Maveron is a venture capital

Venture capital

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

 firm with offices in Seattle and San Francisco that invests in consumer-focused businesses. The firm was founded by Dan Levitan, a former managing director at Schroder Wertheim & Co., and Starbucks

Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

 CEO Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz

Howard Schultz is an American business magnate. He is the best known as the chairman and CEO of Starbucks and a former owner of the Seattle SuperSonics...

.

Maveron has funded many recognizable consumer brands, including eBay

EBay

eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

, Drugstore.com

Drugstore.com

Drugstore.com is an Internet retailer in health and beauty care products headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Its web operations were launched on February 24, 1999....

, Lucy Activewear, Pinkberry

Pinkberry

Pinkberry is a franchise of upscale frozen dessert restaurants headquartered in Los Angeles, California. There are currently over 100 stores, mostly located in Southern California, 14 in New York City, New York, two in New Orleans, Louisiana, two in Denver, Colorado, one in Colorado Springs,...

, Potbelly Sandwich Works

Potbelly Sandwich Works

Potbelly Sandwich Works is a privately held restaurant chain that sells submarine sandwiches in the United States. Its name is derived from potbelly stoves common in the late 19th century. The company is headquartered in the tower of the Merchandise Mart in the Near North Side, Chicago,...

, Cranium, and Shutterfly

Shutterfly

Shutterfly is an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly's flagship product is its photo book line. It is based in Redwood City, California.-Features:...

. Some of Maveron’s newest investments include NextFoods, maker of GoodBelly probiotic fruit juice; Altius Education, which works with academic institutions to create online university programs; Trupanion; and Zulily, a private sale site offering daily deals for moms, babies and kids.

History

In 1991, Schultz chose Levitan to implement Starbucks’ IPO, and a friendship quickly developed. By 1993, Levitan and Schultz began investing together in several consumer businesses. In 1997, Levitan decided to leave New York and head west to Seattle to start Maveron with Schultz. The firm opened its doors in January 1998. Maveron's name is a combination of "maverick" and "vision".

Exits

Monetized exits include: eBay

EBay

eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

, Capella Education Company

Capella Education Company

Capella Education Company is an education services holding company which owns for-profit, online Capella University and other assets.What is now the Capella Education Company was founded in 1991 by Stephen Shank, former CEO of Tonka Corporation. In 1993, it opened The Graduate School of America...

, Shutterfly

Shutterfly

Shutterfly is an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly's flagship product is its photo book line. It is based in Redwood City, California.-Features:...

, Cranium (acquired by Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

), Qsent (acquired by TransUnion

TransUnion

TransUnion is the third largest credit bureau in the United States, which offers credit-related information to potential creditors. Like major competitors Equifax and Experian, TransUnion markets credit reports directly to consumers.- History :...

), Quellos (acquired by Blackrock

Blackrock

Blackrock is a suburb of Dublin in County Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, Ireland. It is northwest of Dún Laoghaire.-Location and access:Blackrock covers a large but not precisely defined area, rising from sea level on the coast to at White's Cross on the N11 national primary road. Blackrock is bordered...

), Good Technology (acquired by Motorola

Motorola

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...

), Lucy Activewear (acquired by VF Corporation), and AuctionPay (acquired by Global Payments

Global Payments

Global Payments Inc. is a payment processing company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Global Payments functions as an electronic payment processor to merchants, independent sales organizations, financial institutions, government agencies and multinational corporations in the United States, Canada, Latin...

).