Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture firm that lost fortunes betting on clean technology, has a bigger pipeline of potential 2014 initial public offerings than any of its peers, according to CB Insights.
North Carolina, meanwhile, failed to make the top 10 with companies in the IPO pipeline. However, 2013 was a strong year for IPOs in the state with numerous exits, including Morrisville-based ecommerce services provider ChannelAdvisor, which has drawn West Coast investment.
Georgia, however, ranks eighth on the 2014 list with 11.
No North Carolina venture capital firms made the top VC firm list.
Ecommerce firms top the IPO pipeline list with 52 candidates followed by ad technology at 43 and business intelligence, analytics and performance management at 22.
Among venture-backed companies that could go public next year, Kleiner Perkins has invested in 50, followed by New Enterprise Associates at 46 and Accel Partners at 45, New York- based CB Insights, which tracks venture investing, wrote in a report Wednesday. Kleiner Perkins’s deals include payments company Square, wireless-device maker Jawbone and peer-to-peer lender LendingClub Corp.
“There are 590 venture capital and private equity-backed technology companies in the United States with valuations, real or rumored, of greater than $100M who are demonstrating
significant momentum,” the report says.
Other highlights include:
• Billion dollar club – 25 companies with real or rumored valuations of $1 billion or greater. By way of context, there have been 45 VC-backed tech exits greater than $1 billion since 2004.
• Kleiner get its mojo back? Kleiner leads the list of investors with most Tech IPO Pipeline companies
• California dominates, NY strong – California has more than half of Pipeline companies at 308. New York shows solid growth at 61. Massachusetts holds firm at three with 52.
• Big money – Companies have, in total, raised over $55 billion. Corporate and financial services money seems plentiful.
Known for early investments in Amazon.com Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and Google Inc., Kleiner Perkins has struggled in recent years from money-losing wagers on plug-in automaker Fisker Automotive Inc. and solar-panel maker MiaSole Inc. While next year’s pipeline looks promising, only 12 of the companies were seed or first round investments for Kleiner Perkins, according to the report.
“Kleiner has been known historically for its ability to see around the corner for the next big thing,” Anand Sanwal, Chief Executive Officer of CB Insights, said in an interview. “The jury is still out on whether they got their mojo back, because they have mostly been investing at the mid to later stage.”
Christina Lee, a spokeswoman for Kleiner Perkins, declined to comment.
Judged by their ability to get into future public companies early, Menlo Park, California-based Kleiner Perkins ranked 14th. First Round Capital was first, followed by Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz. Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, is an investor in Andreessen Horowitz.
The IPO pipeline, as determined by CB Insights, consists of 590 venture capital and private equity-backed U.S. technology companies with valuations above $100 million, including 25 valued at over $1 billion. Last year, CB Insights identified 472 companies in the 2013 pipeline, of which 57 went public or were acquired this year and another 171 raised additional capital.
Kleiner jumped from fifth place a year ago to the top spot, flip-flopping with rival firm Sequoia Capital, which fell to fifth from first.
