New Enterprise Associates
Encyclopedia
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a global investment firm focused on venture capital
and growth equity investments. With approximately $11 billion in committed capital, NEA is among the largest venture firms. The firm invests in three broad industry sectors: information technology
, healthcare, and energy technology
, with investment professionals allocated to each industry. NEA invests in companies in various stages of development.
NEA employs more than 40 investment professionals. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California
with offices in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
as well as Bangalore
, Mumbai
, Beijing
and Shanghai
.
Since its founding, NEA has invested in over 650 companies, of which more than 170 have gone public and more than 280 have been sold.. Among the firm's most notable investments are been 3com
, CareerBuilder
, Diapers.com
, Juniper Networks
, The Learning Company
, Macromedia
, Salesforce.com
, SMIC
, TiVo
, Vonage
and WebMD
. NEA is also a notable investor in Groupon
and Gilt Groupe
. In 2010, NEA launched its thirteenth investment fund with $2.5 billion of investor capital.
beginning 1969 and Frank Bosnal had been an investment banker at Alex. Brown & Sons
where he focused on IPOs for startup companies. Chuck Newhall had previously managed an investment fund for T. Rowe Price
in the 1970s. The firm was founded with offices on both the East Coast and the West Coast. Among the firm's first notable investments was 3Com
, which NEA backed along with Mayfield Fund
and Jack Melchor in 1981.
The first NEA investment fund had only $16 million of capital. The firm's second fund raised $45 million and the third fund collected $125 million of commitments from investors in 1984. The firm continued to grow steadily throughout the 1980s and early 1990s raising $900 million from 1987 through 1996 across NEA's next four funds. Beginning with NEA-8 in 1998, the firm greatly increased the size of its investment funds. NEA's tenth fund raised a staggering $2.3 billion of investor commitments in 2000 just prior to the collapse of the dot-com bubble
. After raising a more modest $1.1 billion in 2004 for the firm's eleventh fund, NEA was able to raise $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion for its next two funds, respectively.
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
and growth equity investments. With approximately $11 billion in committed capital, NEA is among the largest venture firms. The firm invests in three broad industry sectors: information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
, healthcare, and energy technology
Energy technology
Energy technology is an interdisciplinary engineering science having to do with the efficient, safe, environmentally friendly and economical extraction, conversion, transportation, storage and use of energy, targeted towards yielding high efficiency whilst skirting side effects on humans, nature...
, with investment professionals allocated to each industry. NEA invests in companies in various stages of development.
NEA employs more than 40 investment professionals. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
with offices in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
as well as Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
.
Since its founding, NEA has invested in over 650 companies, of which more than 170 have gone public and more than 280 have been sold.. Among the firm's most notable investments are been 3com
3Com
3Com was a pioneering digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney, Bruce Borden, and Greg Shaw...
, CareerBuilder
CareerBuilder
CareerBuilder.com is the largest online employment website in the United States, with more than 23 million unique visitors each month and a 34% market share of help-wanted web sites in the United States. CareerBuilder.com provides online career search services for more than 1,900 partners as of...
, Diapers.com
Diapers.com
Diapers.com, founded in 2005 by Marc Lore and Vinit Bharara in Montclair, NJ, is the largest online specialty retailer for baby products. Initially founded as 1-800 Diapers, the company set out delivering consumables, such as diapers, wipes, and formula, to parents with free 1-2 day shipping and a...
, Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks is an information technology and computer networking products multinational company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services...
, The Learning Company
The Learning Company
The Learning Company is an American educational software company, founded in 1980. It produced a grade-based system similar to Knowledge Adventure's JumpStart series. The products for preschoolers through second graders feature Reader Rabbit, and software for more advanced students features The...
, Macromedia
Macromedia
Macromedia was an American graphics and web development software company headquartered in San Francisco, California that produced such products as Flash and Dreamweaver. Its rival, Adobe Systems, acquired Macromedia on December 3, 2005 and controls the line of Macromedia...
, Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is an enterprise cloud computing company headquartered in San Francisco that distributes business software on a subscription basis. Salesforce.com hosts the applications off-site...
, SMIC
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, is a semiconductor foundry in mainland China, providing integrated circuit manufacturing services at 350 nm to 45nm technologies...
, TiVo
TiVo
TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
, Vonage
Vonage
Vonage is a publicly held commercial voice over IP network and SIP company that provides telephone service via a broadband connection. The company's name is a play on their motto "Voice-Over-Net-AGE"....
and WebMD
WebMD
WebMD is an American corporation which provides health information services. It was founded in 1996 by Jim Clark and Pavan Nigam as Healthscape, later Healtheon, and then acquired WebMD in 1999 to form Healtheon/WebMD...
. NEA is also a notable investor in Groupon
Groupon
Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website that features discounted gift certificates usable at local or national companies. Groupon was launched in November 2008, the first market for Groupon was Chicago, followed soon thereafter by Boston, New York City, and Toronto...
and Gilt Groupe
Gilt Groupe
Gilt Groupe is a shopping website based in the United states, offering its members merchandise, clothing, home decor, delicatessen food, travel and activities. Gilt Groupe was founded in 2007 and has 3.5 million members...
. In 2010, NEA launched its thirteenth investment fund with $2.5 billion of investor capital.
History
The firm was founded in 1978 by Richard C. (Dick) Kramlich, Chuck Newhall and Frank Bonsal. Kramlich had worked with noted venture capitalist Arthur RockArthur Rock
Arthur Rock is an American venture capitalist of Silicon Valley, California. He was an early investor in major firms including Intel, Apple Computer, Scientific Data Systems and Teledyne....
beginning 1969 and Frank Bosnal had been an investment banker at Alex. Brown & Sons
Alex. Brown & Sons
Alex. Brown & Sons was the first investment bank in the United States, founded by Alexander Brown in 1800 and based in Baltimore, Maryland. The firm was acquired by Bankers Trust in 1997 to form BT Alex...
where he focused on IPOs for startup companies. Chuck Newhall had previously managed an investment fund for T. Rowe Price
T. Rowe Price
T. Rowe Price is a publicly owned Investment firm, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1937 by Thomas Rowe Price, Jr.. The company offers mutual funds, subadvisory services, and separate account management for individuals, institutions, retirement plans, and financial...
in the 1970s. The firm was founded with offices on both the East Coast and the West Coast. Among the firm's first notable investments was 3Com
3Com
3Com was a pioneering digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney, Bruce Borden, and Greg Shaw...
, which NEA backed along with Mayfield Fund
Mayfield Fund
Mayfield Fund is one of the oldest venture capital firms in the US, focusing on early-stage to growth-stage investments in information technology companies with a focus on enterprise software, Internet consumer & media services, and communications....
and Jack Melchor in 1981.
The first NEA investment fund had only $16 million of capital. The firm's second fund raised $45 million and the third fund collected $125 million of commitments from investors in 1984. The firm continued to grow steadily throughout the 1980s and early 1990s raising $900 million from 1987 through 1996 across NEA's next four funds. Beginning with NEA-8 in 1998, the firm greatly increased the size of its investment funds. NEA's tenth fund raised a staggering $2.3 billion of investor commitments in 2000 just prior to the collapse of the dot-com bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
. After raising a more modest $1.1 billion in 2004 for the firm's eleventh fund, NEA was able to raise $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion for its next two funds, respectively.
External links
- New Enterprise Associates (company website)