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Overview

BVP has participated in each successive wave of innovation in retail since the mid-1980s, starting with our investments in big box retailers including Staples, The Sports Authority, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Eagle Hardware & Garden. In the late 1990s, we funded several first generation Internet retailers. Some of these early-stage investments, like Blue Nile, became successful public companies and went on to embody the initial promise of online retail. Others, like eToys, burned bright but faded quickly in the face of the uneconomic customer acquisition model that plagued many pioneers. Together with the e-tail industry at large, we learned a lot of hard lessons about building a sustainable and valuable e-commerce business by focusing on the smart development of a consumer brand through profitable customer acquisition and extraordinary customer service. We are actively seeking entrepreneurs who share our excitement for the long-term growth of Internet retail and an appreciation for the key challenges of building an online brand.
Description

When we made our Series A investments in Staples (1986) and The Sports Authority (1987), those chains had yet to open their first stores. We believed strongly that the advent of the mini-computer would revolutionize the fundamental structure of retail by facilitating a command-and-control structure and creating an opportunity to build what is now known as a big-box “category killer.” Today, Staples is the world’s largest operator of office superstores, and The Sports Authority has more than 400 stores in 45 states.

In the late 1990s, a conventional wisdom emerged that the retail experience was transforming from bricks to clicks, a change that would happen almost instantly. Over the past ten years, it has become clear to us that many early Internet retailers operated under two misguided assumptions:

1) Although many predicted retail spending would shift from offline stores to online Web sites in a fast, two- to three-year revolution, in reality, the change appears to be occurring over a steady, 15-year evolution; and

2) Early online retailers spent millions trying to build consumer recognition overnight (remember the sock puppet and countless other pricey Super Bowl ads?). But only Amazon – with its first-mover advantage – emerged from this era with a real brand. When the easy capital of the late ‘90s dried up, virtually all of the big-spenders went out of business. Building consumer recognition for an online retailer is still of paramount importance today, but the smart way to do it is one penny at a time.

Today, we want to invest in Internet retailers targeting segments large enough to sustain a meaningful new consumer brand. Our portfolio company Quidsi, which operates Diapers.com and Soap.com, is a leading example of an emerging category killer. We also believe there are opportunities to help existing off-line brands leverage the Internet as a powerful distribution channel. Our investments in Delivery Agent and OneStop Internet are consistent with this theme.

Moreover, we continue to invest in other types of category-leading companies that play in the e-commerce ecosystem, like Criteo and Convertro, which are making indispensible tools to help e-tailers exploit the increasing complex opportunities in online marketing.
Past Investments Current Portfolio
Investment Team
David Cowan Felda Hardymon Raghav Bahl Jeremy Levine Trevor Oelschig
David
Cowan 		Felda
Hardymon 		Raghav
Bahl 		Jeremy
Levine 		Trevor
Oelschig
Sarah Tavel
Sarah
Tavel
BVP White Papers and Tools BVP Articles

Overview BVP has participated in each successive wave of innovation in retail since the mid-1980s, starting with our investments in big box retailers including Staples , The Sports Authority , Dick’s Sporting Goods , and Eagle Hardware & Garden . In the late 1990s, we funded several first gen

An on line provider of gear and guidance for new parents, merged with eToys, another BVP company.

 BVP invested in Blue Nile, a pioneering online retailer of diamonds and fine jewelry, in 1999. It went public in 2004 as NASDAQ NILE.

Founded in 1982, Businessland became the leading retailer of business automation systems. BVP's Neill Brownstein participated in the company's early rounds. Businessland went public in 1983 as NASDAQ:BUSL.

Convertro provides advanced tracking and revenue attribution of online marketing expenditures using a Sofware as a Service model.

Criteo provides best in class personalized retargeting technology to more than 400 major online retailers worldwide.

BuyerZone.com provides an on line marketplace for small to mid sized businesses to purchase products ranging from < a href="http www.buyerzone.com telecom_equipment phone_systems qz_questions_322.jhtml"> phone systems< a> to < a href="http www.buyerzone.com personnel payroll qz_questions_265.jhtml"> payroll services< a> . It

David Cowan joined Bessemer in 1992. Of his 45 early-stage investments, 18 were acquired and 19 went public.

Delivery Agent is developing the market for shopping enabled entertainment by redefining how products SeenOn™ or related to entertainment content are catalogued, sold and measured online.

Diapers.com is a leading Internet retailer of baby products focused on extraordinary customer service. Diapers.com is operated by Quidsi which was acquired by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) in April 2011.

Operates chain of retail stores selling sporting goods and leisure apparel.

 The first major toy retailer on the Internet, eToys carried over 275 brands, as well as unique and obscure toys made by specialty manufacturers. David Cowan led BVP's 1998 investment in the company. EToys went public in 1999 as NASDAQ

Felda Hardymon joined Bessemer in 1981. He specialized in technology investments but also inaugurated Bessemer's retail practice with investments in Staples and The Sports Authority.

Eagle Hardware & Garden was founded in 1989 as a large format do it yourself home improvement store. BVP invested in 1991. The firm went public in 1992 as NASDAQ EAGL, and was purchased by Lowe’s (NYSE LOW) in 1999.

Jeremy is a Partner with Bessemer Venture Partners. He focuses primarily on software and services investments. Prior to joining BVP in 2001, Jeremy was Vice President of Operations at Dash, an Internet software publisher. Jeremy joined Dash from AEA Investors, a private equity firm with an expertise in leveraged an

Onestop is a full service e commerce technology and distribution partner. It designs, builds, and manages e commerce websites on a completely outsourced basis.

  Raghav Bahl, an associate with BVP India’s Mumbai office, joined the firm in 2011. He focuses on investments in consumer products and retail. Most recently, Raghav was an associate at FIRE Capital Fund, India’s first real estate private equity fund, where he was responsible for deal evaluation, structuring and

Staples invented the office superstore concept and today is the largest operator of office superstores in the world. BVP's Felda Hardymon and Bill Burgin invested in each of the company's four rounds, starting in 1986. It went public in 1989 (NASDAQ:SPLS).

Sarah Tavel is an Senior Associate at Bessemer Venture Partners, working out of the Menlo Park, CA office.

Shopify provides e-commerce software to SMBs.

Soap.com makes life easier for everyone by delivering essential products without the time and hassle of shopping at a physical store. Soap.com is operated by Quidsi which was acquired by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) in April 2011.

The Sports Authority pioneered the concept of a superstore for sporting goods and has become the largest full line sporting goods retailer in the United States. Felda Hardymon and Bill Burgin participated in its 1987 and 1988 financing rounds. The

Operates a retail chain of coffee shops.

 Trevor Oelschig is a Senior Associate in BVP’s New York office. He works with Rob Stavis, focusing on opportunities in software, consumer technologies, and digital and mobile media. Prior to BVP, Trevor was an Associate with Panorama Capital (previously JPMorgan