Peter Fenton, a general partner at Silicon Valley-based firm Benchmark Capital, has bagged the number one spot in a list of the top 100 venture capitalists put together by CB Insights and The New York Times. The list throws yet another spotlight on the venture capital industry’s startling lack of diversity.
The run-down ranks VC professionals by their exits, how influential they are, their consistency, portfolio value, and recent performance. The fact that caucasian men account for nine of the top ten spots underscores the extent to which women and ethnic minorities remain vastly underrepresented in the industry.
GGV Capital’s managing partner Jenny Lee (#17) and Canvas Ventures’ partner Rebecca Lynn (#20) were the only women to make the top 50. Shanghai-based Lee also has the distinction of being one of just two Asia-based VCs to make the top 20. Neil Shen, founder and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China, ranked at #9.
While plenty of Silicon Valley investors listed have done deals in Asia — Accel Partners’ Sameer Gandhi (#25) and Mayfield Fund’s Navin Chaddha (#45) both have a long list of Indian investments under their belt — few are actually based in the region full time. Aside from Shen and Lee, other Asia-based VCs that made the top 100 list are IDG Capital’s Beijing partner Xiaojun Li (#62) and Morningside Ventures Shanghai-based General Partners Richard Liu (#96).
As expected, top-ranking VC professionals came from top-ranking VC firms. Benchmark Capital also had Bill Gurley at #8 and Matt Cohler at #24, while Sequoia had four of its global team in the top 20, including Shen. Here is the top ten, for the full list got to CB Insights:
- Peter Fenton, Benchmark Capital
- Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures
- Chris Sacca, Lowercase Capital
- Joshua Kopelman, First Round Capital
- James Goetz, Sequoia Capital
- Danny Rimer, Index Ventures
- Steve Anderson, Baseline Ventures
- Bill Gurely, Benchmark Capital
- Nanpeng (Neil) Shen, Sequoia Capital (China)
- Scott Sandell, New Enterprise Associates
Photo: TechCrunch