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.