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From Keith Rabois to Ethan Kurzweil, a lot of VCs have switched firms or spun out of storied VC institutions to launch their own funds this year. These employment changes are surprising because unlike in many other fields, venture capitalists don’t traditionally move around very much — especially those who reach the partner or general partner level.
VC funds have 10-year life cycles, and partners have good reason to stay that course. In some instances, there may be a “key man” on a firm’s fund, meaning that if they leave, the fund’s LPs have the right to pull their capital out if they choose. Many partners and GPs also have some of their own money invested in their firms’ funds, which gives them further reason to stick around.
So, while big-name investor moves in venture capital aren’t common, they seem to have become so in recent months. So far this year, there have been notable instances of investors returning to old firms, striking out on their own, or taking a pause from investing entirely.
Here’s who we know of so far:
September
James da Costa announced on September 17 that he was joining Andreessen Horowitz as a partner focused on B2B software and financial services. This marks da Costa’s first foray into venture investing; he was previously the co-founder of Fingo, an African neobank. On September 11, Jacob Westphal announced that he was leaving Andreessen Horowitz. Westphal was a partner at a16z for three and a half years. He left to become the portfolio lead at Will Ventures.August
Freestyle VC announced on August 15 that Maria Palma had joined the firm as a general partner based in San Francisco. Palma was most recently a general partner at Kindred Capital, based in London. Palma has backed companies such as Moov, Novo, and Lottie.July
After nearly seven years, Alex Cook is getting ready to leave Tiger Global, sources familiar with the matter tell TechCrunch. While at Tiger Global, Cook led deals including TradingView, Scalapay and TrueLayer, among others. Prior to Tiger Global, Cook worked at Apollo. Bessemer Venture Partners announced it added Lauri Moore as a partner on July 22. Moore was previously a partner at Foundation Capital for two years and an operator at LinkedIn before that. Moore will be focused on early-stage investments in sectors including data, AI and developer tools. On July 17, DCVC announced it had brought on Milo Werner as a general partner to lead the firm’s climate investing practice. The firm is currently raising its first dedicated climate fund. Werner was most recently a general partner at Engine Ventures for two and a half years. Werner was a partner at Ajax Strategies prior to that. Anne Lee Skates announced on July 11 that she had left Andreessen Horowitz where she had been a partner on the consumer team since 2019. She added that she’s off to do her “life’s work” and will post more about her future plans soon. At Andreessen, she backed companies including Whatnot, Kindred and Prisms, among others.June
On June 17, Spencer Peterson announced that he’d left Bedrock, where he served as partner for five years, to become a general partner at Coatue. Peterson is an investor in companies including OpenAI and Rippling, among others. Amanda “Robby” Robson announced her departure from Cowboy Ventures in a LinkedIn post in early June. Robson had been at Cowboy Ventures since October 2019 and at Norwest Venture Partners for three years prior to that. Robson plans to launch a fund of her own.May
Serena Ventures founding partner Alison Stillman announced she’d stepped back from the firm on May 14 after a nearly six-year run working with tennis star Serena Williams. Stillman did not announce her next step. Terri Burns announced on May 13 that she was launching a new venture firm called Type Capital. Burns was previously the first Black woman partner at GV and left the firm back in 2022. Her new fund will focus on pre-seed and seed-stage startups. Last week TechCrunch scooped that Fika Ventures co-founder Eva Ho was going to transition out of the firm after Fika finished deploying its current fund. Ho is stepping back for personal reasons. The move was confirmed by the firm in a blog post on May 9. On May 9, Alison Lange Engel announced she was taking on the role of CEO at Ceros, an AI-powered design company. Lange Engel left Greycroft in December, where she had been a partner since 2019, to take the role. After 15 years, Vic Singh announced on X that he was stepping down from Eniac Ventures on May 1. Singh helped launch the firm in 2009 and is planning to launch a new firm of his own.April
On April 30, Ethan Kurzweil announced he was leaving his role as partner at Bessemer Venture Partners after 16 years. Kurzweil will be launching an early-stage-focused investment firm, according to reporting from Axios. Kurzweil will launch the firm with Kristina Shen, who left Andreessen Horowitz after four years on March 29, and Mark Goldberg, who left Index Ventures after eight years last fall. On April 1, Christina Farr announced that she’d be leaving OMERS Ventures, where she has served as a principal investor and the lead of the firm’s health tech practice since December 2020. Farr announced on X that she’d be working on her health tech newsletter, writing a book focused on the power that storytelling can have on businesses, and consulting health tech founders.March
After six years as a partner at Accel, Ethan Choi announced that he’d be leaving the firm to head to Khosla Ventures in March. Choi will be focused on growth-stage investing at his new firm and has backed such companies as Klaviyo, Pismo and 1Password. While many of the recent VC moves have been by folks looking to start something new, or take on a different opportunity, not all of them have been. On March 13, Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital announced that it fired partners Jay Zaveri and Ravi Tanuku. Bloomberg reported that this was due to a matter involving raising money for AI startup Groq. Rabois was not the only person looking to boomerang back to an old haunt in this recent rise of investor reshuffling. On March 5, Miles Grimshaw announced that he’d be returning to Thrive Capital as a general partner after serving the same position at Benchmark Capital for three years. Grimshaw originally started at Thrive Capital in 2013 and has backed such companies as Airtable, Lattice, and Monzo, among others. While transitioning from operator to VC is a common career progression in the startup ecosystem, it isn’t for everybody. On March 4, Sam Blond announced he had come to that conclusion and would be leaving Founders Fund, where he had been a partner for about 18 months. Blond said he would return to operating and has held roles at companies such as Brex, Zenefits and EchoSign.January
After 12 years at Andreessen Horowitz, Connie Chan announced she was leaving the firm on January 23. Chan had served as one of the firm’s general partners the last five years and has backed companies such as Cider, KoBold and Whatnot. Famed venture investor Keith Rabois announced on January 9 that he was leaving Founders Fund to return to Khosla Ventures. Rabois had been a general partner at Founders Fund for nearly five years; he returned to Khosla as a managing director, his prior role.TechCrunch is monitoring the recent venture moves and will continue to update this article as they happen. If you have any tips or callouts to bring to our attention, contact me here: rebecca.szkutak@techcrunch.com.
This post was originally published on May 1. It has since been updated on May 13, July 12, August 15 and September 23 to include additional moves within venture.
This post has been updated to better reflect Anne Lee Skates’ investments at Andreessen Horowitz.
