NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- High-profile venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers won its jury verdict in a gender discrimination lawsuit Friday filed by a former associate partner, Ellen Pao.

The closely watched three-year-old case was considered a maverick move against a large and prominent institution in Silicon Valley, the home to many of the world's largest and most successful companies. Pao's charges highlighted long-simmering observations that most of the venture capital firms and the startups they fund are predominantly male.

To win her case, Pao, currently interim CEO of the popular message board Reddit, needed to convince at least 9 of the 12 jury members that she had been a victim of gender discrimination. Yet the jury of six men and six women found Kleiner Perkins didn't discriminate against Pao. 

Pao joined Kleiner Perkins in 2005, working there for seven years before she was fired in 2012. During that time, she alleged that the firm passed over her and other qualified women for promotions to senior partner, instead giving those roles to men. She expressed concern in conversations in late 2011 and then sent out a memorandum in January 2012, according to a report in Re/Code. 

She filed a gender discrimination lawsuit in 2012 against Kleiner Perkins, alleging that the firm retaliated against her and then fired her. Pao was seeking $16 million in damages.

However, Kleiner Perkins characterized Pao as a difficult employee, who did not get along with her co-workers and failed to improve in her role as a venture capitalist, according to an SFGate.comreport.

Kleiner Perkins has funded such notable startups as Uber and Snapchat and provided the early investment money for Twitter (TWTR) - Get Report, Google (GOOG) - Get Report, Electronic Arts (EA) - Get Report and Amazon.com (AMZN) - Get Report before they went public. 

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.