IVP

Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) Research Investment Thesis Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) is one of Silicon Valley's original venture firms, founded in 1980, operating from a philosophy of "supercharging growth in breakout companies, converting momentum into market dominance." The firm has a distinctive approach: they back only a dozen companies each year, almost exclusively at the Series B stage, allowing them to go deep into each company and its business with full firm engagement. IVP's core thesis centers on spotting legendary companies before the world appreciates them. They focus on companies that have achieved product-market fit, demonstrated organic growth, and earned customer love. Rather than deploying broadly, they specialize in identifying inflection points—critical moments when companies are ready to scale from millions to hundreds of millions in revenue and expand from one market to many. The firm believes in converting momentum into market dominance through a collaborative, firm-wide model. Every portfolio company gets access to IVP's full investment and platform team, including in-house security audits and operational guides. IVP's team members are "nimble and knowledgeable," with "high standards, low egos, and deep networks." The culture emphasizes candor, thoughtfulness, and purposeful action. Stage Focus IVP is unambiguously a Series B and later-stage investor. The firm has recently raised Fund 18, a $1.6 billion fund dedicated to European Series B and Series C investments, demonstrating their commitment to growth-stage companies. Within the US market, they focus primarily on Series B, though they occasionally participate in Series C and later rounds with existing portfolio companies. Their portfolio demonstrates consistent focus on companies with strong traction: notable companies like Discord, Slack, Coinbase, Dropbox, GitHub, CrowdStrike, Klarna, and Perplexity were all Series B+ investments when IVP backed them. Check Size and Investment Activity IVP's typical check size is $1-25M, with most investments in the $5-15M range for initial Series B investments. Given the firm is backing only a dozen companies annually and investing from multi-billion dollar funds, individual check sizes tend toward the upper end of venture norms. Recent activity shows continued active deployment. The portfolio page highlights 2025 investments including GenLogs, Gamma, Kalshi, Wonderful, LangChain, AppCharge, SuperHuman, Tennr, Laurel, ClickHouse, and Lumafield. The firm also recently acquired Brex in January 2026 (by Capital One), demonstrating successful exit track record. Lead Tendency IVP is a lead investor by necessity. With their Series B focus and firm-wide engagement model, they cannot follow passively. Nearly all of IVP's investments show them leading or co-leading rounds. Their approach requires deep conviction, board-level involvement, and access to the full firm's expertise. Recent Activity and Fund Status Fund Status: Actively deploying. Fund 18 (€1.5B for European markets, approximately $1.6B) was recently raised in 2024. The firm shows consistent investment cadence with approximately a dozen US and European investments annually. Recent Notable Investments (2025): GenLogs (enterprise observability), Gamma (AI business storytelling), Kalshi (prediction market), Wonderful (enterprise agents), LangChain (enterprise AI platform), AppCharge (game monetization), ClickHouse (data analytics), Perplexity (AI search). Notable Recent Activity: January 2026 - Brex acquisition by Capital One (successful exit); Tom Loverro and team active on industry trends; strong positioning in AI infrastructure, enterprise software, and developer tools. Portfolio Overview and Track Record IVP boasts an exceptional track record: 130+ IPOs from 400+ total investments over four decades. Recent public companies include Slack, Dropbox, Coinbase, GitHub, CrowdStrike, Datadog, Klarna, Zendesk, and UiPath. Active High-Value Portfolio Companies (Pre-IPO): Discord (valued $15B+), Perplexity (AI search, $9B+ valuation), Rubrik (cloud data management), Harness (CI/CD, $3B+), Figma (design platform, $10B+), Databricks (data AI, $43B+), Abridge (healthcare AI), Glean (enterprise AI). Team and Investment Coverage IVP operates with 27 investment professionals covering distinct thematic areas. Leadership includes Tamar Yehoshua and Tom Loverro as General Partners with deep operational experience at scale-ups like Google, Amazon, and Slack. Key coverage areas include AI & Machine Learning, Enterprise Software & SaaS, Infrastructure & DevOps, Healthcare & HealthTech, Fintech & Payments, Consumer & Gaming, and Security & Cybersecurity. Partners include seasoned operators with experience at leading tech companies. Decision Process and Timeline IVP operates as a partnership model with collaborative decision-making. Given their small deployment size (dozen companies/year), investment decisions receive full firm attention. Decision timeline: Typically 6-10 weeks from first meeting to term sheet, though expedited to 3-4 weeks for compelling opportunities. Warm introduction expectation: High. With only ~156 companies receiving term sheets annually, warm introductions from the network (existing founders, operators, other VCs) are strongly preferred. Sector Focus and Thesis Areas IVP covers 12 sectors thematically: AI and Machine Learning (highest priority; enterprise AI agents, LLM infrastructure), Enterprise Software & SaaS (productivity, collaboration, automation), Infrastructure (cloud, data, DevOps), Security & Cybersecurity, Fintech & Crypto, Digital Health, Consumer (limited, high-conviction only), Gaming (niche, platform/tool focus), Marketplace & E-commerce, Developer Tools, Go-to-Market Services, and Europe (dedicated fund). Geographic Focus Primary: United States (Silicon Valley, NYC, major tech hubs). Secondary: Europe (dedicated Fund 18 for European Series B/C). Emerging: Selective APAC investments for exceptional opportunities. Founder Preferences and Decision Factors IVP seeks technical founders with product obsession and experience scaling at high-growth companies (Amazon, Google, Slack, etc.). Clear market insight ("why now?"), commitment to standards, and determination are critical. They avoid early-stage teams without product-market fit, market-timing bets, and teams lacking operational depth. Decision factors include: product quality and user love (PMF evidence), founder capability and vision, TAM and expansion potential, competitive defensibility and technical advantage, and management depth. Fund Structure and Performance Fund 18 (European): €1.5B (~$1.6B) raised 2024. US operations run parallel. Typical fund size: $1-2B with dozen company annual deployment. Reserve ratio: Typically 50% for follow-ons. Track record: 130+ IPOs, 100+ acquisitions, estimated $10B+ AUM. Highest-performing funds returned multiples exceeding 5x.