Jim Breyer

James W. Breyer (born 1961) is an American venture capitalist, founder and chief executive officer of Breyer Capital, an investment and venture philanthropy firm, and a former managing partner at Accel Partners, a venture capital firm.

Breyer has invested in over 40 companies that have gone public or completed a merger, with some of these investments, including Facebook, earning over 100 times cost and many others over 25 times cost.

On the Forbes 2021 list of the 400 richest Americans, he was ranked #389, with a net worth of US$2.9 billion.

Breyer was born in 1961 in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Hungarian immigrants.

His father, John P. Breyer, was an engineer and executive at International Data Group; his mother Eva was an executive at Honeywell.

In 1983, Breyer received a B.S. with Distinction in Interdisciplinary Studies from Stanford University.

He spent his junior year studying in Florence, Italy, and is active in what is now Stanford's Breyer Center for Overseas Studies in Florence.

He was drawn to Silicon Valley's technology industry and during college he worked part-time for both Hewlett-Packard and Apple Inc. After college, he accepted a job as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company in New York for two years.

In 1987, he earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University where he was named a Baker Scholar graduating in the top 5% of his class.

In 1987, he accepted a job with the venture capital firm Accel Partners in San Francisco and was mentored by founders Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz.

In 1990, he was named a partner and in 1995, he became a managing partner.

Accel Partners was Facebook's biggest shareholder after Mark Zuckerberg, owning an 11% stake at the time of the company's IPO.

In 2000, Breyer also established Accel-KKR, a joint venture between Accel Partners and the private equity firm KKR.

Breyer also led the 2004 management buyout of BBN Technologies from Verizon.

Breyer has led several Series A investments, including Etsy, Clinkle and Circle Internet Financial.

He has also led investments in Legendary Pictures and Spotify.

Forbes said of Breyer, "He glides easily within and between circles: Silicon Valley, China, Europe, and Hollywood."

In 2005, Breyer led Accel Partners' $12.7 million deposit at a $98 million valuation in the then ten-employee startup Facebook.

In 2005, Breyer helped establish a joint venture between Accel Partners and China-based IDG Capital Partners, a pioneering Chinese investment firm behind Baidu and Tencent.

Breyer and Patrick Joseph McGovern, the Founder and CEO of IDG, have served as co-leads on the Accel-IDG joint venture's strategic investment committee since its inception in 2005.

Breyer is active in the Chinese investment community and continues to invest in the country through Breyer Capital and partnerships with IDG.

Additionally, he is a member of the advisory board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, Beijing.

In December 2005, Breyer was appointed an honorary professor at the Yuelu Academy, Hunan University, China.

Jim is the past Chairman and remains a Board Member of the Tsinghua University Advisory Board for the School of Economics and Management.

He also is a member of the University of Texas President’s Innovation Board.

He is a member of various World Economic Forum committees, and a member of the Lead Director Network, an organization of directors dedicated to improving the performance of their corporations and earning the trust of their shareholders through more effective board leadership.

In 2006, Breyer founded Breyer Capital, a global equity investor focused on providing capital to help catalyze high impact social and for-profit entrepreneurs.

The fund focuses on emerging markets such as China, South East Asia, and India.

Breyer continues to manage the fund as CEO.

Breyer Capital has participated in a number of investments including Harvard's Experiment Fund, Brightcove, Marvel Entertainment and Legendary Pictures.

In February 2013, Breyer was elected a fellow of the Harvard Corporation, Harvard University's senior governing board.

He also serves on the Board of the Dean's Advisors of the Harvard Business School and is a founding member of the Harvard University Global Advisory Council.

In 2014, Breyer joined the Wickr board of directors, pledging $30 million in funding.

Wickr is a messaging app that seeks to provide encrypted and self-destructing messages for users which pledges a strict commitment to user privacy.

In June 2014, IDG Capital announced the closing of IDG China Venture Capital Fund IV, a $586 million tech venture capital fund focused on making early-stage technology, media and telecom (TMT) investments in China.

IDG also announced the participation of Breyer Capital and stated Jim Will play a leading strategic advisory role in the new fund.

In July 2016, Breyer also joined the board of the alternative investment firm The Blackstone Group, the largest such firm in the world according to a 2013 New York Times piece.

In June 2016, the Wall Street Journal published a piece on what is one of the largest ever China-focused venture capital funds raised, $1 billion in capital commitments for the IDG Capital Fund III of Breyer and IDG Capital.

In 2020, Breyer established a second office for Breyer Capital in Austin, Texas.

Since establishing its Austin office, Breyer Capital has backed startups including Sana Benefits, Bestow, ClosedLoop.ai.