Who is the Goldman Sachs of Venture Capital?

[markxw]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 30 December 2009 at 14:14

[walm]

markxw said:

Hey guys,

im thinking of a change in direction as a financial analyst, possibly towards venture cap. I have a good idea who some of the bigger players are in the field, but have no real grasp of which firms are best regarded within the profession. So, for example, 3i. Know theyre big, know who they are, but don't know if they're closer to the GS or Bear Stearns end of the scale, if you know what i mean...

If I'm going to switch, guess it makes sense to try and get in with the best people to start with, having benefited from such so far within traditional investment banking...

I know, by the way, that GS and suchlike are already involved in mega PE deals, but im thinking about the smaller VC startup/MBO/MBI kind of stuff...

Any views greatly appreciated

You probably want to know the difference between Venture Capital and Private Equity before you start to apply for jobs (it's a grey line but with fundamental differences). VC tends to be smaller shops. Off the top of my head and IMHO some of the big dogs/Goldman-type are:

VC:
Kleiner Perkins
3i

PE:
KKR
TPG
Carlyle Group
Apax Partners
Blackstone
Bain Cap
BC Partners
CVC
Cinven
Terra Firma