CRV, formerly Charles River Ventures, is an American venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in technology. The firm was founded in 1970 to commercialize research that came out of MIT. Its name comes from the Boston area Charles River.
History Charles River Ventures was established in 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts. Dick Burnes, founder of Teradyne, helped found the firm.
By the early 2000s, the firm opened an office in Silicon Valley.
The firm has raised over $4.3 billion since inception across 18 funds. Upon closing of the 16th fund, the firm rebranded to CRV. Prior to that, CRV's 15th fund closed in February 2012 with $375 million of investor commitments.Charles River Raises A $375M Fifteenth Fund For Early Stage Investing. peHUB, February 28, 2012 CRV's 14th fund raised $320 million of commitments.Charles River Ventures Raises $320 Million For Its Fourteenth Fund. TechCrunch, March 30, 2009
In 2013, it invested $15 million in Pebble Technology, which was credited as the primary reason why Pebble was acquired by Fitbit in December 2016. This netted CRV a $40 million return.
In 2024, CRV returned 275 million dollars from the 500 million it had raised in its current fund back to investors, stating that their focus would shift away from late-stage investments and toward the early stage.
Among CRV's portfolio companies are Aveksa, DoorDash, mabl, OneLogin, Stella, Sybase,Sybase President Gains The Confidence of Apple. The New York Times, August 25, 1987 Yammer, and Zendesk.
References
External links
Venture Firm Is Giving Loans a Try. The New York Times, November 1, 2006 Why Venture Funds Don't Want Your Cash. The New York Times, July 12, 2004