VC ownership data at Exit/IPO

When tech companies exit by going public, how much of the company is owned by venture investors at that point? We looked at 202 tech IPO’s to find out. The data is below.

Our big take-aways are below.

Venture owns ~50%. Venture and other major investors owned on median 52% and on average 51% 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 202 tech companies shown that have gone public, only 33 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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