Venture Capital Example: Top Co-Investments Compared

Facebook acquired the company in 2014 — that shows how funds, founders and co-investors create and distribute returns. This guide compares ten such venture capital example cases across stages, sectors and geographies.

Key Takeaways

• A venture capital example is only useful if you know the entry stage, ownership percentage and exit route – headline multiples hide all three.
• The best-known examples (WhatsApp, Facebook, Airbnb, Stripe) are outliers and not benchmarks; the median venture outcomes are much more modest.
• The economics of co-investment differs from fund economics: no management fees, no carry to the lead, but also no diversification and no follow-on obligation.
• Access to Swiss, Italian, European, US and Israeli deals each carries distinct legal, tax and currency considerations for family offices.
• Comparing examples by sector (ICT/software vs deep tech vs consumer) is more important than comparing them by brand name.
• Diligence on the lead investor’s track record and alignment is generally more predictive than diligence on the company’s pitch deck.

What Makes a Venture Capital Example Actually Useful

Venture capital examples constantly circulate in pitch decks and family office memos, but most are devoid of details that determine whether an investor would have made money. A useful example reveals four elements: the valuation or entry stage, the amount invested, the stake acquired by the investment, and the exit mechanism and schedule. Without these four data points, “10x return” is a marketing claim rather than an analytical one.

The scene matters the most. A seed-stage entry into a company that has gone on to raise five rounds will be significantly diluted upon exit – often to a fraction of the original ownership.

A Series C entry into the same company at a higher price may produce a smaller multiple but a much higher probability of return. When you read that a fund “turned $8 million into $3.5 billion” with WhatsApp, the relevant context is that Sequoia initially invested in 2011 (reportedly at around $8 million for a stake then diluted to around 15% before the acquisition), and Facebook’s acquisition in 2014 valued the company at around $19 billion. The multiple is real; replicability is not.

Sector also shapes the comparison. Software and ICT businesses scale with low marginal cost, which is why they dominate the famous examples. Deep tech, biotech and hardware examples follow different timelines and capital intensity, and a family office comparing a SaaS co-investment to a semiconductor co-investment is comparing two different asset classes wearing the same label.

Ten Venture Capital Examples Compared

The table below compares ten widely cited examples of venture capital. The figures are taken from public reports and company disclosures; when a specific figure is not publicly confirmed, the input is described qualitatively rather than estimated.

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Company	Lead / Notable Investor	Entry Stage	Sector	Exit / Outcome	Why It’s Cited
WhatsApp	Sequoia Capital	Seed (2011)	Consumer messaging	Acquired by Facebook, 2014 (~$19B)	Extreme seed-to-exit multiple
Facebook (Meta)	Accel Partners	Series A (2005)	Social / advertising	IPO 2012	Defines the social-era playbook
Airbnb	Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz	Seed / Series A	Marketplace	IPO 2020	Marketplace network effects
Stripe	Sequoia, Thrive, General Catalyst	Seed / Series A	Fintech infrastructure	Private, valued in the tens of billions	Developer-led fintech scaling
Google	Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia	Series A (1999)	Search / advertising	IPO 2004	Classic Sand Hill Road outcome
Apple	Arthur Rock, Mike Markkula	Early angel (1977)	Hardware / consumer	IPO 1980	Angel-stage example
Genentech	Kleiner Perkins	Series A (1976)	Biotech	IPO 1980	First biotech VC landmark
Wiz	Index, Sequoia, Insight	Series A onward	Cloud security	Acquired by Google (announced 2024)	Fastest large-scale cybersecurity exit
Mobileye	Various	Growth	Automotive tech / Israel	IPO 2014, later acquired by Intel	Israeli ecosystem flagship
Checkout.com	Various	Growth	Payments	Private	European fintech scaling

Two patterns stand out. First, the majority of famous venture capital example cases are domiciled in the United States, reflecting the depth of the American venture market rather than the absence of opportunities elsewhere. Second, the entry phase is concentrated at the seed and Series A level – the point at which risk is highest and information available to external investors is thinnest. It is precisely at this stage that access to co-investment is most difficult to obtain, as the lead investors guard the allocation.

How Co-Investment Changes the Comparison

Direct co-investment – ​​the model U-Start advises on – produces different economic results from the examples above, and the difference is worth clearly stating. In a fund, an investor pays a management fee (usually around 2% per year) and returns a share of the profits to the general partner (usually around 20%).

In a co-investment, the investor generally pays neither, but invests alongside the lead at the same price and under the same terms. The trade-off is that the investor benefits from no diversification in the fund’s portfolio, no default pro rata follow-on rights, and no obligation (or ability) to support the company in subsequent rounds.

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For a family office, this changes the question of comparison. Instead of asking “which venture capital example had the best return,” the essential question becomes “which lead investor, in which sector, at what stage, will give me an allocation at a price I can defend.” A Series B co-investment led by a top quartile fund is a different proposition than a Series A co-investment led by an unproven manager, even if the company looks identical on paper.

Three criteria distinguish strong co-investment opportunities from weak ones:

1. Lead Investor Alignment. Does the lead have meaningful skin in the game and a track record of supporting portfolio companies during economic downturns?
2. Information Rights. Will the co-investor receive the same reporting that the lead receives, or a diluted summary?
3. Visibility of exit path. Is there a credible path to liquidity (acquisition, IPO, secondary) within a time frame that the investor’s mandate can tolerate?

Regional Access: Switzerland, Italy, Europe, the US and Israel

Geography shapes both the flow of transactions and the legal envelope that surrounds it. Switzerland offers a stable regulatory environment, a deep private banking infrastructure and a strong foundation in life sciences and fintech, but a relatively small domestic venture capital market – Swiss family offices frequently co-invest in US and Israeli deals through Swiss or Luxembourg holding structures. The Italian venture capital ecosystem has grown around Milan and Turin, with growing activity in software and industrial technology, although deal sizes remain smaller than their US or UK equivalents and exit routes often involve acquisition by a larger European or US acquirer.

Europe as a whole – Germany, France, the Nordics and the UK – offers the largest non-US ICT deal pool, with established fund managers and a maturing secondary market. The United States remains the largest source of deal flow and exit liquidity, which is why most family office portfolios overweight it despite currency and tax complexity. Israel is disproportionately strong in cybersecurity, enterprise software and semiconductors relative to its size, and Israeli companies frequently list on Nasdaq or are acquired by American technology buyers – a venture capital example trend visible in the cases of Mobileye and Wiz above.

For a private investor, the practical implication is that regional diversification is not just a risk management choice but an access choice: the deals available to you depend on the networks and advisory relationships you hold in each market.

How to Evaluate a Venture Capital Example Before You Invest

Reading examples is easy; underwriting them is not. A disciplined process looks like this:

Related: Carta — Cap table, valuations and fund administration in one platform..

Step 1 — Reconstruct the cap table. Ask for the fully diluted ownership at entry and model dilution through two or three future rounds. A stake that looks meaningful today can halve before exit.

Step 2 — Stress Test the Exit. Identify the realistic acquirer set or IPO window. If the only way out is “a strategic buyer,” ask yourself which strategic companies have purchased comparable companies in the past three years.

Step 3 — Check the lead’s follow-on behaviour. A lead that has historically abandoned portfolio companies in down rounds is a different partner than one that has consistently supported them.

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Step 4 — Model the downside. Assume the company fails or exits at a modest multiple. Does the loss fit within the investor’s overall allocation to venture?

Step 5 — Confirm legal and tax packaging. Cross-border co-investment raises withholding tax, permanent establishment and reporting issues that need to be resolved before signing, not after.

The examples that dominate headlines are survivorship bias in its purest form. A portfolio built only from the WhatsApps and Stripes of the world is not a strategy; it is a lottery ticket with good branding.

Sources & Further Reading

• Venture capital — Wikipedia: Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have…

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good example of venture capital?

A widely cited venture capital example is Sequoia Capital’s seed investment in WhatsApp, acquired by Facebook in 2014 for approximately $19 billion. Other frequently cited examples include Accel Partners’ Series A investment in Facebook, Kleiner Perkins’ early backing of Google and Genentech, and Sequoia’s seed investment in Airbnb. The best example for your needs depends on what stage, sector, and geography you can actually access.

What is the difference between venture capital and private equity?

Venture capital invests in early-stage, high-growth companies with limited operating history, typically taking minority stakes and accepting high failure rates in exchange for the possibility of outsized returns. Private equity generally invests in mature, cash-generating businesses, often taking control positions and using leverage. The risk profile, holding period and return distribution differ substantially between the two.

Can individual investors participate in venture capital deals?

Individual investors and family offices can participate via fund commitments, direct investments or co-investments alongside a lead fund. Co-investing is often the most capital efficient route, as it generally avoids management fees and carried interest, but it requires access to deal flow and the ability to conduct independent diligence. Regulatory eligibility rules vary by jurisdiction, so local guidance is essential.

How long does a venture capital investment usually take to return capital?

Venture capital investments typically take seven to ten years to reach liquidity, although results vary widely. Early-stage positions may take longer, while growth-stage co-investments may be liquidated more quickly in the event of an acquisition or IPO. Investors should plan for illiquidity and avoid committing capital they may need in the short term.

What are the biggest risks in venture capital co-investment?

The main risks are concentration (a single company rather than a diversified fund), limited information rights in relation to the lead investor, no pro-rata follow-on by default and illiquidity. Dilution in later rounds and the possibility of a down exit also affect returns. Diligence into the lead investor’s track record is often the most reliable means of risk mitigation.

Which sectors produce the strongest venture capital examples?

Software, Internet and ICT are the most cited examples because they scale with low marginal cost. Cybersecurity, fintech infrastructure and enterprise software are currently among the most active areas, particularly in Israel and the United States. Biotechnology and deep technology also produce strong results, but with longer timelines and higher capital intensity.

Where This Leaves a Private Investor

Venture capital examples are more valuable as teaching tools than as forecasts. The stories of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Stripe illustrate what the top of the return distribution looks like; they say nothing about the median deal a family office will see.

The practical work is ensuring access to well-led deals at defensible prices, structuring them correctly across jurisdictions, and maintaining them long enough for the outcome to materialize. U-Start advises family offices and private investors precisely in this area: sourcing, screening and structuring direct co-investments in technology and ICT in Switzerland, Italy, Europe, the United States and Israel.

P.S. A few readers have asked which research & data we actually reach for — it's PitchBook; take a look here if you want the current details.