Kleiner Names Square’s Megan Quinn As Investment Partner

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is adding a new investment partner to its digital team, bringing on board Megan Quinn from its portfolio company Square, the firm said in a press release Thursday.

Quinn was director of products at the startup and will invest in consumer Internet companies at KP. She steps into her new role in June.

Her appointment comes as Kleiner Perkins faces a sexual harassment suit from Investment Partner Ellen Pao, who has claimed a broad pattern of gender discrimination against her and other women at the firm.

Quinn spent seven years at Google prior to joining Square and helped develop Google Maps. Here is a press release announcing the hire.

PRESS RELEASE

Megan Quinn Joins Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as Investment Partner

Former Google and Square Executive Joins Digital Team to Focus on Consumer Internet Ventures

May 31, 2012, Menlo Park, Calif. – Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) announced today that Megan Quinn will join the firm as Partner in KPCB’s Digital group where she will focus on investments in the consumer Internet space. She will assume her new position in late June 2012.

Quinn joins KPCB from Square where, as Director of Products, she led Square’s product team and oversaw strategy and development of the Company’s product portfolio focused on revolutionizing everyday transactions between buyers and sellers. Prior to Square, Quinn was at Google for seven years where she led development of some of Google’s most successful products including Google Maps. She graduated from Stanford with a degree in Political Science and History.

Quinn deepens KPCB’s bench of recently added key hires to the partnership who bring deep entrepreneurial and operational expertise in mobile, social and cloud ventures, including Bing Gordon, Mary Meeker, Mike Abbott, and Ray Bradford.

“Joining Kleiner Perkins is an incredible opportunity at such an exciting time for the firm and technology industry,” said Quinn. “I look forward to working with the talented team of investment professionals and entrepreneurs to identify and nurture the next generation of consumer Internet companies.”

“Megan is a rising star in the consumer technology and start-up community and will be a huge asset to Kleiner Perkins as we begin to invest from our latest fund KPCB 15,” said Ted Schlein, partner at KPCB. “Megan has worked at some of Kleiner’s most disruptive and innovative past and current portfolio companies from Google to Square and has experience along the entire continuum of the high-growth startup lifecycle, including product development, marketing and strategy.”

KPCB recently announced the closing of its latest fund KPCB 15, a US $525 million venture capital fund focusing on investments in early-stage companies. It also continues to actively invest from its existing funds across both early and growth-stage companies. These include KPCB’s US $1 billion Digital Growth Fund (DGF) dedicated to later-stage growth companies; iFund™, a US $200 million investment initiative focused on the revolutionary mobile Internet device opportunity; sFund™, the US $250 million initiative focused on companies and services that will reinvent the Web through a social experience; and KPCB’s US $1 billion Green Growth Fund (GGF).

About Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Since its founding in 1972, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has backed entrepreneurs in more than 500 ventures including AOL, Amazon.com, Citrix, Compaq, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Genomic Health, Google, Groupon, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Netscape, Sun, Symantec, Verisign, webMD and Zynga. KPCB portfolio companies employ more than 350,000 people worldwide. More than 150 of the firm’s portfolio companies have gone public, and many other KPCB ventures have achieved success through mergers and acquisitions. KPCB focuses its global investments in three practice areas – digital, greentech and life sciences – and provides entrepreneurs with company-building expertise out of its offices in Silicon Valley, Beijing and Shanghai.

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Tags: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Megan Quinn, Square