In 2005 Accel Partners closed its $440 million Accel 9 Fund. That fund may not go down in history as the most profitable venture fund ever, but it will certainly be one to remember. Why? Facebook, for the most part. It is a stunning turnaround for a firm that many whispered was pretty much done earlier in the decade. In 2005 Accel invested a small part of that fund – just $12.7 million – in Facebook. In exchange they got 11% of the company, and a lot of derision around Silicon Valley for paying such a ridiculously high valuation for the fledgling startup. Fast forward to today, though, and no one’s laughing any more. The firm sold part of that investment, less than 20%, at a $35 billion valuation. That brought in half a billion dollars or so in cash, paying back the entire capital base of the fund in one transaction.
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