Benchmark Capital is a
venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful
startups. In 1997, the firm invested $6.7 million in
eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999.
Other high-profile investments include
Ariba,
Juniper Networks,
Red Hat,
Tropos Networks and
Twitter. Benchmark Capital is noted for creating the first equal ownership and compensation structure for its partners.
The firm's general partners include Alex Balkanski,
Matt Cohler, Bruce Dunlevie,
Peter Fenton,
Bill Gurley, Kevin Harvey,
Bob Kagle, Mitch Lasky and Steve Spurlock.