DAG Ventures

DAG Ventures is an American venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California. It is known as a "coattail" fund for co-investing in later-stage private financing rounds alongside more prominent top-tier venture funds such as Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark Capital, and Accel Venture Partners.^[1]

Background

Founded in 2001 as an offshoot of San-Francisco based Duff Ackerman & Goodrich, DAG invests primarily in the fields of energy, information technology, and life sciences.^[2]

Investments

Funds

Like many venture firms, DAG has raised a series of different closed-end funds, each with different money sources and investments. Its third fund of approximately $477 million closed in 2005.^[1]

Portfolio

A partial list of investments includes:

• AdBrite, invested $23 million in 2007.^[3]
• Amyris Biotech, lead $70 million round, 2007^[4]
• Bittorrent, lead investor. DAG eventually negotiated for most of its investment money to be returned.^[5]
• CallVision, an Internet billing and customer relations management site^[2]
• DisplayLink, co-investor, 2009^[6]
• Friendster, lead $10 million round, 2006.^[7][8]
• FireEye, Inc., co-invested with In-Q-Tel, 2009^[9]
• Grouper, a video-sharing site^[2]
• Kosmix, co-invested in 2007^[10]
• Lithium Technologies, co-invested in 2010^[11]
• Matrix Semiconductor^[2]
• Metacafe, co-investor in $30 million round, 2007^[12]
• Mevio, co-investor in $15 million round, 2008^[13]
• Mint.com, lead investor in $14 million round, 2009.^[14][15]
• Oakley Networks^[2]
• oDesk, co-investor^[16]
• OpenX, co-investor in $31 million round, 2009.^[17]
• Plaxo^[2]
• Proofpoint, Inc., leads $28 million round, 2008.^[18]
• Seeking Alpha, $7m as lead investor, November, 2009.^[19]
• Trapeze^[2]
• Xoom, lead investor in $20 million round, 2007^[20]
• Whrrl, co-investor in $7 million round, 2008^[21]
• Yelp, Inc. - invested $15 million in 2008.^[22]
• YuMe, co-investor in follow-on round, 2009.^[23]
• Zimbra^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Matt Marshall (2007-07-02). Venture Beat. http://venturebeat.com/2007/07/02/money-pours-into-venture-funds-but-selectively-dag-accel/. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Matt Marshall (2008-08-12). "DAG “Coattail” Ventures is raising an $800M fund". Venture Beat. http://venturebeat.com/2008/08/12/dag-coattail-ventures-is-raising-an-800m-fund/. 
3. ^ . The Deal. 2007-11-30. DAG Ventures travels well-worn path. 
4. ^ Andrea Quong (2007-09-18). "Amyris Closes in on $70M". Red Herring. http://www.redherring.com/Home/22829. 
5. ^ Tameka Kee (2008-12-15). "BitTorrent Renegotiates Third Round; Takes $10 Million Less Than Before". Paidcontent.org. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/15/AR2008121501838_pf.html. 
6. ^ "DisplayLink gets $8M venture round". Bizjournals.com. 2009-12-09. http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=ACBJ&date=20091209&id=10864607. 
7. ^ "In Search of New Friends". Reuters. 2006-08-22. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2006/08/71633. 
8. ^ Dawn Kawamoto (2006-08-21). "Friendster scoops up $10 million in funding". CNET. http://news.cnet.com/Friendster-scoops-up-10-million-in-funding/2100-1038_3-6107860.html. 
9. ^ J. Nicholas Hoover (2009-11-18). "In-Q-Tel Invests In Cybersecurity Company". Information Week. http://www.informationweek.com/news/government/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=221900133. 
10. ^ Matt Marshall (2007-12-11). "Kosmix riases $10M more for search sites in health, autos, more". Venture Beat. http://venturebeat.com/2007/12/11/kosmix-riases-10m-more-for-search-sites-in-health-autos-more/. 
11. ^ O'Malley, Gavin (January 8, 2010). "Social Media Tools Provider Lithium Raises $18M". MediaPost. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=120339. 
12. ^ Alexandra Berzon (2007-08-21). "How to Brew $30M". Red Herring. http://www.redherring.com/Home/22614. 
13. ^ Joseph Weisenthal (2008-07-09). "Mevio, Formerly PodShow, Raises $15 Million Third Round". Paidcontent.org. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901253_pf.html. 
14. ^ Joseph Tartakoff (2009-08-12). "Mint Raises $14 Million For Its Online Finance Service". Paidcontent.org. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081202954.html. 
15. ^ Vivek (May 23, 2007). "MyMint.com acquires Mint.com; raises $5 million". Startup Squad. http://startupsquad.com/2007/05/23/mymintcom-acquires-mintcom-raises-5-million/. 
16. ^ Patrick Hoge (2009-09-27). "ODesk pulls up a chair for freelancers". San Francisco Business Times. http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/09/28/smallb1.html?b=1254110400^2159911. 
17. ^ Richard Tyler (2009-06-22). "Solid businesses have plenty of fans". London Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/5605573/Solid-businesses-have-plenty-of-fans.html. 
18. ^ "Proofpoint gets $28M in new fundind". San Jose Business Journal. 2008-02-27. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2008/02/25/daily48.html. 
19. ^ Alaska Miller (2009-12-01). "Seeking Alpha Bags $7 Million In Funding". Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/seeking-alpha-sought-7-million-in-funding-2009-12. 
20. ^ Matt Marshall (2007-09-28). "Xoom, money transfer site, raises $20M more". Venture Beat. http://venturebeat.com/2007/09/28/xoom-money-transfer-site-raises-20m-more/. 
21. ^ Tricia Duryee (2008-05-27). Paidcontent.org. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052701326.html title=Pelago Secures $15 Million In Funding For Mobile Social Network On A Map. 
22. ^ David Gelles (2009-12-19). "Google close to deal to buy Yelp". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/25bbbc16-ec3e-11de-8070-00144feab49a.html. 
23. ^ Patrick Hoge (2009-09-04). "Video ad firm YuMe gets $5M". San Francisco Business Times. http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/08/31/daily94.html. 

External links

• dagventures.com - official site