In the world of Silicon Valley private equity, Elevation Partners has long stood out. It has a rock star among its founding partners, for a start.
It also takes big, hairy bets. You need a strong stomach to plough $460m into Palm. At last count that investment had roughly doubled in value, though Palm is still a long way from the finish line.
It’s equally hard to pass final judgment on some of its other big bets. A $300m-plus investment in games studios BioWare and Pandemic produced a 2X return within two years, though chunky investments in Forbes and internet real estate company Move look much tougher sledding.
Still, this week’s news of the first addition to the Elevation parternship in five years is a sign that it is now getting ready for round two.
Rajiv Dutta (pictured) is a former close ally of Meg Whitman. After serving as eBay’s chief financial officer he had stints running all three of the company’s main businesses – Skype, PayPal and marketplaces – before eventually losing out in the management shake-up that saw John Donahoe rise to the top.
Dutta credits a strong personal connection with Elevation partner (and former Apple CFO) Fred Anderson for his move to the firm. Anderson sat on eBay’s board, and chaired its audit committee, while Dutta was the CFO.
His arrival is a clear expression of intent.
We hear that, with some three quarters of Elevation’s first fund already invested, a second fund is now in the offing. That will make it one of the first big tests for private equity fund-raising in the tech world since the bust.
