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The end of zipcode investing

Methinks Kleiner Perkins, which disclosed the scale of its ambitions in China, is getting a case of Sequoia envy. Sand Hill Road firms were once proudly parochial, defining their comfort zone by the range of a fuel tank, or the adjacent zipcodes. And the blue-chip venture capital partnerships used to be nothing but contemptuous of the geographical ambitions of shops such as Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which set up franchises in such exotic locales as Europe, and the East Coast. Well, that's over. After the jump, the new map of Silicon Valley.

During the last cycle, Benchmark, a top-tier firm, launched a fully-fledged European fund. And Sequoia, which has overtaken Kleiner Perkins in prestige, has recruited partners for India, China and Israel, as well as Silicon Valley. Kleiner Perkins, for which Amazon just up the coast in Seattle counted as a far-flung investment, has finally joined the rush: it is opening offices in Shanghai and Beijing and plans to invest a $360 million fund into Chinese startups. It being Kleiner Perkins, the fund will invest, not just in internet and communications ventures, but in energy projects too. Greentech in China: what could me more of the moment than that combination?

2007


1997

3:35 PM on Tue Apr 24 2007
By Nick Denton
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2 comments