Salesforce announced Tuesday that it's launching the Salesforce Impact Fund, a $50 million initiative to accelerate the growth of startups that are using Salesforce technology to address some of the world's biggest problems. Through the fund, Salesforce will invest in these companies, furthering each one's goal of driving positive change.
Somorjai explained that Salesforce Ventures, which has grown into the third-largest corporate VC in the world (behind Intel and Google) since it launched in 2009, has about 200 active investments today. Since the beginning of this year, Salesforce announced two other $50 million funds -- one to invest in cloud consulting startups(Opens in a new tab) and another to encourage AI startups(Opens in a new tab).
Salesforce announces $50 million fund to invest in cloud consulting startups
Impact investing obviously isn't a new concept in the tech world -- Omidyar has been investing in social change startups for years(Opens in a new tab), and Bill Gates even launched a $1 billion clean energy fund with other tech heavyweights in late 2016.
The Salesforce Impact Fund will work like the current venture program. As deals happen, and as rounds of funding come together, Salesforce Ventures will be evaluating them. That means it will invest in startups on a rolling basis. The goal is to fully deploy the $50 million from the fund within the next two years.
Salesforce launched its first $50 million Consultant Trailblazer Fund in May 2017 and fully committed the investment dollars in just over two years. With that fund, Salesforce Ventures invested in leading consulting firms including Astound Commerce, ListEngage, Silverline, Simplus and Xertica to accelerate continued growth and arm teams with the resources needed to help companies successfully and quickly implement Salesforce technologies.
Aumni, Inc., a SaaS company developing a robotic process automation and data analytics platform for private capital investors, announced a $10 million Series A funding round led by SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank.
The investments include a $50 million partner fund to assist such businesses with access to capital during their startup phase, along with $20 million in financing for supporting cash flow requirements, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an email to employees, which Microsoft posted on its website.
What's so special about a small but growing Rochester-based company that reeled in $50 million investment funding?Simply put: Expertise in making cloud computing work securely for several big names.Rochester-based CloudCheckr announced recently that it had secured the funding from Level Equity, a private equity company headquartered in New York City and focused on rapidly growing software and Internet companies.
Datto, another Rochester-based company that launched its own cloud-based system roughly a year ago, has also benefited. It landed a $75 million investment from a California-based venture capital firm at the end of 2015, which was on top of other investments.
BANGKOK- SeaX Ventures (Southeast Asia Exponential Ventures) announced today the close of its second fund to help accelerate the growth of global startups throughout Southeast Asia. The fund is dedicated to investing in companies working on truly transformational opportunities in sectors including blockchain & web3, foodtech, biotech & life science, artificial intelligence, robotics, and IoT & hardware.
A vital component is the deep and cooperative relationships that SeaX maintains with its investors and corporate partners at RISE. Also founded by Dr. Kid, RISE is a corporate innovation consulting firm that works with the largest companies in Southeast Asia by empowering them to achieve transformative change in the digital realm. SeaX Ventures will tangibly add value to its portfolio companies by helping to grow their businesses. This goal will be accomplished by connecting these startups to their investors and RISE clients, thus also assisting the larger entities in their quests to pursue innovative initiatives, launch new businesses, or reduce operating costs.
On Wednesday, it announced another round of funding at $50 million from investors including Peter Thiel and Ajay Royan's growth-stage venture capital fund Mithril Capital Management. Saks told us the company was valued at roughly $600 million, double its valuation from last year.
Allegion Ventures, a $50 million corporate venture fund of Allegion, invested in Mint House, a New York startup focused on the hotel experience for modern business travelers through technology-aided amenities like secure mobile check-in and keyless entry, digital concierge services, customized pre-stocked grocery delivery and more.
As we celebrate the 2022 Cloud 100 season, we want to remind entrepreneurs and investors that despite compressing multiples and what feels like doom-and-gloom in the markets, cloud businesses today are still displaying strong fundamentals.
At IKEA, sustainability is central to our business. Because climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing society, IKEA Group and IKEA Foundation this year made bold new commitments totaling 1 billion in funding to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy and support the communities most at risk. In June, the IKEA Group committed 600 million for investment in renewable energy, building on the 1.5 billion invested in wind and solar energy since 2009. In addition, the IKEA Foundation has committed 400 million of funding to support the communities most impacted by climate change.
This US ecommerce and cloud-computing giant has a broad spread of customers, from startups to established companies. As of 2020, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) had built up a subscriber base of 200 million people worldwide for its Amazon Prime service, which allows users to stream and rent video content.
Regardless of which of the following four archetypes is applicable, for the purpose of this book, startups tend to share similar beginnings. The founder, or founding team, is based in Europe. They have a vision for a new product or service. Europe is where they build their early product, raise angel or seed funding, and make their initial hires. Typically, the first users or customers are in Europe. Sometimes there might also be early US users or customers, either introduced via the personal networks of the founders or early investors, or acquired from marketing activity in Europe. By working with these early users, the team finds its way towards product/market fit (PMF). 2ff7e9595c
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