After nearly 12 years as a venture capitalist, Jeff Jordan has decided to move on.
In a blog post Friday, the Andressen Horowitz general partner said he's going to step back from active investing. He plans to stay engaged with the various companies he's invested in and remain on the boards of companies such as Airbnb Inc. and Pinterest Inc., but he won't be playing a role as the Menlo Park firm raises and invests new funds, he said.
After serving as a top executive or CEO at companies including OpenTable Inc. and eBay Inc., Jordan became an investor, because he felt he no longer was learning as much as an executive and wanted a new challenge, he said. He's recently come to feel the same way about investing.
"Alas, the learning curve has again started to shallow," he said. Andreessen, also known as a16z, "is at the top of its game right now, which is why I feel permission to start thinking about the next chapter of my career."
Jordan, who led a16z's investments in companies including Instacart — legally, Maplebear Inc. — Airbnb and Incredible Health Inc., according to PitchBook Data — didn't say what he plans to do next. But the 64-year-old indicated he doesn't intend to retire.
"While this may seem like an ending, I hope it's a new beginning for me," Jordan said in his post. "I'm not the retiring type," he continued, "I'm ready for my next challenge — bring it on!"
Here's more local startup and investor news at the end of the week:
Funding rounds
- Instawork (legally, Garuda Labs Inc.) San Francisco, $60 million, Series D: TCV led the round for this provider of a job listing board for part-time hourly service workers. 9Yards Capital, Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock and former NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. also invested.
- Lumeus.ai (legally, Okulis Inc.), San Jose, $6 million, seed: Tola Capital led the round for this provider of a networking security service. Emergent Ventures and First Rays Ventures also participated.
- Planera Inc., San Jose, $5.4 million, seed: Sorenson Ventures and Firebolt Ventures invested in the $5.4 million seed round for this provider of collaborative construction planning and scheduling software.
- SapientAI LLC, Mountain View, $5 million, seed: 8VC, Correlation Ventures and GTMfund invested in this provider of a software code testing service.
- Tangible Materials Inc. (dba Tangible), San Francisco $3 million, seed: Foundamental and Fifty Years led the round for this developer of a marketplace for finding and evaluating the carbon impact of building materials. Redstone Built World Fund, Deco Ventures, Pi Labs and Asymmetric also invested.
Business Journal contributor Anthony Duignan-Cabrera contributed to this report. If you have funding or venture capital news, please let us know at svbjnews@bizjournals.com.
