It is with profound gratitude and a sense of great purpose that Garrett, Tim, Kira and I officially announce today the closing of our $43M fund, Bee Partners III. You may have already learned this news from our own personal conversations these last few months or today from VC Journal and Crunchbase News. And as … Read more
Back in 2012, I was a sole GP investing from a windowless office in a shared workspace south of Market. With the backing of several remarkable and patient LPs, I had raised $7M of capital and invested in only 25 companies. I was learning a lot in a very hands-on manner. The portfolio had its … Read more
Today, it was announced that BuildingConnected, a Bee Partners II portfolio company, has been acquired by Autodesk. This means a Q1 distribution event for our LPs. And, of course, it’s a big win for everyone involved, especially Autodesk, which now has access to brilliant Co-Founders Dustin DeVan and Jesse Pedersen and to a market network … Read more
Bee Partners is pleased to announce our investment in Voltaiq, a team that is revolutionizing how transportation, energy storage, and electronics companies ensure performance, predictability and reliability in the battery systems that power their products. See coverage in Pitchbook, Greentech Media, and PR Newswire. Battery technology has emerged as the clear front-runner in the sustainable energy revolution. Many countries … Read more
There’s big news in the sky: Skycatch has sold 1,000 drones to construction giant Komatsu (and already delivered 200). Read the story here. The Skycatch Explore 1 drones are semi-autonomous quadcopters made in partnership with dronemaker DJI. They’ll use Skycatch’s machine-vision software to control Komatsu’s robot construction vehicles and deliver real-time insights and autonomous execution. Our kudos to … Read more
It’s pretty great around Bee HQ these days. … We’ve got a fully engaged, enthusiastic team. The pipeline of opportunities is full of new innovation and disruption. And every single day, we do the work we love with Founders we deeply respect and learn from. And, as of last week, 60 percent of companies Bee Partners invested … Read more
Steadfast. Resolute. Full of grit and in the grip of a passion. These are the words that come to mind when thinking about Bee Founder (and Cal grad) Nikita Bier whose company, tbh, was acquired by Facebook on October 16. See the story on TechCrunch here. Bee Partners invested with Nikita and his team in May of 2013. On … Read more
Ask anyone who knows me—my capacity for optimism is off the charts. As a newborn I had a “baby bottle half-full” frame of mind. And yeah, there’s a substantial feedback loop in my career that has nurtured and supported that. Who would want a pessimistic venture capitalist, even if such a thing were possible? Especially … Read more
Since mid-2015, investments into Seed-stage companies have been decreasing with the reduction in transactions (40 percent drop) outpacing the reduction in dollars (24 percent drop). Early funding is critical for founders to quit their day jobs to go full-time, build out the initial product and team, and attract first customers. Without the capital at the genesis, there … Read more
It never gets old. Every year, I attend several college graduation events. And yes, there’s a certain sameness to them – flip the tassel, “Pomp and Circumstance,” and mortarboards in the air, not necessarily in that order – but I swear they never get old. There’s really nothing like the convergence of those two powerful … Read more