Bonfire Ventures portfolio company MNTN went public today. By some accounts, it (along with Hinge Healthwhich also went public today) was the first IPO of a US-based VC-backed tech startup since 2021. As of this writing MNTN has a market cap in excess of $2 billion.
We led what was effectively MNTN’s seed round in 2011. The Company was one of the earliest to match consumers to ads in real-time, within milliseconds of the creation of the ad impression, to drive performance. Mark Douglas had exceptional founder-market fit: he developed complex matching techniques and algorithms as VP Technology at eHarmony, and he developed real-time advertising infrastructure as CTO of Rubicon Project (Magnite).
Whip-smart, super strong technically, indefatiguable, and incredibly creative, Mark was not a Silicon Valley CEO from central casting, but he was a founder I had to back. Super compelling. Contagious energy. MNTN was referred to me by my friend Peter Lee who was effectively the pre-seed lead investor. Back then all of our funds were too small to fill a round ourselves, so I invited at Greycroft to split the seed round with us. Fortunately for both of us she said yes, as she has delivered an absolute ton of value to the Company over the years.
Much of the MNTN leadership team from way back then is still in leadership positions at the Company to this day. In 2011, Chris Innes had recently been hired away from one of MNTN’s customers where he was doing ad ops, and he has grown into an incredibly capable (and unflappable) executive as the Company’s COO. Marwan Soghaier led product back then, and he serves as CPO today. Anna McMurphy was Head of People back then, and serves as Chief People Officer today. Richard Girges came on just a little later, and serves as CTO today. And was Company Counsel at Lawtham & Watkins back then, and went “Native” a few years ago to join MNTN as CFO. It is so inspiring to see this same team scale the Company from $1M in revenue to over $200M.
MNTN’s history was not without its twists and turns. It was not a straight line up and to the right. It involved not one but two… kinda… emergency…financings along the way. But the team did an exceptional job communicating their conviction to the investor group, and we got those financings done. And now we’re so glad we did. At the latest price, MNTN is a 2x fund-returner. Our initial investment is currently sitting at a 50x.
Believe it or not, exits can be anti-climactic for a VC. I have so enjoyed working with this team and this group of investors in support of the team (shoutouts to Joe Kaiser, Renny Smith, avid Ajalat too!). Now I’m rolling off the Board of Directors after serving for fourteen years, and I no longer have reason to collaborate with this group. That I will miss dearly. But most importantly, we’re excited to see what the MNTN team can do as a public company, and we’re so grateful to have been along on the journey.
