$500M invested, previous valuation ~$1B, so a "3x" exit.

It looks like the $1B figure is a pre-money valuation for the $500M raised.[0] If so, that results in a 2x exit for those investors.[1] This assumes those investors don't have rights that would entitle them to more than their pro rata of the acquisition proceeds, such as special liquidation preference rights that would entitle them to more than a 1x liquidation preference. It's these kinds of special liquidation preference rights that have attracted some attention for helping "juice" valuations, particularly with unicorns.[2]

-----

[0] https://www.crunchbase.com/funding-round/79d35bb376dcc222a8a...

[1] Math: $500M invested at $1B results in those investors owning 1/3 of the company. Assuming pro rata distribution of the acquisition proceeds, they would get $1B in a $3B acquisition.

[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-17/the-fuzzy-...

According to pitchbook, Jet raised their latest round of $350M ($565M total) at a $1.05B pre and a $1.4B post.

Got it. With those numbers, the returns are ~1.86x for the investors of the $565M. ($3B * ($565M/$1615M) / $565M).

Right just realized that

For two years?

Nobody puts in that kind of money for a 3x return regardless of time window its not like the VCs can put the money back into something else.

Decent article on this from Fred Wilson http://avc.com/2009/03/what-is-a-good-venture-return/

Does that mean that these VC are really concerned about the market turning and would rather do "only" 3x than stay invested?

Thats my read. Really any lower then that and its a firesale which sends a horrible message.

You assume that all investors follow the same profile for all of their investments.

This is a company which was all but guaranteed to succeed and sell in <3 years for billions.