We’re guided by our People First philosophy and are proud to have served as inception and early investors to over 550 companies leading to 120 IPOs and over 225 M&As. Our investment team operates from a shared set of beliefs and partners for the long term with entrepreneurs pursuing big ideas. We invest in new companies at the inception and early stages, primarily Seed, Series A, and Series B. We have raised 20 U.S. funds over our history and currently have $3 billion under management. Everything we do is guided by a set of operating principles and values we call The Mayfield Way, which has six core tenets:
Every investing partner has been a founder and walked in the shoes of the founders we serve. We have navigated through prior downturns since 2000. As a result, People First is not just a motto for us. We are a loyal, empathetic partner from inception to iconic as the first in and last out investor who is always striving to watch the founder’s back and act as their safety net. Our founders show their appreciation for us standing by them by returning to work with us again and again and referring other entrepreneurs to us.
Vision
We invest in and champion entrepreneurs building iconic companies
Mission
To build a lasting top-tier early stage venture firm, focused on people and inspired by continuous learning
Beliefs
It took unwavering focus to stick to our roots in early stage investing during the bull market of the last decade. Mega funds were being raised and invested at a breakneck pace (even virtually during Covid) in companies with stratospheric valuations. But we followed our own North Star and remained dedicated to partnering with inception and early stage founders at a measured pace.
Nurturing early stage companies is a craft that we have honed at Mayfield. We commit funds in new investments every 3.5-4 years and invest in approximately 10 companies per year. We are roll-up-our-sleeves board members who help on leadership, strategy, product iteration, go-to-market, and follow-on financings. Our founders have access to anyone on our team, not just their board members. Our founder amplification team provides critical support in recruitment, accelerating product-market fit for customer adoption and amplifying narratives for story-market fit. In our model, every company counts and our founders become members of a vibrant and generous community of fellow founders.
Our investors are domain experts who focus on specific practice areas, but our culture is collaborative and one of continuous learning. Our core team has worked together for the better part of a decade. We have a unique collective intelligence approach, whereby at least two investing partners collaborate on the due diligence to thoroughly evaluate a potential investment. This leverages complementary skills and creates a natural team which can partner on advising the company later if it becomes a portfolio investment. Once the two investing partners build conviction, they make a recommendation to the entire investment team which makes a final decision on new investments.
We pursue a themes-based investment approach and bring both a prepared and open mind to investing. This allows us to identify companies that are both able to leverage current trends and be ready for future trends as they emerge. Some themes we have been investing in over the past few years include AI, Cognition-as-a-Service (CaaS), the data economy, the developer-first era, the renaissance of semiconductors, cybersecurity, deeptech, and human health.
We believe that with privilege comes responsibility. We have a long tradition of philanthropy through which we support organizations that address DEI, health, hunger and education. In 2020, we expanded this work to pioneer a conversation around Conscious Capital, to lead with empathy and build business for a better world rather than for business as usual. We pledged 1% of our management fee and carry every year, which can amount to millions of dollars, to support this effort. We launched an Access for All program, under which we affiliated with leading community organizations to address systemic barriers to opportunity.
Philanthropy is a core part of Mayfield’s DNA. We have pledged 1% of our management fee and carry every year, which can amount to millions of dollars, to causes that support education, diversity, equity, inclusion, health, and food security. Through our Access for All Program, we have affiliated with leading community organizations to address systemic barriers to opportunity. Starting 2020, we also expanded this work to pioneer a conversation around Conscious Capital, to lead with empathy and build business for a better world rather than for business as usual.
Given the state of our world today, we believe that to support human and planetary evolution, we need to adapt as an industry to become conscious capitalists, building business for better rather than for business as usual. For Mayfield, the five pillars of conscious capital represent:
