Matt Cohler

Matt Cohler
Born	(1977-03-27) March 27, 1977
Occupation(s)	Venture capitalist, business executive
Known for	Vice President of Product Management at Facebook, General Partner at Benchmark

Matt Cohler (born March 27, 1977) is a prominent American venture capitalist. He held the position of Vice President of Product Management at Facebook until mid-2008 and subsequently became a general partner at Benchmark. Cohler has earned recognition on the Forbes Midas List highlighting leading technology investors and, in 2019, was ranked among the top 10 venture capitalists by both the New York Times and CB Insights. Additionally, he was featured on Forbes' 'America's 40 Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40' list in 2015.

Education and early career

Cohler graduated with honors from Yale University, obtaining a B.A. in music. His early professional experience included work in China and a role as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. During this period, he connected with Reid Hoffman and became one of the founding team members of Hoffman's startup, LinkedIn, where he served as vice president and general manager, acting as Hoffman's key collaborator.

As one of Facebook’s initial five employees, Cohler played a critical role as vice president of product management through significant phases of expansion. He maintained an advisory role to CEO Mark Zuckerberg after stepping down from day-to-day responsibilities. In 2008, he departed Facebook to join Benchmark as its youngest general partner.

Benchmark

While at Benchmark, Cohler led investments in companies such as Dropbox, Asana, Quora, Greenhouse, Domo, Tinder, Duo Security, DeepL, Edmodo, ResearchGate, 1stdibs, Peixe Urbano, CouchSurfing, Baixing, and Zendesk. Notably, in 2011 he spearheaded a $7 million funding round for Instagram, which was later acquired by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012. In 2014, he directed Benchmark’s investment into Xapo, a provider of Bitcoin wallets with insured cold storage.

Cohler held board positions at Asana, Quora, ResearchGate, and 1stdibs. In 2018, he reduced his involvement with Benchmark by opting out of their subsequent fund while retaining board memberships including at Uber. He exited the Uber board in July 2019 alongside Arianna Huffington.

Additional affiliations

Beyond venture capital, Cohler serves as vice president on the board of governors for the San Francisco Symphony, acts as a trustee for the Environmental Defense Fund, and participates on endowment investment committees for both the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Yale Investments Office.

Politics

In April 2013, Cohler co-established FWD.us, an advocacy organization dedicated to advancing reforms in immigration reform and education policy.