Comments for The Web VC Chart

The Web VC Chart

2006-09-13T13:19:58Z

Written by Alex Iskold and edited by Richard MacManus.

Whether you like the bubble mentality of the current era or not, it's hard to deny that VCs play a big role in the Web ecosphere. Many prominent venture firms have funded startups in social networking, online video and vertical search - helping to jumpstart the current excitement about new social technologies.

With that in mind we prepared a comparison of VC portfolios. We included VCs that we think are most active in the space, but please note that this is not an exhaustive list. Also we have not attempted to include all of their investments, just the main social web ones. Bearing all that in mind, we encourage you to use the comments section to suggest VCs and companies you think should be added.

We've put the portfolio companies into 4 major categories. Some compromises where made in order to keep the list of categories short - for example Digg would be more precisely categorized under Social News and Flock as Social Browsing, but to keep the chart simple we filed both under Social Networking and Bookmarking.

In addition to the linked logo of each company, the table below also contains its current Alexa traffic rank - a basic (if controversial) measure of popularity. The VC listings include the links to their company, as well as partners working in Web space. Also, we've included links to their blogs and Technorati ratings of the popular VC blogs.

	Audio, Photo and Video	Blogging, RSS, Webtops, Wiki	Search and Classifieds	Social Networking and Bookmarking
Accel Partners Technorati links: 128	Inv: 15M (*) Alexa: 138	Inv: 15M (*) Alexa: 980	Inv: 11.5M Alexa: 1,600 Inv: 18M () Alexa: 51,000 Inv: 5.7M () Alexa: 6,200	Inv: 13M Alexa: 69 Inv: 15.5M Alexa: 42,800
August Capital Technorati links: 171 David Hornik, blog, Technorati rank: 3,539	Inv: undisclosed Alexa: 33,300	Inv: 12M (*) Alexa: 2,500	Alexa: 237	Alexa: 672 Acquired by Monster.com
Benchmark Capital Technorati links: 160	Inv: 15M (*) Alexa: 138	Inv: 1M Alexa: 8,600		Inv: 15M Alexa: 281 Inv: 10M () Alexa: 41 Inv: 8.3M () Alexa: 1,700 Inv: 15.5M Alexa: 42,800
Bessemer Venture Partners Technorati links: 88 David Cowan, Blog, Technorati rank: 14,371	Inv: 10.25M (*) Alexa: 3,600	Inv: 10M Alexa: 190 Inv: 4M (*) Alexa: 3,100		Inv: 1M Alexa: 8000 Inv: 3M Alexa: 2,600
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Technorati links: 232 Tim Draper Steve Jurvetson, blog Technorati rank: 31,000	Inv: 10.25M (*) Alexa: 3,600	Inv: 4M () Alexa: 47,000 Inv: 7M () Alexa: 500	Inv: 2.1M () Alexa: 3,300 Inv: 7.6M () Alexa: 237	Inv: 7.5M Alexa: 2,000
First Round Capital (Angel) Technorati links: 89 Josh Copelman , Blog, Technorati rank: 5,634	Pre-launch Alexa: 6,500 Alexa: 2,950 Alexa: 125,000 Alexa: 33,300	Alexa: 3,100	Pre-launch Alexa: 57,500 Alexa: 25,500 Alexa: 14,100	Alexa: 627
Garage Technology Ventures Technorati links: 65 Guy Kawasaki blog, Technorati rank: 54	Inv: 7M (*) Alexa: 29, 300 Alexa: 1,400		Inv: 1.5M Alexa: 78,500 Inv: 3M (*) Alexa: 5,800	Inv: 3.55M (*) Alexa: 9,000
Greylock Technorati links: 122 David Sze			Inv: 7M () Alexa: 12,100 Inv: seed Alexa: 5,000 Inv: 6.2M () Alexa: 21,700	Inv: 3M () Alexa: 95 Inv: 25M () Alexa: 69 Inv: 10M (*) Alexa: 222
Kleiner Perkins Technorati links: 591	Inv: 8.85M (*) Alexa: 13,800			Inv: 3M (*) Alexa: 41
Leap Frog Ventures Technorati links: 59 Peter Rip, Blog, Technorati rank: 7,730			Inv: 19M (*) Alexa: 14,100 Inv: 1.5M Alexa: 45,800
Mayfield Fund Technorati links: 359			Inv: 10M(*) Alexa: 11,600	Inv: 7M(*) Alexa: 2,900
Mobius Venture Capital Technorati links: 131 Brad Feld, Blog, Technorati rank: 1,924		Inv: 7M () Alexa: 500 Inv: 10M () Alexa: 2,150	Inv: 7.6M (*) Alexa: 237	Inv: 8M (*) Alexa: 7,800
Omidyar Network (Angel) Technorati links: 186 Pierre Omidyar, Blog, Technorati rank: none		Alexa: 47,000 Alexa: 3,100	Alexa: 7,200 Inv: 2.1M (*) Alexa: 3,300	Alexa: 95
Redpoint Ventures Technorati links: 40				Inv: 8.3M (*) Alexa: 1,700 Inv: 15M Alexa: 6 Acquired by News Corporation
Sequoia Capital Technorati links: 410 Mark Kvamme , Roelof Botha	Inv: 8.85M (*) Alexa: 13,800 Inv: 1.5M Alexa: 2,950 Inv: 11.5M Alexa: 13			Inv: 4.7M Alexa: 222
Sherpalo Ventures Technorati links: 174	Inv: 8.85M (*) Alexa: 13,800			Alexa: 627
SoftTech VC (Angel) Technorati links: 32 Jeff Clavier, Blog, Technorati rank: 3,346	Alexa: 1,900	Alexa: 980	Alexa: 25,000 Alexa: 7,200 Alexa: 61,500 Alexa: stealth	Alexa: 9,000 Alexa: 1,500 Acquired by AOL
The Founders Fund Technorati links: 10 Peter Thiel	Alexa: 2,170		Inv: 0.76M Alexa: 17,200	Inv: 5M (*) Alexa: 34,400
Union Square Ventures Technorati links: 294 Fred Wilson, Blog, Technorati rank: 686	Inv: 4M (*) Alexa: 7,500	Inv: 1-2M Alexa: 500	Inv: 5M (*) Alexa: 2,300	Inv: 1-2M Alexa: 154 Acquired by Yahoo!

The (*) means that more than one VC participated and so the exact amount by this firm is not known. Other things: Angels are indicated in parenthesis. The transaction amounts/links for Angels are not listed since they are typically small and not publicized. Also, note the distinct links to the partner's bio, his blog and the Technorati rating of his blog.

What do you think - is there enough data here to draw conclusions? For example we can see that the most popular category is Search and Classifieds. This makes sense since there are many verticals to apply search to and classifieds is likewise popular. Social Networking and Bookmarking is also very crowded and competitive. What other trends do you see?

UPDATE 18/9/06: Version 2 of the chart has now been published, incorporating the feedback received.

Comment from micky on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T14:48:35Z

what is the meaning of the (*) please ?

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T15:15:10Z

The (*) means that more than one VC participated and so the exact amount by this firm is not known.

Other things: Angels are indicated in parenthesis. The transaction amounts/links for Angels are not listed since they are typically small and not publicized.

Also, note the distinct links to the partner's bio, his blog and the Technorati rating of his blog.

Alex

Comment from Nikola Markovic on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T16:05:34Z

Nice, but I don't see how this is/can be useful?

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T16:19:36Z

Here are some uses:

- Startups to get idea of what VC are doing,
portfolios what they like to invest into.

- VC can cross-reference their portfolio.

- You can do analysis like correlating VC blogging
with Alexa rank of their portfolio companies.
You can also look at Alexa ranks accross segment.

- Look at the sizes of VC portfolios
and typical investments.

- Have single place to find all this info,
its not that easy to assemble :)

Comment from Stephane Valorge on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T17:07:15Z

Hi,

very interesting chart!

I would definitely add Dailymotion (www.dailymotion.com) in the video space :

Alexa ranking : 550

A-round (‚Ç¨7m ? to be confirmed, sept 06) with US/European VCs Partech International (www.partechvc.com) and Atlas Venture (www.atlasventure.com)

See articles (in French, sorry) : http://fr.news.yahoo.com/08092006/7/dailymotion-a-trouve-des-investisseurs.html
http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/internet/0,39020774,39363161,00.htm

Comment from JonR on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T17:46:54Z

I would add General Catalyst to that list. They have invested in many of the same companies on your list, as well as some not mentioned.

www.generalcatalyst.com

Cheers!

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T17:59:28Z

Thanks for your suggestion! I see that they invested in Kayak:
http://www.generalcatalyst.com/portfolio/kayak.html

What other companies do you think fit this list?

Alex

Comment from Nik Cubrilovic on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T19:41:17Z

"You can do analysis like correlating VC blogging
with Alexa rank of their portfolio companies.
You can also look at Alexa ranks accross segment."

I think it has zero bearing, some of the biggest and best web companies came out of firms that don't have blogs. VC's can use a blog for deal flow

Comment from joseph on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T20:17:22Z

i agree with another poster that this information as it stands has limited usefulness. to be more useful it should have more granular categorization (companies in compared categories are very different - may want to have each category be it's own tab with sub-categories) and the dates of the investments should be listed (this will let readers estimate how much time some of those firms have left, when the space picked up, etc.).

the key use as it stands is just as a snapshot of vc investments in the key web2 areas. i don't buy the vc blogging correlation at all. are you saying that some vc blogging is going to generate more traffic and user uptake to the site then the actual utility of the web service, the pr/marketing of the service, etc.? that's pretty silly. also, your sample space is too small to generate any statistically significant insights.

Comment from Ander Hilario G√≥mez on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T20:27:40Z

Thanks for the chart; nice work. I have just uploaded in my blog (i'm sorry it's in spanish)

i miss same vs firms but i thinks it's a great job; Well done!!

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T21:02:09Z

Nic,

Thanks for your comments. We are not saying these numbers are something that you should go by, we are saying this is interesting information. For example, Fred Wilson's blog is very popular and his companies have good traffic. This is not a trend, but in the day and age when news and PR are critical its not to be ignored.

A lot of VCs with popular blogs mention their companies and this certainly creates them good exposure. Of course, you are correct and there are many firms that do not have partners with blogs and had great successes.

Alex

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T21:07:15Z

Joseph: thanks for your comments.

We started with a more granuar categorizations, like audio, video, bookmarks and networks in different columns. The resulting matrix ended up fairly sparse. We made this choice of representation to increase readability. I agree with you that it might have been also useful another way.

In terms of usefulness of data. We did not draw conclusions, you actually drew the correlation conclusion yourself. And yes, the data set is small, but this is really all we have.

This post is intended as information resouce not a research paper with definitive conclusion. It would be great to be able to track this information over time. Then perhaps we would be able to draw some conclusions.

Alex

Comment from Richard MacManus on 2006-09-13

2006-09-13T22:07:38Z

To back up Alex's comments, let me say again that we're not claiming this as a complete analysis or exhaustive list. That kind of project would take considerable time and it's the kind of thing JupiterResearch charge a healthy fee for! ;-)

As it is, Alex spent a lot of time doing the chart and I spent a lot of time trying to get it formatted for and published on R/WW (!). Ideally we should put this on a R/WW wiki and build up the data over time (which is something I'm considering - would people be interested in that?).

Also I updated the post with extra comments.

Comment from Michael Jones on 2006-09-13

2006-09-14T05:34:28Z

To add, Meebo had Sequoia investment, Friendster had multiple rounds, Truveo was also acquired by AOL and Userplane never had any investment : ) .

And where is Mayfield!

Comment from Crazy Carter on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T09:47:32Z

Kral Benim

Comment from Sreen on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T12:30:48Z

Also Sherpalo Ventures, www.sherpalo.com
http://www.sherpalo.com/portfolio.php

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T14:03:24Z

Michael, thanks for your comments and help!

Meebo is a chat platform, we did not think it fits this chart. Where would you suggest we put it?

Jeff Clavier told us that he was a seed investor in Userplane.

Other changes, including adding Mayfield will be done shortly.

Alex

Comment from David Hornik on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T17:30:28Z

Great stuff. For what it is worth, I am also an investor in and huge fan of VideoEgg. I was also an investor in Tickle (one of the earliest players in the social networking space -- aquired by Monster.com). My partner John is an investor in Trumba. We (August Capital) are really excited about new media and next gen web apps.

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T18:05:36Z

David, thank you for your comments.

These investments that you mentioned are angel investments or August capital investemented in these companies?

Alex

Comment from ronald pruett on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T19:24:48Z

Like the post. You missed The Boston Associates which recently finded Offertrax. Web 2.0 is clearly a Westcoast game - for now.

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T20:01:43Z

Thanks for your commment, Ronald. We looked at Boston Associates and we can't tell which other companies in their portfolio are in web 2.0 space?

Also, since your company is in the stealth mode, we are not certain how to classify it. Is it RSS-based shopping application?

Alex

Comment from ronald pruett on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T22:13:27Z

Offertrax is the announced company and is focused on connecting merchants and consumers via RSS. So, yes it is safe to say that it is a "social shopping" application and is working to facilitate transactions not just tags and bookmarks though they will play a role. Thanks.
R

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-14

2006-09-14T23:25:04Z

Ronald, how about other companies in the portfolio. We only listed VC if they have at least two holdings in the space.

Alex

Comment from David Hornik on 2006-09-15

2006-09-15T20:36:58Z

Alex, all of the investments I reference above (VideoEgg, Tickle and Trumba) are August Capital investments for sure.

DAVID

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-16

2006-09-16T15:31:32Z

Thanks David, we will be adding VideoEgg and Tickle in the next update (coming soon). Trumba does not quite fall into any of these categories... Where would you suggest we put it?

Alex

Comment from Guy Kawasaki on 2006-09-16

2006-09-16T18:28:13Z

Please add FilmLoop (photo) and CFares (search) to us.

Guy Kawasaki

Comment from Graeme Thickins on 2006-09-17

2006-09-17T14:56:05Z

Guy, what is the "C" of Cfares supposed to mean? Cheap?

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-18

2006-09-18T23:09:07Z

All updates have been made, please let us know if there is some other information that needs to be fixed / missing. Note that we could not obtain some investment sizes information. If its public and you have it, please point us to the site.

Thanks!

Alex

Comment from Dean Krikorian on 2006-09-18

2006-09-18T23:16:02Z

Cool Table! I was inspired to map some relationships using our LinkSViewer software (as brethren on Guy Kawasaki's blog). Check out the map and some commentary at www.linksviewer.com/blog or click on my name. The main point is that there are some interesting relationships contained within the table, particularly examining the people involved. So...the table has been put to good use! We are interested in how others would interpret the map - something like inserting a caption to our image. dk

Comment from Alex Iskold on 2006-09-18

2006-09-18T23:55:03Z

Dean,

This is really quite impressive! I am a big fan of networks and graphs and I think that they can lend a really big insight into the structure and even dynamics of things.

I think it would be interesting to run cluster analysis on the graph (do connected component analysis). An effective way of presenting this information is Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) developed at MIT. Despite the fancy names it is easily digestible by everyone. Take a look if you have not seen it yet.

And as far as interesting relationships go... Nothing interesting ever happens without interesting relationships :)

Alex

Comment from Sayula on 2006-09-19

2006-09-19T11:41:18Z

Great chart but please can you add Index Ventures to the list as we're one of the leading European vc's in the web space with a portfolio which includes Skype, Netvibes, All Peers, Stardoll, Last.fm, FON, King.com, Betfair... Thanks.

Comment from Alex Shartsis on 2006-10-02

2006-10-02T19:15:51Z

Very useful chart. Clearly the people who failed to see its usefulness weren't the intended audience. To someone in social media, at a start-up, the value of what you have done is both obvious and undeniable.

I would suggest that Tim Connors at US Venture Partners deserves a place on here with the firm's post-bubble investment in Spoke Software. Sierra was also in on that. And Clearstone invested in ThisNext.