Revolution LLC

Foundation

Revolution LLC was founded in 2005 by Steve Case, a well-known entrepreneur and a co-founder of America Online (AOL), the first Internet company in the world to go public along with Donn Davis and Tige Savage. After negotiating the merger of AOL and Time Warner, a transaction that today remains the largest merger in business history, AOL Time Warner floundered and Case resigned from his post in January 2003, with the merger often cited as one of the worst mergers ever. After leaving the AOL Time Warner board in 2005, Case co-founded venture capital firm, Revolution LLC, where he is the chairman and CEO.

Investment funds

Revolution operates three major investment funds with different focuses.

Revolution Ventures focuses on early-stage technology investments under $10 million. Revolution later announced their "Rise of the Rest" seed fund that included major investors from across multiple industries including Jeff Bezos and the Walton family.

Revolution Growth makes growth-stage investments of $10 million and above, primarily in consumer technology businesses. It was created in 2011 with $450 million of initial capital. It typically invests in two to three new companies per year, mostly on the East Coast of the United States. Its major investments have included Sweetgreen, Bigcommerce, Optoro, Handybook, and PolicyGenius.

Revolution Places makes real estate and hospitality investments, usually between $25 and $50 million. It is usually the majority shareholder in each portfolio company.

Profile investments in the collective Revolution portfolio include Zipcar, LivingSocial, Lolly Wolly Doodle, Waterfront Media, FedBid, Exclusive Resorts, Inspirato, Miraval, SparkPeople, Extend Health, BrainScope, AddThis, BenchPrep, Framebridge, SpareFoot, OrderUp, and Custom Ink.

References

References

1. "Revolution LLC: Private Company Information". BusinessWeek.
2. "Our Story".
3. "Rise of the Rest Seed Fund".
4. "Companies".
5. "Steve Case at IGNITION". BusinessInsider.
6. (2012-01-10). "AOL and Time Warner Announce Merger". New York Times.
7. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/6622875/Final-farewell-to-worst-deal-in-history-AOL-Time-Warner.html Final farewell to worst deal in history - AOL-Time Warner]
8. "Steve Case's Rise of the Rest tour is returning to Louisville".
9. "Revolution Team". Revolution.
10. (5 December 2017). "From Bezos to Walton, Big Investors Back Fund for 'Flyover' Start-Ups". The New York Times.
11. "Steve Case's Revolution Raises $450M Growth Fund". BusinessWeek.
12. (December 2011). "Steve Case Fund". Mashable.
13. Alden, William. (4 December 2014). "Revolution Fund Invests in Sweetgreen Salad Chain". [[The New York Times]].
14. Nassim Khadem. (26 July 2013). "Start-up Bigcommerce gets 'biggest ever' $US40m capital hit from Revolution Growth". [[BRW (magazine).
15. Grant, Rebecca. (17 July 2013). "Revolution Growth Fund invests $23.5M in Optoro to find unwanted goods a home". [[VentureBeat]].
16. Lawler, Ryan. (11 June 2014). "On-Demand Home Services Startup Handybook Raises $30M From Steve Case's Revolution Growth". [[TechCrunch]].
17. Shieber, Jonathan. (15 January 2016). "PolicyGenius Raises $15 Million For Its Online Price Comparison Insurance Brokerage".
18. Marr, Kendra. (2007-08-03). "Revolution Places". Washington Post.
19. (2016-04-21). "SWaN & Legend, NEA, Revolution Ventures invest $9 mln in Framebridge".