# Kevin Harvey

> Kevin Harvey is a General Partner and co-founder of Benchmark Capital, one of Silicon Valley's most storied venture capital firms, which he helped launch in 1995 alongside Bob Kagle, Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff, and Val Vaden. Before turning to investing, Harvey built and sold two software companies - StyleWare (acquired by Apple's Claris in 1988, becoming ClarisWorks) and Approach Software (acquired by Lotus in 1993) - giving him rare operator credibility. At Benchmark, he has backed transformative companies including eBay, Twitter, Upwork, MySQL, OpenTable, and Proofpoint. Outside of venture capital, Harvey is the founder of Rhys Vineyards in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a critically acclaimed winery focused on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, where he applies the same data-driven rigor to terroir as he does to startup evaluation.

- **Role:** General Partner at Benchmark
- **Organizations:** Benchmark Capital, Rhys Vineyards, Aeris Wines, Upwork (Board), Minerva University (Board)
- **From:** Sunnyvale, California, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS in Electrical Engineering, Rice University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Benchmark Capital in 1995, one of Silicon Valley's most consistently top-performing VC firms, Two successful software company exits before entering venture capital (StyleWare to Apple/Claris; Approach Software to Lotus), Board Chairman of MySQL through its $1 billion acquisition by Sun Microsystems in 2008

## Career timeline

- **1985** — Founded StyleWare while still a student at Rice University - a Houston-based software publisher with 10+ products including Multiscribe
- **1987** — Graduated from Rice University with a BS in Electrical Engineering
- **1988** — StyleWare acquired by Apple's Claris Corporation for approximately $5 million; product evolved into ClarisWorks, one of Macintosh's best-selling applications
- **1990** — Pivotal pinot noir tasting experience in France that would eventually inspire Rhys Vineyards
- **1991** — Founded Approach Software; released the first end-user client/server database for Microsoft Windows (Windows 3.0), using dBase file format
- **1993** — Approach Software acquired by Lotus Development Corporation; product later bundled into Lotus SmartSuite
- **1995** — Co-founded Benchmark Capital with Bob Kagle, Bruce Dunlevie, Andy Rachleff, and Val Vaden; began planting vines at home in Santa Cruz Mountains
- **1997** — Spoke at JavaOne Conference on venture funding for Java companies
- **2004** — Rhys Vineyards produced its first harvest from estate vineyards in Santa Cruz Mountains
- **2008** — MySQL (Benchmark portfolio company, Harvey as Board Chairman) acquired by Sun Microsystems for $1 billion
- **2011** — Ranked #27 on Forbes Midas List of top venture investors
- **2012** — Ranked #59 on Forbes Midas List; backed Minerva University
- **2014** — Joined Upwork (formerly oDesk) board of directors
- **2025** — Re-elected to Upwork board with 86.6% shareholder approval; Manus (Benchmark portfolio company) acquired by Meta for $2 billion

## Achievements

- Co-founded Benchmark Capital in 1995, one of Silicon Valley's most consistently top-performing VC firms
- Two successful software company exits before entering venture capital (StyleWare to Apple/Claris; Approach Software to Lotus)
- Board Chairman of MySQL through its $1 billion acquisition by Sun Microsystems in 2008
- Forbes Midas List: ranked #27 in 2011
- Backed eBay, Twitter, Upwork, OpenTable, Proofpoint, MySQL, Tellme Networks, Zimbra, and dozens of other transformative companies
- Founded Rhys Vineyards, now one of California's most acclaimed producers of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
- Created Aeris Wines as an experimental offshoot focused on Italian and Sicilian varietals in California
- Pioneer of equal-partnership VC structure - Benchmark operates with no junior/senior hierarchy and equal ownership

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Meta acquired Benchmark portfolio company Manus for approximately $2 billion
- **2025-04** — Re-elected to Upwork's board of directors with 86.6% of shareholder votes
- **2024-06** — Benchmark closed a new fund with $425 million in latest funding round

## Links

- Website: https://benchmark.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-harvey-6237653
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/kevinrharvey
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Benchmark

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/kevin-harvey
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-18