Famed tech investor Mary Meeker is looking to raise around $1.25 billion for a new growth fund
- Famed tech investor Mary Meeker is aiming to raise around $1.25 billion for her new growth fund, multiple sources tell Business Insider.
- Meeker, a longtime partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, recently split off from the firm to create her own growth fund.
- Formal fundraising efforts on behalf of Meeker's new unnamed fund have yet to begin.
Premier Silicon valley investor Mary Meeker is seeking to raise around $1.25 billion for a new growth fund, multiple sources tell Business Insider.
Meeker, who recently split off from storied venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers to create her own fund, has yet to begin formal fundraising efforts. The amount Meeker seeks to raise might change in upcoming months as conversations surrounding the fund's size are still very early, the people cautioned.
Meeker garnered the nickname "Queen of the Internet" for her prescient analysis of internet stocks in the early 2000s, and oversaw late stage investments for more than 10 years at Kleiner Perkins. Kleiner Perkins partners Noah Knauf, Juliet de Baubigny, and Mood Rowghani also followed Meeker to her new growth fund, which hasn't been named yet.
In her years at Kleiner Perkins, Meeker spearheaded the firm's digital growth fund which typically took in around $1 billion in capital. Along with the partners who joined her from Kleiner Perkins, Meeker will continue to oversee the allocation of Kleiner's third growth fund and participate in the management of the firm's portfolio companies over the next several years. A spokesperson for Meeker's fund declined to comment.
With Softbank's $100 billion Vision Fund setting a new precedent for private funding, it isn't unusual to see growth funds taking in larger amounts of capital to fuel late stage companies. Growth funds are raising at least $750 million on average, investors told Business Insider.
If Meeker is able to raise $1.25 billion in her new venture fund, it will be among the largest ever to be raised by a female-led fund.