VC投資的五個階段(對應投資公司的發展):
The Seed stage、seed funding (種子期)
The Start-up stage、early stage (初創期)
The Second stage、growth stage (成長期)
The Third stage、expansion (擴張期)
The Bridge/Pre-public stage (成熟期)
Top 5 “Early-Stage” Firms in US
Andreessen Horowitz (投資Facebook, Groupon, Twitter and Zynga)
New Enterprise Associates (投資Coursera, Groupon, TiVo, WebMD)
Google Ventures (投資 Uber)
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (投資AOL, Amazon, Netscape, Google)
Lightspeed Venture Partners (投資 Nicira acquired by VMware, Playdom acquired by Disney, TimesTen acquired by Oracle)
著名的創投有美國的紅杉資本(Sequoia Capital,主要投資美國的 early & seed stage,以及其他國際的growth stage公司)、 日本的軟銀(Softbank,科技電信類early stage)、 大陸的IDG資本(start up & growth stage)跟鼎暉投資等,台灣最大的則是華威創投。