Norwest Venture Partners traces its roots to 1961, when it was founded as the Northwest Growth Fund, the venture arm of a Minneapolis bank holding company that would eventually become Wells Fargo after a 1998 merger. That corporate lineage gives Norwest an unusual structure among major venture firms: Wells Fargo has remained its primary limited partner for more than six decades, providing a level of capital stability few firms can match. Senior Managing Partner Jeff Crowe, who joined in 2004 after founding and running his own venture-backed software company through an IPO, has led the firm's most prominent recent bets, including being the largest institutional investor in Lending Club's 2014 IPO and backing Spotify ahead of its 2018 public listing.
Spotify's 2018 direct listing on the NYSE - one of several major exits, including Lending Club's 2014 IPO, where Norwest was the largest institutional investor