For its 19th fund, Kleiner Perkins has raised $700 million to invest in early-stage companies across sectors including enterprise, consumer, fintech, and healthcare.
The team consists of longtime partners Ted Schlein and Wen Hsieh and relative newcomers Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman. In the last year, they invested in 30 seed and Series A round companies, including Rippling, Cameo, and Propel.
When the storied firm raised its last fund in February 2019, the slogan was “Back to the Future,” indicating a return to Kleiner’s roots. But there wasn’t much of the old Kleiner DNA left at the firm to help that goal.
Kleiner wanted to “return to its roots” because early-stage is where the big money is made. The 47-year-old firm used to be a hit machine, making investments in the early rounds of knockout companies like Google, Amazon, and Electronic Arts, that went on to become industry titans. But Kleiner’s glory days ended years ago.
The firm missed the early window on some of the biggest deals that defined the last decade — Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. Returns across its early-stage practice had suffered as a result. I detailed Kleiner’s rise, fall, and fracture in my feature story, “How The Kleiner Perkins Empire Fell.”
Now, Kleiner’s slogan for its latest fund is to deliver “Returns of the Jedi.” But no catchy phrase nor Luke Skywalker can regain that old Kleiner magic. Only stellar returns can do that.
REALLY?: Alright, can someone explain to me why Quibi, the short-form video streaming company, needed to raise even more money? The startup already had a war chest of capital, but it just raised another $750 million.
In other words, investors have given a company with no live product a whopping $1.75 billion in total funding so far. Its offering of more than 50 original shows is scheduled to launch on April 6. Like I said in my Quibi hot take in January, for all this money and all this talk, I really hope the future Quibi’s envisioning becomes reality.
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Polina Marinova
Twitter: @polina_marinova
Email: polina.marinova@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Hailo, a Tel Aviv-based AI chipmaker, raised $60 million in Series B funding. Investors include ABB Technology Ventures, NEC Corporation, and Latitude Ventures.
- Ordr, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based security platform for enterprise IoT and unmanaged devices, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Investors include Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente Ventures.
- Suki, a Redwood City, Calif.-based voice-enabled digital clinical assistant, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Flare Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Breyer Capital, Epsilon Health, First Round Capital and Venrock.
- Dexai Robotics, a Boston-based AI robotics company focused on commercial kitchen automation, raised $5.5 million in seed funding. Hyperplane Venture Capital led the round.
- Reserved.AI, a Seattle-based developer of a platform that helps customers automate and manage their cloud expenses, raised $3.3 million in funding. Investors include Amplify Partners and Pioneer Square Labs.
- Zabo, a Dallas, Texas-based a cryptocurrency data aggregation platform, raised $2.5 million in funding. Moonshots Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Blockchange Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Digital Currency Group, CoinShares, Tezos Foundation, and Capital Factory.
HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES
- Kinnos, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based infection prevention company, raised $6 million in funding. Prolog Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Allston Venture Fund, Partnership Fund for New York City, Golden Seeds, and MEDA Angels.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
- Duraco Specialty Tapes, a portfolio company of OpenGate Capital, acquired Infinity Tapes, a manufacturer of customized adhesive products, from a private seller. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- L Catterton made a minority investment in FYidoctors, a Canada-based optometrist-controlled eye care company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHER DEALS
- Ant Financial acquired a minority stake in Klarna, a Sweden-based payments provider. The deal values Klarna at $5.5 billion.
- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) acquired Packet, a New York-based bare metal automation platform, in a deal valued at $335 million.
- Hyperice acquired NormaTec, a Newton Center, Mass.-based medical device company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
IPOs
- SBI Cards and Payment Services, the Indian credit card arm of the State Bank of India, may raise up to $1.4 billion in an IPO in the country. Carlyle backs the firm. Read more.
FIRMS + FUNDS
- Quona Capital, a Washington D.C.-based venture firm, raised $203 million for its Accion Quona Inclusion Fund.
PEOPLE
- Inspired Capital named Chris Brown as a principal and Kamran Ali as a senior associate.
- Joe Silver joined Sun Capital Partners, Inc. as a managing director.
