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.
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