A Snapshot of Venture Capital Returns

For all their braying about efficiency and the magic of open markets, venture capitalists are notoriously secretive about the only thing that actually matters in their own business: how much money they make for their investors. Returns are often a closely guarded secret.

But data from Calpers, the $300 billion California public pension fund that is a goliath in the investment world, provide a rare window into just how well VCs perform for their limited partners. Calpers publishes returns data for every private equity and venture capital investment it makes every quarter.