著名風投公司KPCB宣布，已經(jīng)為第18只旗艦基金正式募集6億美元。該基金著重投資早期機會，關注領域包括消費者、創(chuàng)業(yè)，硬科技和金融科技等。

“我們重新思考戰(zhàn)略也研究了歷史，答案非常明確：我們要‘回到未來’，回歸公司的本源。”KPCB發(fā)表的博文稱。

諷刺的是，公司里已經(jīng)沒剩下多少原先的DNA，想回歸本源有點困難。

2018年12月，時任KPCB管理合伙人的艾瑞克·馮宣布，在投資早期消費創(chuàng)業(yè)公司三年多后，他會離開公司。去年早些時候，合伙人林恩·周-歐基夫和貝絲·塞登伯格也都離開了公司。

這意味著參與KPCB之前17只基金的五位管理合伙人里，只有兩位參與管理最新的基金。特德·施萊恩和謝文暄將帶著相對新一點的同事馬默恩·哈米德（之前負責社交資本）和伊利亞·福施曼（之前負責指數(shù)創(chuàng)投），負責新的創(chuàng)投基金。

“如果回望KPCB的歷史就會發(fā)現(xiàn)，之前我們是特別注重支持創(chuàng)業(yè)初期企業(yè)家的小公司。”加入KPCB才10個月的福施曼向《財富》雜志的《Term Sheet》欄目介紹最新募資情況時表示。“這正是我們現(xiàn)在想做的。我們要轉向精品化，高度個性化。”

在決定走“精品化”路線的四個月前，“互聯(lián)網(wǎng)女王”瑪麗·米克爾與KPCB成長投資團隊集體離職，另行募集了12.5億美元的基金，起名叫“債券”。

當然，KPCB希望“回歸本源”的原因很明確，早期投資往往收益豐厚。這家已成立47年的公司曾經(jīng)戰(zhàn)績輝煌，一些早期投資的公司后來成長為行業(yè)巨頭。不過多年前KPCB輝煌的時代便已結束。

過去十年引領科技行業(yè)的一些大筆投資里，例如Facebook、推特（Twitter）和Snapchat，KPCB都錯過了早期投資機會。《Term Sheet》欄目收集的回報率數(shù)據(jù)顯示，KPCB早期投資收益率相當難看。

一家有限合伙人投資過KPCB之前好幾只基金，但最新的旗艦基金并未參與，他們認為從團隊組成來看，現(xiàn)在的KPCB更像是新公司。該有限合伙人告訴我，鑒于過去十年里早期投資團隊向投資人交出的成績相當平庸，未來回報率前景比較積極。

在華麗的“回歸本源”口號背后，KPCB面臨的現(xiàn)實是團隊比較新，也要采取全新戰(zhàn)略。6億美元的新基金意義重大，因為這很可能也是該公司東山再起的最后一次機會。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：馮豐

The storied venture firm announced it has officially raised $600 million for its 18th flagship fund. The fund will focus on early-stage investing across sectors including consumer, enterprise, hard tech and fintech.

“As we deliberated our strategy and studied our history, the answer was clear: we’re going ‘back to the future’ returning to Kleiner’s roots,” reads a Kleiner blog post.

Ironically, there isn’t much of the old Kleiner DNA left at at the firm to help it return it to its roots.

In December 2018, Kleiner general partner Eric Feng announced he would leave the firm after more than three years of investing in early-stage consumer startups. Partners Lynne Chou-O’Keefe and Beth Seidenberg also left earlier last year.

This means only two of the original five GPs who were part of the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers XVII fund are staying on for the latest fund. Ted Schlein and Wen Hsieh will lead the venture fund alongside relative newcomers Mamoon Hamid (ex-Social Capital) and Ilya Fushman (ex-Index Ventures).

“If you look at the history of Kleiner, it was a very small firm focused on backing entrepreneurs at the earliest stages,” Fushman, who has been at Kleiner for 10 months, tells Term Sheet about the latest fundraise. “That’s what we want to do. We want to do it in a boutique-style now, which is very-high touch.”

The “boutique style” approach comes four months after news that Mary Meeker, along with the rest of Kleiner’s growth investment team, would spin out of the storied firm and raise their own $1.25 billion fund called “Bond.”

Of course, it’s obvious why Kleiner wants to “return to its roots” — early-stage is where the big money is made. The 47-year-old firm used to be a hit machine, making investments in the early rounds of knockout companies that went on to become industry titans. But Kleiner’s glory days ended years ago.

The firm missed the early window on some of the biggest deals that defined the last decade — Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. Returns across its early-stage practice have suffered as a result, according to return data obtained by Term Sheet.

A limited partner, who has invested in several of Kleiner’s previous funds but did not participate in the latest flagship vehicle, views Kleiner as a brand new firm because of the composition of the team. They tell me, however, the turnover at the firm is a positive given the stretch of mediocre returns that the early-stage team has delivered to its investors over the last decade.

Behind its flashy ‘Back to the Future’ slogan, Kleiner’s reality is that it’s a new team with a new strategy. A lot is riding on this $600 million fund as this is likely the firm’s last attempt at re-gaining the momentum and relevance it once had.