When Keith Rabois introduced he was leaving Founders Fund to return to Khosla Ventures in January, it got here as a shock to many within the enterprise capital ecosystem — and never simply because Rabois is an enormous title within the trade.
It was stunning as a result of in contrast to in lots of different fields, enterprise capitalists don’t historically transfer round very a lot — particularly those that attain the associate or normal associate degree as Rabois had.
VC funds have 10-year life cycles and companions have good motive to remain that course. In some situations, they might be a “key man” on a agency’s fund, that means that in the event that they depart, the fund’s LPs have the precise to tug their capital out in the event that they select. Many companions and GPs even have a few of their very own cash invested of their companies’ funds, which supplies them additional motive to stay round.
So, whereas big-name investor strikes in enterprise capital aren’t frequent, they appear to have develop into so in current months. Thus far this 12 months, there have been notable situations of buyers returning to previous companies, hanging out on their very own or taking a pause from investing completely.
Right here’s who we all know of to date:
July
- Anne Lee Skates introduced on July 11 that she had left Andreessen Horowitz the place she had been a associate on the patron staff since 2019. She added that she’s off to do her “life’s work” and can put up extra about her future plans quickly. At Andreessen, she backed firms together with Alloy, Cider and All Day Kitchens, amongst others.
June
- On June 17, Spencer Peterson introduced that he’d left Bedrock, the place he served as associate for 5 years, to develop into a normal associate at Coatue. Peterson is an investor in firms together with OpenAI and Rippling, amongst others.
- Amanda “Robby” Robson introduced her departure from Cowboy Ventures in a LinkedIn put up in early June. Robson had been at Cowboy Ventures since October 2019 and at Norwest Enterprise Companions for 3 years previous to that. Robson plans to launch a fund of her personal.
Might
- Serena Ventures founding associate Alison Stillman introduced she’d stepped again from the agency on Might 14 after a virtually six-year run working with tennis star Serena Williams. Stillman didn’t announce her subsequent step.
- Terri Burns introduced on Might 13 that she was launching a brand new enterprise agency referred to as Kind Capital. Burns was beforehand the primary Black lady associate at GV and left the agency again in 2022. Her new fund will deal with pre-seed and seed-stage startups.
- Final week TechCrunch scooped that Fika Ventures co-founder Eva Ho was going to transition out of the agency after Fika completed deploying its present fund. Ho is stepping again for private causes. The transfer was confirmed by the agency in a weblog put up on Might 9.
- On Might 9, Alison Lange Engel introduced she was taking over the position of CEO at Ceros, an AI-powered design firm. Lange Engel left Greycroft in December, the place she had been a associate since 2019, to take the position.
- After 15 years, Vic Singh introduced on X that he was stepping down from Eniac Ventures on Might 1. Singh helped launch the agency in 2009 and is planning to launch a brand new agency of his personal.
April
- On April 30, Ethan Kurzweil introduced he was leaving his position as associate at Bessemer Enterprise Companions after 16 years. Kurzweil will likely be launching an early-stage-focused funding agency, in line with reporting from Axios. Kurzweil will launch the agency with Kristina Shen, who left Andreessen Horowitz after 4 years on March 29, and Mark Goldberg, who left Index Ventures after eight years final fall.
- On April 1, Christina Farr introduced that she’d be leaving OMERS Ventures, the place she has served as a principal investor and the lead of the agency’s well being tech observe since December 2020. Farr introduced on X that she’d be engaged on her well being tech publication, writing a e-book targeted on the facility that storytelling can have on companies, and consulting well being tech founders.
March
- After six years as a associate at Accel, Ethan Choi introduced that he’d be leaving the agency to go to Khosla Ventures in March. Choi will likely be targeted on growth-stage investing at his new agency and has backed such firms as Klaviyo, Pismo and 1Password.
- Whereas most of the current VC strikes have been by people trying to begin one thing new, or tackle a distinct alternative, not all of them have been. On March 13, Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital introduced that it fired companions Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuku. Bloomberg reported that this was as a result of a matter involving elevating cash for AI startup Groq.
- Rabois was not the one individual trying to boomerang again to an previous hang-out on this current rise of investor reshuffling. On March 5, Miles Grimshaw introduced that he’d be returning to Thrive Capital as a normal associate after serving the identical place at Benchmark Capital for 3 years. Grimshaw initially began at Thrive Capital in 2013 and has backed such firms as Airtable, Lattice, and Monzo, amongst others.
- Whereas transitioning from operator to VC is a standard profession development within the startup ecosystem, it isn’t for everyone. On March 4, Sam Blond introduced he had come to that conclusion and could be leaving Founders Fund, the place he had been a associate for about 18 months. Blond stated he would return to working and has held roles at firms akin to Brex, Zenefits and EchoSign.
January
- After 12 years at Andreessen Horowitz, Connie Chan introduced she was leaving the agency on January 23. Chan had served as one of many agency’s normal companions the final 5 years and has backed firms akin to Cider, KoBold and Whatnot.
TechCrunch is monitoring the current enterprise strikes and can proceed to replace this text as they occur. If in case you have any suggestions or callouts to convey to our consideration, contact me right here: rebecca.szkutak@techcrunch.com.
This put up was initially printed on Might 1. It has since been up to date on Might 13 and July 12 to incorporate further strikes inside enterprise.
