Kleiner Perkins Adds Megan Quinn, Former Products Director At Square, As Newest Investment Partner

Megan Quinn, the web exec who most recently served as the Director of Products at credit card processing tech firm Square, has joined Sand Hill Road venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as an investment partner. The hire was announced by KPCB in a press release today.

Quinn’s talents and experience, of course, stand on their own: A graduate of Stanford, she spent seven years in product management at Google before joining Square in mid-2011. At Kleiner she will focus on consumer internet investments, a sector on which the firm has said it will put a renewed focus in the coming months particularly with its newest $525 million venture fund, KPCB 15.

But her appointment also adds more weight to Kleiner’s stated focus on being a pioneer when it comes to gender diversity and equality. The firm is currently facing a lawsuit from partner Ellen Pao alleging gender discrimination, claims that Kleiner Perkins says are completely without merit.

Here is the press release announcing Quinn’s appointment:

Megan Quinn Joins Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as Investment Partner

Former Google and Square Executive Joins Digital Team to Focus on Consumer Internet Ventures

May 31, 2012, Menlo Park, Calif. – Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) announced today that Megan Quinn will join the firm as Partner in KPCB’s Digital group where she will focus on investments in the consumer Internet space. She will assume her new position in late June 2012.

Quinn joins KPCB from Square where, as Director of Products, she led Square’s product team and oversaw strategy and development of the Company’s product portfolio focused on revolutionizing everyday transactions between buyers and sellers. Prior to Square, Quinn was at Google for seven years where she led development of some of Google’s most successful products including Google Maps. She graduated from Stanford with a degree in Political Science and History.

Quinn deepens KPCB’s bench of recently added key hires to the partnership who bring deep entrepreneurial and operational expertise in mobile, social and cloud ventures, including Bing Gordon, Mary Meeker, Mike Abbott, and Ray Bradford.

“Joining Kleiner Perkins is an incredible opportunity at such an exciting time for the firm and technology industry,” said Quinn. “I look forward to working with the talented team of investment professionals and entrepreneurs to identify and nurture the next generation of consumer Internet companies.”

“Megan is a rising star in the consumer technology and start-up community and will be a huge asset to Kleiner Perkins as we begin to invest from our latest fund KPCB 15,” said Ted Schlein, partner at KPCB. “Megan has worked at some of Kleiner’s most disruptive and innovative past and current portfolio companies from Google to Square and has experience along the entire continuum of the high-growth startup lifecycle, including product development, marketing and strategy.”

KPCB recently announced the closing of its latest fund KPCB 15, a US $525 million venture capital fund focusing on investments in early-stage companies. It also continues to actively invest from its existing funds across both early and growth-stage companies. These include KPCB’s US $1 billion Digital Growth Fund (DGF) dedicated to later-stage growth companies; iFund™, a US $200 million investment initiative focused on the revolutionary mobile Internet device opportunity; sFund™, the US $250 million initiative focused on companies and services that will reinvent the Web through a social experience; and KPCB’s US $1 billion Green Growth Fund (GGF).