Justin Caldbeck, cofounder of early stage venture capital firm Binary Capital, which has $300 million under management, has resigned after The Information reported at least six women had received unwanted sexual advances from him.
Caldbeck strongly denied these claims when they were first reported on June 22, saying at the time: “I strongly deny The Information’s attacks on my character. The fact is, I have always enjoyed respectful relationships with female founders, business partners, and investors.”
However, he soon changed his tone. Caldbeck took an indefinite leave of absence from Binary Capital on Friday, saying: “the past 24 hours have been the darkest of my life.” Then, on Sunday night, Caldbeck permanently quit the firm along with Matt Mazzeo, a partner who had joined just weeks ago. TechCrunch reported the two resignations were connected. Caldbeck’s cofounder Jonathan Teo described Caldbeck’s “predatory behavior” as “deplorable” in a statement and said he regretted not insisting on severing ties earlier.
Caldbeck had previously worked at Bain Capital and Silicon Valley mega firm Lightspeed Venture Partners. Caldbeck has worked on investment in companies like GrubHub and TaskRabbit. The incident shook Silicon Valley, where sexism is common but documentation of it in the context of the venture capitalist-entrepreneur power dynamic is rare.
