Bessemer Venture Partners Closes $3.3 Billion Across Two Funds; Welcomes Amazon.com Veteran Jeff Blackburn as Partner
26.2.2021 01:40:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Bessemer Venture Partners, a global early-stage venture capital firm, today announced the close of two new funds, adding $3.3 billion of capital for investing in promising technology companies at their early and subsequent growth stages.
Additionally, the firm welcomed five new partners, including Jeff Blackburn, who joins Bessemer Venture Partners from Amazon, alongside the promotion of existing Bessemer investors Mary D'Onofrio, Mike Droesch, Tess Hatch, and Andrew Hedin.
“Today marks an incredible milestone at Bessemer as we launch our latest and largest funds and add five exceptional investors into the partnership,” said Jeremy Levine, a partner in Bessemer’s New York office. “I’m proud to celebrate the success of Mary, Mike, Tess, and Andrew, and I am excited to welcome Jeff to the firm. Having known Jeff for 15 years, I’m a great admirer of his stunning track record as an innovator and leader paired with his deep humility. I know his peerless experience leading one of the world’s greatest tech and consumer brands will benefit our team and the many founders who partner with Bessemer.”
Blackburn joins Bessemer following a 22-year career at Amazon, first joining the e-commerce giant after its IPO and then spearheading its growth in the core marketplace business and expansion across Amazon Advertising, Prime Video, Amazon Music, and Amazon Studios. Most recently, Blackburn served as senior vice president of worldwide business development. He oversaw dozens of Amazon’s minority investments and more than a hundred acquisitions across all business lines – including retail, Kindle, Echo, Alexa, FireTV, advertising, music, streaming audio & video, and Amazon Web Services.
At Bessemer, he will apply his innovative mindset and considerable experience -- as an investor, operator, and leader – toward existing and future Bessemer portfolio companies.
“Having been part of Amazon for more than two decades, I’m excited to begin a new chapter helping customer-focused founders build breakthrough companies,” said Blackburn. "I’ve known the Bessemer team for many years and have long admired their strategic vision and success backing early-stage ventures."
Blackburn’s arrival and the promotions of D'Onofrio, Droesch, Hatch, and Hedin all coincide with the close of Bessemer’s eleventh flagship fund, BVP XI, and their second opportunity fund, BVP Century II. The majority of the $3.3 billion across both funds will focus on early-stage investments, consistent with the firm’s time-honored approach of starting with seed and Series A investments and sticking with companies at every stage of their growth.
The firm continues to expand with a leadership team of 21 partners and over 45 investors, advisors, and platform team members positioned all over the world – Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Boston, London, Tel Aviv, Bangalore, and Beijing.
Bessemer Partner Byron Deeter added: “Our partners work one-on-one with our CEOs, but they also benefit from the growing scale and support from our entire platform. With our new funds and expanded partnership, Bessemer is even better equipped to help the best entrepreneurs – across all stages, sectors, and geographies – build incredible companies.”
About Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners is a global early-stage venture capital firm. With a portfolio of more than 200 companies, Bessemer helps visionary entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to create companies that matter, and supports them through every stage of their growth. The firm has backed more than 130 IPOs, including Shopify, Yelp, LinkedIn, Skype, LifeLock, Twilio, SendGrid, DocuSign, Wix, and Fiverr. Bessemer's team of investors and partners are positioned all over the world in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Boston, Tel Aviv, Bangalore, and Beijing.
https://www.bvp.com/
Follow @BessemerVP
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210225006258/en/
Contact information
Media Contact
Karen Lee
press@bvp.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Access Advance Welcomes Meta Platforms, Inc. and Alibaba Group to the Video Distribution Patent Pool3.7.2026 02:00:00 EEST | Press release
Access Advance LLC today announced that Meta Platforms, Inc., one of the world's largest distributors of video content across its Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp services, has joined the Video Distribution Patent Pool (VDP Pool) as a Licensee. Meta also joined both the HEVC Advance and VVC Advance pools as a Licensee. Alibaba Group, whose video infrastructure spans a wide range of video-based services across e-commerce, entertainment, and digital media platforms, was also announced as a VDP Pool Licensee this week. Meta and Alibaba joining the VDP Pool further reinforces the program’s market leading position in resolving the licensing issues around the use of modern video codecs, including VP9, AV1, HEVC and VVC, across all the diverse business models of internet video streaming. "A significant U.S.-based company like Meta joining as a Licensee is a milestone moment for the content distribution business and the VDP Pool," said Peter Moller, CEO of Access Advance. "Meta reach
Kioxia Commences Sample Shipments of 10th-Generation BiCS FLASH™ Devices Delivering High Performance, High Capacity and Low Power Consumption3.7.2026 02:00:00 EEST | Press release
Kioxia Corporation, a world leader in memory solutions, today announced that it has commenced sample shipments of 1Tb (terabit) Triple-Level-Cell (TLC) memory devices utilizing its 10th-generation BiCS FLASH™ 3D flash memory technology.1 These will be primarily integrated into the company’s enterprise and data center SSDs, strengthening Kioxia’s lineup to meet the growing demand for AI storage, which requires higher performance, higher capacity, and lower power consumption. These new products will be manufactured using state-of-the-art equipment at Kioxia’s Kitakami Plant Fab2 facility in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. By leveraging innovative CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) technology2 and On-Pitch Select Gate Drain (OPS) technology,3 both adopted since the 8th-generation BiCS FLASH™, the 10th-generation technology achieves a NAND interface speed of 4.8 Gb/s,4 a 33% improvement over the 8th generation. Bit density has increased by 59% by stacking 332 layers and improving lateral density
Bending Spoons S.p.A. announces closing of initial public offering2.7.2026 21:35:00 EEST | Press release
Bending Spoons S.p.A. (“Bending Spoons”), a leading technology company, today announces the closing of its initial public offering of an aggregate of 57,971,015 of its ordinary shares, at an initial public offering price of $29.00 per share. The offering consisted of 34,398,640 shares sold by Bending Spoons and 23,572,375 shares sold by certain selling shareholders (the “Selling Shareholders”). The gross proceeds from the offering to Bending Spoons, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses, was approximately $953,917,285.50. Bending Spoons did not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the Selling Shareholders. Bending Spoons’ ordinary shares began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on July 1, 2026 under the ticker symbol “BSP”. Goldman Sachs International, J.P. Morgan, and Allen & Company LLC are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the offering. Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Securities, Jefferies, Evercore ISI, BNP
Strategic Partnership Between Record Asset Management and Admicasa2.7.2026 20:00:00 EEST | Press release
RAM Swiss Holding AG is a subsidiary of LSE-listed Record Financial Group (Record) and part of the Record Asset Management (RAM) group of companies. The partnership is a milestone in the growth of Admicasa and marks an important step in the continued expansion of Record’s private markets platform. Subject to regulatory approval, the agreement, signed on 1st July 2026, provides RAM Swiss Holding AG with a 50% participation in the Admicasa Fondsleitung AG, part of Admicasa, and establishes a long-term partnership to develop investment opportunities in the Swiss and Global real estate market with a plan to expand into other asset classes in the medium term. RAM is the European asset management arm of Record, the LSE-listed specialist investment group managing USD 115 billion of assets on behalf of institutional clients worldwide. Record's client base comprises pension funds, foundations, sovereign institutions and other asset managers, with whom it has built long-standing relationships th
IQM Quantum Computers Becomes First European Quantum Computing Company Listed on a Major U.S. Exchange2.7.2026 17:47:00 EEST | Press release
IQM Quantum Computers (Nasdaq: IQMX) (“IQM”, “IQM Quantum Computers” or the “Company”), a global leader in full-stack superconducting quantum computers, today became a publicly traded company following the completion of its business combination with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (“RAAQ”). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260702960460/en/ IQM Quantum Computers Becomes First European Quantum Computing Company Listed on a Major U.S. Exchange The company’s American Depositary Shares begin trading today on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “IQMX”. The listing marks a major milestone for IQM establishing the company as the first European quantum computing company listed on a major U.S. stock exchange. Due to the proceeds of the transaction, IQM maintains a strong pro forma cash position of EUR 337 million. IQM enters the public markets with strong commercial momentum and a rapidly expanding globa
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom