also appeared towards the top of our VC Peer Ranking List and have top-ranked partners in our VC Partner Ranking.
• Sequoia, NEA, and Accel were in the top five in both periods. Sequoia was first in the earlier period, with involvement in 17 of the top 100 exits, but fell to second place with 14 of the top exits in the later period. New Enterprise Associate had 9 top exits in the first period, and jumped to first place with 15 in the second. Institutional Venture Partners, which didn’t make the top 10 in the first period, jumped to third place with involvement in 12 of the top exits including Marketo, Dropcam, and ZenDesk.
• 10 VC firms were top investors, with at least 6 of the top 100 tech exits, during both time ranges, including Kleiner Perkins, Redpoint Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, and Battery Ventures.
• 7 VC firms (out of 16) were new to the list during the more recent timespan. These included Sapphire Ventures (formerly SAP Ventures), which was tied for the fifth spot, having invested in 10 of the top 100 exits of the period including those of FitBit, Box, and OnDeck Capital. Other new VCs include Insight Venture Partners, Felicis Ventures, and DAG Ventures. Index Ventures and Felicis Ventures saw the biggest jumps in ranking.

Here are the full lists of the VC investors with at least 6 of the top 100 tech exits during these time periods:

Want more information on the top exits? Check out our private company database below.