Formation 8 was an American

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

firm founded in 2011 by Joe Lonsdale,

Jim Kim Jim Yong Kim (; born December 8, 1959), also known as Kim Yong (/金墉), is an American physician and anthropologist who served as the 12th president of the World Bank from 2012 to 2019. A global health leader, Kim was formerly the chair ...

and Brian Koo. The company was headquartered in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. The firm was one of the most successful venture capital firms in the industry before abruptly disbanding in November 2015.

History

The company was founded in 2011 by three partners: Jim Kim, Brian Koo and Joe Lonsdale. The team was later joined by James Zhang of

Softbank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...

China Venture Capital and BioDiscovery and

Tom Baruch Tom Baruch (born November 26, 1938) is an American businessman and venture capitalist (VC) based out of San Francisco, California. He was a founding partner of the VC funds CMEA Capital, Formation 8 and is now the managing director of his famil ...

, founder of CMEA Capital and Director of Intermolecular. The firm added Gideon Yu, the former

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

Chief Financial Officer who is now president of the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, as a special adviser to the firm. In 2012, Formation 8 intended to close its first round fund with $200 million, but delayed until 2013 to accommodate more limited partners. In April 2013, it closed its first round fund with $448 million. It recorded a net internal rate of return (IRR) of 95%, easily making it one of the best performing funds in the industry. Its notable hits included

Oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

, acquired by

for $2 billion, and RelateIQ, the startup bought by

Salesforce.com Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, a ...

for $390 million. In 2013, ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

'' Magazine described the firm as "the hottest venture capital since Andreessen." In December 2014, it closed a second fund of $500 million, and added some billion dollar

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

startups to it portfolio including

Illumio Illumio is an American business data center and cloud computing security company. History Illumio was founded in 2013 by Andrew Rubin and P. J. Kirner and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The initial $8 million roun ...

and South Korean mobile company Yello Mobile. In November 2015, the company disbanded, and the founders went their separate ways, reportedly because the founding partners had different investment strategies and interests.

Portfolio companies

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.formation8.com Venture capital firms of the United States 2011 establishments in California Companies based in San Francisco Private equity firms of the United States Financial services companies established in 2011 Financial services companies disestablished in 2015