Mary Meeker's new VC fund Bond targets $1.25 billion for its maiden fund
Mary Meeker, a former Kleiner Perkins partner, who is well known for her annual State of the Internet reports is raising US$1.25 billion for her new venture capital firm Bond.
Last year, the growth equity team of Kleiner Perkins spun off into its own firm, and general partners Mood Rowghani, Noah Knauf, and Juliet de Baubigny also left the firm for Bond.
As reported by Axios, Bond announced its name via a confidential email that was sent to prospective partners. Reports also state that it will target $1.25 billion with a $1.5 billion hard cap.
Born in Portland, Indiana, the 59-year-old holds a B.A. in Psychology and an MBA in Finance from Cornell University. Mary Meeker joined Kleiner Perkins in 2010. Before that, she has worked with Merrill Lynch as a stockbroker. Between 1990-1991 she worked for Cowen and then moved to Morgan Stanley.
In 1995 with Chris DePuy at Morgan Stanley, she published The Internet Report. The report gained popularity and over the years, Mary Meeker produced similar reports on mobile internet, advertising, ecommerce, etc. In 2014, Mary was listed by Forbes as the 77th most powerful woman in the world.
Women VCs are trying to break the boys club and Mary Meeker starting Bond adds to the growing list of VCs in the US. Some of the top women VC in the US mentioned as The Midas List of 2018 published by Forbes included names such as Jennifer Carolan of Reach Capital, Jocelyn Goldfein of Zetta Venture Partners, Rebecca Kaden of Union Square Ventures, Trae Vassallo of Defy, Wayee Chu of Reach Capital, Maha Ibrahim of Canaan, Kara Nortman of Upfront Ventures, Dana Settle, of Greycroft, Stephanie Palmeri of Uncork Capital and Eurie Kim of Forerunner Ventures.
Most US media houses are also projecting that if Bond succeeds in fundraising then Mary Meeker will be the first women to lead such a large fund. Now that's something we would like to see. Time to give the boys club a run for their money!
