Benchmark

Benchmark is a U.S. venture capital firm whose partners include Bill Gurley and Mitch Lasky, the latter having joined after a career in the gaming industry . The firm is known for a distinctive investment culture: its partners ask founders "Where does your Secret Insight come from?" , and internally avoid transactional language like "deal" or "Exit," preferring evocative terms such as "Oceanic" or "Ossification" to describe founders and companies . In June 2024, Benchmark led a $60 million Series A at a $500 million valuation for HeyGen, an AI video-generation company that had earlier raised from Sequoia China Seed, ZhenFund, and IDG Capital . Benchmark's reputation is such that other investors treat its pass on a company as a market signal worth heeding .