Two of this year’s biggest wins for storied Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers came thanks to a partner who left two years ago.
Matt Murphy, who now resides at Menlo Ventures — one of Kleiner’s competitors — scored his previous firm’s investors two paydays with this year’s acquisitions of AppDynamics and Simplivity. In 2012, Murphy led AppDynamics’ $20 million Series C round (it sold for $3.7 billion this January) and Simplivity’s $25 million Series B round (sold for $650 million just a week earlier).
Kleiner Perkins has been criticized by its peers for missing many of the most recent value-creating startups, but the firm had a role in at least six prominent exits in 2017. The turnover at Kleiner continues to be a black eye for the firm — and Murphy is no small part of that.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?
Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple reasons that we can't rely only on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on.
First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.
Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. We can’t do that if we have a paywall.
That’s why we also turn to you, our readers, to help us keep Vox free. If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today?
Yes, I'll give $5/month
Yes, I'll give $5/month
We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and
Google Pay. You can also contribute via
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57823847/matt_murphy.1512164176.png)
