Venture capital – final course
Venture capital has had a massive impact on the U.S. economy since World War II, and its history is long and varied.
The first venture capital company was American Research and Development Corporation (ARD), which was founded in 1946 by Georges Doriot, Karl Compton, Frank Abrams, and other investors. ARD took an equity stake in new companies rather than traditional debt-based investments of the day—an approach that became known as “venture capital” investing. This innovative strategy provided early stage financing for many well-known companies such as Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). The success of these investments drastically changed the way new business ventures were funded in America.
In 1958 Georges Doriot formed the Harvard Business School Venture Capital Program to train MBA students in venture capital techniques; this program would later become one of the preeminent training grounds for professional venture capitalists around the world.
Throughout the 1960s, venture capitalists began to invest more heavily in technology start-ups instead of small private businesses as they had previously done. This period saw a surge of venture capital funding into firms like Intel, Apple Computer Company, Genentech Inc., Oracle Systems Corporation, AOL/Time Warner Inc., Amgen Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Google LLC and Facebook Group Ltd.—all now household names due to their tremendous success stories over time thanks to strategic venture capital investments from some of today’s top VC investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Sequoia Capital Global Growth Fund LP(SCGGF), Andreessen Horowitz LLP(AHLP)and Accel Partners Management Co.(APMC).
By 1979 there were over $1 billion dollars invested annually across 23 states by 128 active venture capitalists according to figures released by National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). As technology continued to evolve at a rapid pace throughout the 1980s and 1990s so too did investment opportunities with NVCA releasing figures showing that cumulative VC funding had jumped from $2 billion dollars between 1985 -1989 to over $43 billion between 1990 -1999!
Today VC funding still remains strong with billions being invested each year across thousands of startups; this investment helps provide not only economic growth but also job creation within one’s community while helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams through creativity and innovation – something we can all be thankful for.