Early-stage VC, San Francisco

Benchmark

Venture capital firm · San Francisco · Founded 1995

Quick read

Benchmark is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 1995, headquartered in San Francisco and Woodside, California. It runs one of the most concentrated, flat-partnership models in venture — roughly 13 equal partners, no hierarchy, no platform team — and has backed eBay, Twitter, Uber, and Snapchat from their earliest institutional rounds. Its 2020 fund is currently worth more than 10x investors' initial capital, and the 2024 fund already sits at 3x.

Key facts

Founded
1995
Founders
Andrew Rachleff
Employees
13 partners
Sectors
generalist, consumer, enterprise, ai
Website
benchmark.com

Investment thesis

Benchmark leads the first institutional round in a small number of consumer, marketplace, AI, and enterprise software companies per year, writing $5M–$25M checks and taking board seats. The firm explicitly rejects scale — small fund sizes, equal partnership, no junior staff — on the conviction that concentrated, high-touch early-stage investing produces better returns than a diversified platform approach.

Recent activity

  • Jun 2026fundraise
    Benchmark closed $2 billion across two new funds: a $750 million early-stage Fund XII and a $1.25 billion growth fund — its first-ever dedicated late-stage vehicle. The growth fund plans five to six large, concentrated investments. Cerebras's May 2026 IPO, which returned $3.25 billion on Benchmark's Series A lead and a $225 million pre-IPO SPV, directly motivated the growth vehicle. techcrunch.com
  • Jun 2026investment
    Salesforce acquired Benchmark portfolio company Contentful in June 2026. tracxn.com
  • May 2026investment
    Benchmark participated in a $40 million seed round for Pax. tracxn.com
  • May 2026investment
    Benchmark invested in Monaco's $50 million Series B for its AI-powered sales platform. tracxn.com
  • Feb 2026leadership
    Jack Altman joined Benchmark as a general partner. He had previously raised $275 million for a second fund at his own firm, Alt Capital, which will not make new investments; a majority of that capital won't be collected from its investors. Benchmark also added a partner poached from Kleiner Perkins named Randle, expanding the partnership ahead of the new fund. bloomberg.com
  • Feb 2026press
    Benchmark's 2020 fund was reported to be worth more than 10 times investors' initial capital. The 2024 fund sits at 3x based on cash distributions and paper value of remaining holdings. en.wikipedia.org
  • Feb 2026investment
    Benchmark made its latest early-stage investment in FOMO as of February 10, 2026. superscout.co
  • Jan 2026investment
    Benchmark exited its investment in Discord in January 2026. superscout.co
  • Jun 2026fundraise
    Benchmark raised a $2B capital haul that includes its first-ever growth fund, breaking its long-held tradition of capping funds at roughly $425M and investing only at the earliest stages. The move signals a strategic shift driven by the capital demands of AI-era startups. techcrunch.com
  • May 2026investment
    Benchmark's most recent disclosed investment was in Monaco, participating in the company's Series B on May 12, 2026. cbinsights.com
  • Apr 2026press
    China blocked Meta's planned acquisition of Manus AI, a portfolio-adjacent company that had received Benchmark investment and relocated from China to Singapore in mid-2025. Beijing ordered the deal unwound after characterizing it as conspiratorial. cbinsights.com
  • Apr 2026investment
    Benchmark's latest investment via PitchBook data was in Legora on April 30, 2026, a business productivity software company. pitchbook.com

Notable investments

Key people

Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.

  • Andrew Rachleff · Co-Founder
    LinkedIn
  • Peter Fenton · General Partner
    LinkedIn
  • Jack Altman · General Partner
    LinkedIn
  • Matt Mochary · Advisor / Coach
  • Bill Gurley · Partner at Benchmark
    Brief →
  • Sarah Tavel · General Partner
  • Matt Cohler · General Partner (Partner Emeritus)
  • Eric Vishria · General Partner
  • Chetan Puttagunta · General Partner
  • Miles Grimshaw · General Partner
  • Victor Lazarte · General Partner

Sources

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Frequently asked

What is Benchmark?+

Benchmark is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 1995, headquartered in San Francisco and Woodside, California. It runs one of the most concentrated, flat-partnership models in venture — roughly 13 equal partners, no hierarchy, no platform team — and has backed eBay, Twitter, Uber, and Snapchat from their earliest institutional rounds.

Where is Benchmark headquartered?+

Benchmark is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.

When was Benchmark founded?+

Benchmark was founded in 1995 by Andrew Rachleff.

What sectors does Benchmark invest in?+

Benchmark focuses on generalist, consumer, enterprise, ai. They primarily invest in these sectors.

How do I prepare for a meeting with Benchmark?+

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Generated by briefthecall.com from public web sources. Last updated August 5, 2026. Each claim is linked to its source above.

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