Matt Cohler

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Matt Cohler
Matt Cohler.jpg
Matt Cohler, January 2008
BornMarch 27, 1977 (1977-03-27) (age 43)
New York City, US
Alma materYale University
OccupationVenture Capitalist
EmployerGeneral Partner at Benchmark
Known forFormer VP of Product Management, Facebook
Net worthUS$700 million (2015)[1]
Spouse(s)Pia Pernille Øien Cohler

Matt Cohler (born March 27, 1977) is an American venture capitalist. He worked as Vice President of Product Management for Facebook until June 2008[2] and was formerly a general partner at Benchmark.[3][4][5] Cohler has been named to the Forbes Midas List of top technology investors[6] and in 2019 was named to the New York Times and CB Insights list of top 10 venture capital investors.[7] Cohler made the Forbes 'America's 40 Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40' list in 2015.[8]

Education and early career[edit]

Cohler earned a B.A. with honors and distinction in music from Yale University.[9]

Early in his career, Cohler worked in China and was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.[10] He befriended Reid Hoffman and went on to become a founding member of Hoffman's startup LinkedIn.[11] Cohler was vice president and general manager at LinkedIn[12] and was considered CEO Hoffman's right-hand man.[13]

Cohler was one of the first five employees hired at Facebook.[2] He was Facebook's vice president of product management and worked with the team during many of its critical growth phases. He continued to act as a "special advisor" to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.[14] In 2008, he left Facebook and became the youngest general partner at Benchmark.[10]

Benchmark[edit]

At Benchmark, Cohler has backed the firm’s investments in Dropbox, Asana, Quora, Greenhouse,[15] Domo, Tinder,[16] Duo Security, DeepL, Edmodo, ResearchGate, 1stdibs, Peixe Urbano, CouchSurfing, Baixing, and Zendesk.[17][18] In 2011, he led a $7 million round of funding for Instagram,[19] which agreed in April 2012 to be acquired by Facebook for $1 billion.[20] In March 2014, Cohler led Benchmark's investment in Xapo, a Bitcoin wallet/insured cold storage vault.[21][22]

Cohler sits on the boards of Asana, Quora,[23] ResearchGate,[24] and 1stdibs.

In 2018, it was announced that Cohler would "step back" from Benchmark and not be a part of their next fund. Although he departed the Benchmark fund, he was expected to continue to hold his board seats, including at Uber.[25][3] Cohler later left the Uber board in July of 2019, at the same time as Arianna Huffington.[26]

Additional affiliations[edit]

Cohler is vice president of the San Francisco Symphony board of governors,[27][28] board trustee at Environmental Defense Fund,[29] and a member of the endowment investment committees at Chan Zuckerberg Initiative[30] and the Yale Investments Office.[31]

Politics[edit]

In April 2013, a lobbying group called FWD.us (aimed at lobbying for immigration reform and improvements to education) was launched, with Cohler listed as one of the founders.[32]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://www.forbes.com/profile/matt-cohler/
  2. ^ a b Ha, Anthony (June 19, 2008). "Facebook's Matt Cohler leaves for Benchmark Capital". VentureBeat. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Bill Gurley is stepping away from an active role at Benchmark, 21 years after joining the firm". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  4. ^ Kincaid, J. (October 29, 2008). "VCs Speak on the Economic Downturn: Batten Down the Hatches", TechCrunch.
  5. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (2018-10-01). "One of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley, Matt Cohler, will step back at Benchmark". Vox. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  6. ^ "#68 Matt Cohler". The Midas List Tech's Top Investors. Forbes. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  7. ^ Griffith, Erin (2019-03-31). "These Silicon Valley Investors' Bets May Pay Off (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  8. ^ "America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40". Forbes. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  9. ^ Tsotsis, Alexia (25 July 2012). "Path's Dave Morin And Benchmark Capital's Matt Cohler Will Join Us At Disrupt SF!". TechCrunch. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  10. ^ a b Swisher, Kara (June 19, 2008). "Facebook's Matt Cohler to Benchmark". AllThings D. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  11. ^ Sengupta, Somini (9 May 2012). "A Circle of Tech: Collect Payout, Do a Start-Up". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  12. ^ Matt Cohler at Crunchbase. Retrieved on 2009-30-04.
  13. ^ Kirkpatrick, David. The Facebook Effect. p. 105.
  14. ^ Ante, Spencer (June 19, 2008). "Big Loss: Matt Cohler Leaves Facebook". Businessweek. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  15. ^ Constine, Josh. "Greenhouse Rakes In $13.6M B From Benchmark To Save You From Recruiting Hell". www.techcrunch.com. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  16. ^ Swisher, Kara (2014-10-28). "Sweat Equity: Benchmark Takes Stake in Tinder in Exchange for Matt Cohler Joining Board". Vox. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  17. ^ Bort, Julie (9 April 2012). "The "Facebook Mafia" Is On The Rise In Silicon Valley". News. Business Insider. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  18. ^ Lawler, Ryan (22 September 2014). "Two-Factor Authentication Startup Duo Security Raises $12 Million From Benchmark". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  19. ^ McCarthy, Caroline (2 February 2011). "Path, Instagram, and what the 'Facebook mafia' sees". CNET. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  20. ^ Levy, Ari (27 April 2012). "Benchmark Capital Scores With Instagram, Demandforce and IPOs". Bloomberg. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  21. ^ Saitto, Serena (14 March 2014). "Benchmark Backs Bitcoin Secure Storage Provider Xapo". Bloomberg. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  22. ^ "Introducing Xapo". Blog post. Xapo Blog. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  23. ^ Arrington, Michael (28 March 2010). "Quora Has The Magic: Benchmark Invests at $86 Million Valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  24. ^ Arrington, Michael (8 September 2010). "Benchmark And Accel Partners Reach Across The Atlantic To Fund ResearchGATE". TechCrunch. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  25. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (2018-10-01). "One of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley, Matt Cohler, will step back at Benchmark". Vox. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  26. ^ Feiner, Lauren (2019-07-24). "Uber loses two more board members: Arianna Huffington and Matt Cohler". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  27. ^ "Board of Governors". Board & Staff. San Francisco Symphony. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  28. ^ Cooper, Michael (2018-12-05). "San Francisco Symphony Lands a Disrupter: Esa-Pekka Salonen (Published 2018)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  29. ^ "Board of trustees". Environmental Defense Fund. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  30. ^ "David Lee Named Chief Investment Officer for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative". Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  31. ^ "The Investment Committee". Yale Investments Office. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  32. ^ "Our supporters". FWD.us. Archived from the original on 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2013-04-17.

External links[edit]

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