No one knows for sure what Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will do after Verizon completes its planned $4.8 billion acquisition of the company.
Given her experience, Mayer could pursue another CEO job. Or take an executive role at a big tech company. She could even launch her own startup.
What we know so far is that Mayer has said she wants to stay at the Verizon-owned Yahoo. And she will step down from the board of the remaining, un-acquired parts of Yahoo — mostly the company’s Asian investments — after the proposed deal closes.
But Mayer’s best bet might be to dive into an area she’s never officially been a part of: venture capital.
According to Pitchbook data, Mayer has been a prolific investor since 2009, making over 20 early bets on startups that became big hits, like Square, Brit Media, and GetAround, as well as Snapchat’s 2014 round that propelled the app maker’s valuation to a whopping $10 billion. (Snapchat wasn’t Mayer’s personal investment — it was made through Yahoo when she was CEO.)
And although she took some beatings with One Kings Lane, the once $900 million startup that recently sold for $12 million, the rest of Mayer’s portfolio proves she could be a surprisingly shrewd VC investor in an industry that’s known for its notoriously high fail rate.
Prolific investor
Mayer’s first personal investment was in Square’s 2009 Series A round, which valued the company at $45 million. Square is now public and has a market cap of $5 billion.
According to Pitchbook, some of her other personal investments include:
- Minted: Invested in Series B round valuing it at $47 million; now worth…