2014年7月14日

在过去的40多年里，Charles River Ventures在风投界表现出了巨大的长寿。随着最新一只基金的结束，该公司正试图将品牌重塑为CRV，强调其在硅谷业务的增长。本月早些时候，我们报道称，该公司已经关闭了第16只基金，根据美国证券交易委员会的文件，这只基金价值近4亿美元。不过，该公司已经证实已经关闭了这只基金，并将继续投资于处于早期阶段的初创公司。在这一行干了44年，你知道什么行得通，什么行不通。过去10年，CRV有8家估值在10亿美元或以上的公司退出。在同一时期，只有红杉资本(Sequoia Capital)、Greylock Partners和New Enterprise Associates有这么多所谓的“独角兽”退出。由于CRV投资较早，因此与市场上的其他公司相比，它的收益往往是超额的。例如，它是Twitter、Zendesk和Yammer等公司的第一个机构投资者。最新这只基金较该公司2012年初募集的3.75亿美元的上一只基金略有上升。 As a result, there are certain things that haven’t changed much for CRV. For one, the firm is singularly focused on investing in early-stage startups, at the Series A level. According to general partner Jon Auerbach, the $300-$400 million range is the sweet spot for a fund like CRV, as it gives the firm more than enough money to make follow-on investments in its winners. But it’s not so overcapitalized that the firm is forced to make growth investments or go off-model. CRV plans to invest in 25-35 companies over the three-year life of the fund, with the average amount invested in each company being around $10 million. But the bulk of the fund is held in reserve for it to back companies that will have those outsized exits — whether that means an IPO or an acquisition. What has changed over the years, and will continue with the new fund, is CRV’s increased investment in startups in Silicon Valley. Originally named after the river that runs between Boston and Cambridge, the firm has spent the last decade re-inventing itself with a Silicon Valley office. After decades of betting mostly on infrastructure companies that emerged out of the Boston area, CRV opened a Silicon Valley office in 2004 and has been steadily growing its presence there. With the close of the new fund, the firm is hoping to emphasize the new-look CRV, which is increasingly focused on investing in West Coast, consumer-focused startups. It has more partners in Silicon Valley than in Cambridge, and that mix is also reflected in the types of companies it’s invested in, and the types of companies that have had the most success in the last decade. “We believe there are a finite number of change-the-world entrepreneurs… and the place that they congregate is in San Francisco and Silicon Valley,” Auerbach said. Since most of its biggest recent wins were from investments in that area, it’s probably a smart bet to keep focusing there.