VC ownership data at exit
When tech companies exit by going public, how much of the company is owned by venture investors at that point? We looked at 198 tech IPO’s to find out. The data is below.
Our big take-aways are below.
Venture owns ~50%. Venture and other major investors own on median 53% and on average 52% of the businesses that exit by going public.
Some VC have the Midas Touch. A number of VC pop up repeatedly in different deals. For instance, Bessemer, Sequoia, Benchmark, Insight, and Accel are each in multiple deals. There is a reason funds like these can raise billions of dollars, and it’s because of the success of the entrepreneurs they invest in. Sequoia and Benchmark lead the pack, listed in 23 and 18 IPOs respectively.
Strategics don’t matter. Of the 198 tech companies that have gone public, only 31 had a strategic investor. That’s only 16% or less than 1 in 5.
Founders owned 15%. Although we don’t show the data above (that’s a different blog coming tomorrow), founders owned on median 15% and on average 20%.
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