Greylock Leaves Boston For Silicon Valley
This story was written by Rory Maher.
In a blow for Boston's reputation as a tech and startup hub, venture-capital firm Greylock Partners is moving its headquarters from Boston to Menlo Park. Greylock Partner Bill Helman (pictured, right) said in the release that the company wants to be closer to where "technology and innovation are thriving"in other words, it wanted to be more in the deal flow.
Greylock will beef up staff at its new headquarters, and will move partner Don Sullivan to Silicon Valley to continue to oversee the firm's operations there. Its current headquarters, in Boston, will remain open and continue to oversee investments made by that office, including Red Hat, Constant Contact, OutlookSoft and ZipCar.
Many venture-capital funds are finding the fund-raising process challenging this year, but to move headquarters out of a city is an unusual. Boston has a fairly thriving VC community for an East Coast city its size. In addition to Greylock, it is home to Atlas Ventures, Bain Capital, Spark Capital, Charles River Ventures, Polaris Ventures and a number of other funds. Despite what Greylock says, some may inevitably see the move as a sign that venture deals in the Northeast are drying up.
By Rory Maher