press room

The venture capital industry is clawing its way back after a ten-year drought. AlwayOn’s editors unveil the top 100 venture capital firms that are leading the comeback and proving that high-growth private company investment opportunities still exist for the wise and disciplined VC.
During the past year, the stars in the venture capital industry have proven that there is life after a ten-year run of marginal returns and two brutal recessions that knocked NASDAQ under 1,200 in Septmeber 2002, and under 1,400 in February 2009. This list proves that the top VC firms still have the patience, endurance, and tenacity to weather any economic storm that blows up in its path. Last year’s first annual AlwaysOn Venture Capital 100 highlighted the 100 individual venture capital partners that backed the most profitable winners from 2006 through 2009. This year, AlwaysOn presents the top 100 venture capital firms that have had the most steady stream of exits during the last three years.

To help pick the VC100 this year, the AlwaysOn editorial team sourced data from its research partners Morgan Stanley, VentureDeal, The 451 Group, and select industry experts on more than 300 active VC firms as well as reviewing their investments and exits. The AO editorial team will rotate individual VCs and firms in each subsequent VC100.

The winning VC firms were selected based on performance relative to the number of successful exit deals from their portfolio companies from October 1st, 2007, through September 30th, 2010. Consideration was given to firms with lead investors from our 2009 VC100, understanding that in many cases, more than one partner is involved in helping each company. While much of the exact valuation data remains private, we present this year’s VC100 ultimately as a representative list, based on our best efforts.

The VC 100 underscores the critical role venture capital plays in new company and new job creation-and proves just how important innovation and the VC firms that fund it are to rebuilding our economy. Congratulations to the winning firms who, together with the innovative companies they have funded, have come through a daunting economic environment and retained a preeminent position in pushing the technology marketplace back into a position of prosperity.

The winners of this competition will be officially honored at:

Venture Summit Silicon Valley 2010
Where Big Ideas Meet Big Money
December 13th - 15th, 2010
The Ritz Carlton
Half Moon Bay, CA

Introducing the 2010 VC 100:

5AM Ventures
Menlo Park, CA
www.5amventures.com

Accel Partners
Palo Alto,CA
www.accel.com

Advanced Technology Ventures
Palo Alto, CA
www.atvcapital.com

Allegis Capital
Palo Alto, CA
www.allegiscapital.com

Anthem Venture Partners
Santa Monica, CA
www.anthemvp.com

Atlas Venture
Waltham, MA
www.atlasventure.com

Austin Ventures
Austin, TX
www.austinventures.com

Azure Capital Partners
San Francisco, CA
www.azurecap.com

Bain Capital Ventures
Boston, MA
www.baincapitalventures.com

Balderton Capital
London, U.K.
www.balderton.com

Battery Ventures
Waltham, MA
www.battery.com

Bay Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.baypartners.com

Benchmark Capital
Menlo Park, CA
www.benchmark.com

Bessemer Venture Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.bvp.com

BioAdvance Ventures
Philadelphia, PA
www.bioadvance.com

Canaan Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.canaan.com

Castile Ventures
Waltham, MA
www.castileventures.com

Charles River Ventures
Waltham, MA
www.crv.com

Commonwealth Capital Ventures
Waltham, MA
www.commonwealthvc.com

Crosslink Capital
San Francisco, CA
www.crosslinkcapital.com

DFJ Gotham
New York, NY
www.dfjgotham.com

Doll Capital Management
Menlo Park, CA
www.dcm.com

Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Menlo Park, CA
www.dfj.com

Edison Venture Fund
Lawrenceville, NJ
www.edisonventure.com

Element Partners
Radnor, PA
www.elementpartners.com

EnerTech Capital
Conshohocken, PA
www.enertechcapital.com

First Round Capital
West Conshohocken, PA
www.firstround.com

FirstMark Capital
New York, NY
www.firstmarkcap.com

Flybridge Capital Partners
Boston, MA
www.flybridge.com

Focus Ventures
Palo Alto, CA
www.focusventures.com

Forward Ventures
San Diego, CA
www.forwardventures.com

Foundry Group
Boulder, CO
www.foundrygroup.com

Frazier Technology Ventures
Seattle, WA
www.fraziertechnology.com

General Atlantic
Greenwich, CT
www.generalatlantic.com

General Catalyst Partners
Cambridge, MA
www.generalcatalyst.com

Globespan Capital Partners
Boston, MA
www.globespancapital.com

GrandBanks Capital
Newton Center, MA
www.grandbankscapital.com

Granite Ventures
San Francisco, CA
www.granitevc.com

Greycroft Partners
New York, NY
www.greycroftpartners.com

Greylock Partners
San Mateo, CA
www.greylock.com

Grotech Ventures
Vienna, VA
www.grotech.com

GRP Partners
Los Angeles, CA
www.grpvc.com

GSR Ventures
Beijing, China
www.gsrventures.com

Highland Capital Partners
Lexington, MA
www.hcp.com

Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
San Francisco, CA
www.humwin.com

InSight Venture Partners
New York, NY
www.insightpartners.com

Institutional Venture Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.ivp.com

Intel Capital
Santa Clara, CA
www.intel.com/capital

InterWest Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.interwest.com

Jafco Ventures
Palo Alto, CA
www.jafco.com

JK&B Capital
Chicago, IL
www.jkbcapital.com

Khosla Ventures
Menlo Park, CA
www.khoslaventures.com

KPCB
Menlo Park, CA
www.kpcb.com

Lightspeed Venture Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.lightspeedvp.com

Madrona Venture Group
Seattle, WA
www.madrona.com

Matrix Partners
Waltham, MA
www.matrixpartners.com

Mayfield Fund
Menlo Park, CA
www.mayfield.com

Menlo Ventures
Menlo Park, CA
www.menloventures.com

Meritech Capital Partners
Palo Alto, CA
www.meritechcapital.com

Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds
Bethlehem, PA
www.mavf.com

Mohr Davidow Ventures
Menlo Park, CA
www.mdv.com

Montreux Equity Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.montreuxequity.com

New Enterprise Associates
Menlo Park, CA
www.nea.com

NewSpring Capital
Radnor, PA
www.newspringcapital.com

NGEN Partners
Santa Barbara, CA
www.ngenpartners.com

North Bridge Venture Partners
Waltham, MA
nbvp.northbridge.com

Norwest Venture Partners
Palo Alto, CA
www.nvp.com

Novartis Venture Funds
Cambridge, MA
www.venturefund.novartis.com

Oak Investment Partners
Palo Alto, CA
www.oakinv.com

Palomar Ventures
Santa Monica, CA
www.palomarventures.com

Polaris Venture Partners
Waltham, MA
www.polarisventures.com

Prism Venture Partners
Westwood, MA
www.prismventure.com

Quaker BioVentures
Philadelphia, PA
www.quakerbio.com

Redpoint Ventures
Menlo Park, CA
www.redpoint.com

RRE Ventures
New York, NY
www.rre.com

SAP Ventures
Palo Alto, CA
www.sap.com/about/company/sapventures

Saturn Partners
Boston, MA
www.saturnasset.com

Scale Venture Partners
Foster City, CA
www.scalevp.com

SeaPoint Ventures
Bellevue, WA
www.seapointventures.com

Sequoia Capital
Menlo Park, CA
www.sequoiacap.com

Sierra Ventures
Menlo Park, CA
www.sierraventures.com

Sigma Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.sigmapartners.com

Softbank Capital
Newton Center, MA
www.softbank.com

Sprout Group
New York, NY
www.sproutgroup.com

SR One
West Conshohocken, PA
www.srone.com

Sutter Hill Ventures
Palo Alto, CA
www.shv.com

SV Angel
Silicon Valley

Technology Partners
Palo Alto, CA
www.technologypartners.com

Total Technology Ventures
Atlanta, GA
www.ttvatlanta.com

Trident Capital
Palo Alto, CA
www.tridentcap.com

Trinity Ventures
Menlo Park, CA
trinityventures.com

Tudor Ventures
Boston, MA
www.tudorventures.com

U.S. Venture Partners
Menlo Park, CA
www.usvp.com

Union Square Ventures
New York, CA
www.unionsquareventures.com

Valhalla Partners
Vienna, VA
www.valhallapartners.com

VantagePoint Venture Partners
San Bruno, CA
www.vpvp.com

Venrock
Palo Alto, CA
www.venrock.com

Versant Ventures
Menlo Park, CA
www.versantventures.com

Vista Ventures
Boulder, CO
www.vistavc.com

VSP Capital
San Francisco, CA
www.vsplp.com

Warburg Pincus
New York, NY
www.warburgpincus.com

Worldview Technology Partners
Palo Alto, CA
www.worldview.com