Industry Private Equity Total assets ~ $750 million Founded 1995 Type of business Privately held company | Products Venture capital Website www.tenayacapital.com Predecessor Lehman Brothers | |
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Headquarters Woodside, California, United States | ||
Tenaya Capital is a venture capital firm with offices in Portola Valley, California, and Wellesley, Massachusetts. Founded in 1995 as Lehman Brothers Venture Partners, Tenaya spun out to become an independent firm in 2009 following Lehman's bankruptcy. To date, Tenaya has raised five funds representing over $1 billion of committed capital. The firm currently has approximately $750 million under management.
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Investments
Tenaya Capital invests in a wide range of technology segments, including Internet and consumer, communications, semiconductors and electronics, software and systems, and cleantech. Tenaya generally invests in a startup's second or third institutional round, at a point when the company has a product or service that has started to generate market traction. However, the firm does make earlier- or later-stage investments on a selective basis.
Current investments include Kayak.com, Mark Logic, LifeSize, Kontera, Zappos.com, TeleNav, ShoreTel, Qunar.com, PowerReviews, Tumri, and Zuora. Past investments include comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), Isilon Systems (NASDAQ: ISLN), Navini (acquired by Cisco Systems), SideStep (acquired by Kayak.com), and Valere (acquired by Eltek).
Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and LBVP spin out
On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection. As part of the liquidation process, Lazard was appointed to sell certain interests in Lehman Brothers Venture Partners and its other private investment units.
In January 2009, HarbourVest Partners, a Boston private equity fund of funds, financed the spinout of Tenaya, acquiring Lehman's existing investment and unfunded commitments to Tenaya venture funds.