The Venrock Story

In the 1930’s, Laurance Rockefeller pioneered early-stage financing by investing in the entrepreneurs of Eastern Airlines and McDonnell Aircraft. In 1969, Venrock was founded to continue this heritage of investment and building entrepreneur-backed companies, beginning with Intel.

Laurance S. Rockefeller (1910-2004) was the fourth of the six children of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. He became well known as an investor of risk capital in young enterprises whose future was based on scientific and technological developments. Over the years, his investment interests included the fields of aviation, aerospace, electronics, high temperature physics, composite materials, optics, lasers, data processing, thermionics and nuclear power.  Beginning in August 1969, his venture capital investments in these areas were made through a venture capital group, Venrock, formed by members of the Rockefeller family.

Since then, Venrock has developed into one of the country’s premier venture capital firms with offices in Palo Alto, New York, Cambridge, MA and Israel. Venrock entrepreneurs have charted new advancements in cancer, anti-infective and auto-immune therapies, powered semiconductors and the digital era, created top technology innovations, secured our information technology infrastructure, pioneered on-line advertising, delighting consumers, and most recently, are generating power through alternative means.

Venrock continues the eight-decade Rockefeller tradition of funding entrepreneurs and establishing successful, enduring companies. Having invested $2.5 billion in 442 companies resulting in 125 IPOs and 128 M&A exits over the past 41 years, Venrock’s investment returns place it among the top tier venture capital firms that have achieved consistently superior performance.

“If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.”
John D. Rockefeller 

(Visit Venrock's interactive timeline.)