Kevin Harvey (venture capitalist)
Kevin Harvey | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sunnyvale, California, U.S. |
| Education | Rice University |
| Occupation | Venture capitalist |
| Employer | General Partner at Benchmark |
Kevin R. Harvey is an American businessperson and venture capitalist. He is a founder and general partner at Benchmark Capital.
As a software entrepreneur, he founded companies such as StyleWare and Approach Software in the 1990s and was recognized for it.[1]
Harvey is also known for founding Rhys Vineyards and its offshoot Aeris.
Harvey was ranked No. 27 on the 2011 Forbes' Midas List[2] and was No. 59 in 2012.[3]
Early life and education
Harvey was born in Sunnyvale, California and spent his early life in Texas.[4]
For his college education, Harvey attended Rice University and graduated with a BS degree in electrical engineering in 1987.[5][6]
Career
The first company Harvey founded was StyleWare, a software company which was based in Houston and was a publisher of more than ten software products, including Multiscribe.[7] In 1988, Claris Corporation, a subsidiary of Apple, acquired the company.[7] After the purchase, the Styleware continued to develop it as ClarisWorks.
Harvey founded Approach Software and was its president.[8] He led the development of the first end-user client/server database for Microsoft Windows. Lotus Development acquired Approach Software in 1993.[8]
Benchmark Capital
Harvey co-founded Benchmark Capital in 1995.[9] The firm has invested in multiple companies, including eBay, OpenTable, Snapchat, Twitter and Uber. Some companies have gone to complete successful IPOs, including Red Hat and Proofpoint.[10]
As a general partner at Benchmark Capital, Harvey also led the firm's investments in such companies as BOKU, Bytemobile (now part of Citrix Systems), CollabNet, CloudPassage, Eucalyptus Systems (acquired by HP), Highlight (acquired by Pinterest), Ingenio (acquired by AT&T), Metaweb (acquired by Google), MySQL, oDesk, oFoto (acquired by Kodak), RemarQ Communities (acquired by Critical Path, Inc.), RightScale, Tellme Networks (acquired by Microsoft), When.com (acquired by America Online), Zimbra (acquired by Yahoo!), and Minerva University.[6]
Wine
In 1995, Harvey began his wine project planting vines in his backyard and making wine in his garage.[1][11] This lead him to become the founder of Rhys Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where he had his first harvest in 2004.[11][4]
Rhys Vineyards has produced award-winning wines.[4] Antonio Galloni, a wine critic, has called it, "one of the finest wineries in the United States." [12]
Rhys Vineyards has developed eight estate vineyards. Six of these, including Alpine, Family Farm, Home, Horseshoe, Mount Pajaro and Skyline, are located in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA.[9] Two more vineyards, Bearwallow and Clarke Ranch, are located in Mendocino County.[9]
In August 2019, Kevin Harvey agreed to pay $3.76 million in penalties after his company bulldozed a protected wetland and filled in a stream bed to build a vineyard in Mendocino County. This settlement represents one of the largest ever involving water quality on the North Coast. The damage to the stream is so extreme that regulators determined the stream system to be beyond saving, and large portion of the fine will go towards improving two other nearby stream systems.[13]
Rhys Vineyards has also developed a ninth estate vineyard, Centennial Mountain, devoted to Italian grape varieties.[14] These wines are sold under the Aeris label.[15] As part of this project, the Aeris team brought in two Sicilian grape varieties, Carricante and Nerello Mascalese, that are not known to have been grown in California prior.[16] The San Francisco Chronicle has described Carricante as "The best white wine you have never tasted".[14] Aeris also owns two vineyards in Sicily and these wines are also sold under the Aeris label.[16]
References
- 1 2 "A new geography for Santa Cruz Mountains wine". SFGATE. July 17, 2011. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "#27 Kevin Harvey". The Midas List Tech's Top Investors. Forbes. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
- ↑ "#59 Benchmark Capital". The Midas List Tech's Top Investors. Forbes. Archived from the original on August 20, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
- 1 2 3 "Venture capitalist pursues perfect pinot noir high atop San Mateo County". The Mercury News. October 29, 2010. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
- 1 2 "Kevin R Harvey, Benchmark Capital: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- 1 2 "Kevin Harvey". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- 1 2 "COMPANY NEWS; Apple Unit Buys Software Concern". New York Times. June 28, 1988. Archived from the original on June 24, 2024. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
- 1 2 Rifkin, Glenn (June 9, 1993). "BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Lotus Buys Approach Software for Its Data Base Program". New York Times. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
- 1 2 3 4 "Venture capitalist bottles California pinots that rival Burgundy". Bloomberg. March 20, 2015. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
- ↑ Clark, Lindsay (April 26, 2021). "Security vendor Proofpoint snapped up by private equity for $12.3bn but still in search of profit". The Register. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- 1 2 Asimov, Eric (September 5, 2007). "Pinot Noirs Long on Passion if Not Years". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ "Our guide to six of Silicon Valley's most stellar vineyards". October 31, 2017. Archived from the original on June 29, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ Silvy, Tyler (August 2, 2019). "Vineyard of Silicon Valley investor hit with $3.7 million in penalties after bulldozing Mendocino County wetland". The Press Democrat.
- 1 2 Mobley, Esther (December 8, 2017). "Rhys Vineyards' Kevin Harvey turns to Italian-style wines in Sonoma". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ↑ Mobley, Esther (September 5, 2022). "Best 25 Wineries: Where to go wine tasting in Napa and the Bay Area, Spring 2022". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- 1 2 Asimov, Eric (July 14, 2016). "From Etna and the Salty Sea, a White of Great Potential". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 28, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2022.