NEWS

Four Benchmark Partners Make the Forbes Midas List

Forbes' annual Midas 100 list surveys the top tech deal makers in the world. Last year, companies that venture capitalists helped launch hauled in $34 billion from 86 public offerings and 304 acquisitions. The final quarter of 2007 saw 31 IPOs--more than any other quarter since the third quarter of 2000--worth $3 billion.

Here are the Benchmark Capital general partners who made the list:

The Midas List
#35 Alexandre Balkanski
01.24.08


Benchmark Capital

2007 Rank: NA

Age: 47

Harvard PhD founded C-Cube in 1988. The company won an Emmy for its video chip. Joined Benchmark Capital in 2000, led firm's investments in Infinera and Entrisphere. Excited about new venture Ambarella (hi-def video compression semiconductors). Gets a rush skiing out-of-bounds slopes.

The Midas List
#62 Peter Fenton
01.24.08


Benchmark Capital

2007 Rank: 94

Age: 35

Hotshot financier spent seven years at Accel Partners before joining Benchmark in 2006. Successful with sellouts: Reactivity (to Cisco), XenSource (to Citrix) and Zimbra (to Yahoo). New investments include Yelp (community review forum) and open source shop SpringSource. Maintains track record outside the VC world by competing in multiple triathlons every year.

Peter Fenton gives entrepreneur tips to the Forbes Video Network.

Midas Connections

The Midas List
#86 Kevin R. Harvey
01.24.08


Benchmark Capital

2007 Rank: NA

Age: 43

Recovered from a rocky few years with blockbuster 2007: sold Tellme Networks, Zimbra, Ingenio. Was chairman of the board at MySQL, sold to Sun for $1 billion in January. This year's paydays could also include Proofpoint, CollabNet, Bytemobile. Owns Rhys Vineyards in the Santa Cruz mountains, specializes in organic, biodynamic pinot noir.

The Midas List
#93 John William Gurley
01.24.08


Benchmark Capital

2007 Rank: 53

Age: 41

Research analyst got the itch to invest. Joined Hummer Winblad Venture Partners in 1997 after four years on Wall Street, where he was an analyst who covered Amazon's IPO. Joined Benchmark Capital in 1999. Since invested in virtual world Second Life and online reservation site OpenTable.