Bond Closes Second Fund with $2 Billion in Capital Commitments

Bond, a growth-stage investment firm originating from the Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund in late 2018, has successfully finalized its second fund, securing $2 billion in capital commitments, as confirmed by a firm representative.

This represents a substantial increase compared to the firm’s initial fund, which closed with $1.25 billion in 2019. However, the expansion of the fund’s resources isn’t entirely unexpected given several contributing factors.

Strengthening the Investment Team

The firm, guided by prominent former investment banker Mary Meeker, has been actively expanding its investment capabilities. Initially comprised solely of Kleiner Perkins alumni – including Mood Rowghani, Noah Knauf, Juliet de Baubigny, Daegwon Chae, and Paul Vronksky – Bond recently welcomed Jay Simons to lead its global enterprise practice late last year.

Simons brings considerable experience in business scaling, having previously served as president of Atlassian, a leading provider of business development and collaboration software. Atlassian’s public debut in 2015 valued the company at $4.3 billion, and its current market capitalization approaches $57 billion. Simons joined Atlassian in 2008 as VP of Sales and was promoted to President three years later, remaining in that role for nine years before departing last summer.

A Portfolio of High-Growth Companies

Bond’s investment strategy focuses on backing brands that appeal to institutional investors. The team’s prior investments at Kleiner Perkins included Slack, Uber, Snap, and Waze. Currently, Bond maintains stakes in several other rapidly expanding businesses globally.

These include Byju’s, a major ed tech company based in India, with plans for a public offering within the next one to two years; Revolut, a London-based online bank valued at $5.5 billion and aiming for a traditional U.S. IPO; and Canva, an Australian design platform valued at $6 billion during its last funding round in June of the previous year.

Favorable Market Conditions

A significant factor in Bond’s fundraising success is the substantial capital currently available in the market, demonstrating a strong appetite for late-stage investments, particularly in companies entering the public market with high valuations.

For instance, Nextdoor, a portfolio company of Bond, was last privately valued at $2.2 billion in 2019. Bloomberg reports that the company, having raised $470 million in total, began exploring public offering options several months ago, with a potential valuation between $4 billion and $5 billion.

Investment Activity with the First Fund

Bond utilized its first fund to invest in approximately 20 companies. A recent investment includes Locus Robotics, a Wilmington, Massachusetts-based company specializing in autonomous mobile robots for warehouses. Locus Robotics secured $150 million in Series E funding last month at a post-money valuation of $1 billion, co-led by Tiger Global Management and Bond.

According to a report in The Information from December, Bond also spearheaded the latest funding round for Ironclad, a software developer providing contract management solutions for companies like Dropbox and MasterCard. Bond led a Series D round of at least $100 million, resulting in a post-investment valuation exceeding $950 million – more than double its valuation from late 2019.

Note: An earlier version of this article, titled “Mary Meeker’s Bond is closing on $2 billion,” was based on an SEC filing processed yesterday. Confirmation of the fund’s closure was received from the firm today (Thursday).

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