Venture firm Benchmark raises new fund without early Uber investor: source

[SILICON VALLEY] The Silicon Valley venture capital firm known for its early backing of companies such as Uber Technologies is raising a new fund, but without one of its most prominent general partners, a source close to the firm said on Wednesday.

Benchmark is raising a US$425 million (S$606.5 million) tenth fund, the person said, after a long track record of early backing for major tech firms such as eBay and Twitter.

But influential general partner Bill Gurley, who led the firm's early investment in Uber, one of the largest tech companies to emerge in the past decade, will not be part of the new fund, the person said.

The Wall Street Journal reported the development earlier on Wednesday.

Mr Gurley has been a vocal advocate for direct listings, an alternative way for companies to become publicly traded that gives both early investors such as Benchmark and tech company employees paid with stock a way to sell their shares for cash while paying potentially fewer fees to investment banks.

Spotify Technology and Slack Technologies - neither of which was a Benchmark investment - used the technique, but Uber held a traditional initial public offering last year.

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Another source close to Benchmark said Mr Gurley was not "going anywhere". He will remain on 11 boards of Benchmark portfolio companies and will work with the firm and the founders of those startups for "many, many years into the future", the source said.

The sources declined to say why Mr Gurley was not joining the latest fund.

REUTERS