Consumer VC Firm Maveron Raises $225 Million Amid ‘Serious Paradigm Shift’

Venture firm Maveron, whose well-timed investments in eBay and Drugstore.com helped it get through the 2000 dot-com bust with relative ease, had a tougher time during the financial crisis eight years later, when it was forced to downsize and narrow its focus to early-stage investing in consumer brands.

That experience has prepared Maveron to better navigate this year’s market turmoil—and pursue more consumer tech deals out of a new $225 million fund, according to Dan Levitan, who co-founded Maveron with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. Levitan has been counseling startups on how to survive a downturn: namely, by trying to ignore the short-term stock upheaval and focus on long-term business goals.

“Now is the time for investors to get closer to the entrepreneurs that they funded and help them get through a serious paradigm shift,” said Levitan in a phone interview from his firm’s office in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. Maveron’s portfolio includes direct-to-consumer shoe business Allbirds and women’s retailer Everlane. The new fund, which closed earlier this month, hasn’t previously been reported.