Menlo Ventures was founded in 1976 by H. DuBose Montgomery in Menlo Park, making it one of the oldest continuously active venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. The firm spent much of its history investing primarily in enterprise technology before shifting toward a more even split between consumer and enterprise bets by the 2010s. That range paid off in 2011, when partner Shawn Carolan led Menlo's $32 million Series B investment in Uber - a deal a16z had walked away from - valuing the fledgling ride-hailing startup at just $322 million. The bet became one of the most lucrative in the firm's history when a SoftBank-led investor group purchased roughly half of Menlo's Uber shares in 2018 for $973 million, a 93x return.
Uber's 2019 IPO - Menlo led the company's $32 million Series B in 2011 after a16z passed on the deal, and realized a 93x return when a SoftBank-led group bought part of its stake for $973 million in 2018