LONDON, May 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce
(NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today announced that
Salesforce Ventures, the company's global corporate investment
group, has launched a $125 million
Europe Trailblazer Fund to continue to fuel enterprise cloud
startups. Salesforce Ventures was the most active Corporate VC in
Europe1 last year and
has invested in companies pioneering digital payments, machine
vision, artificial intelligence, blockchain and the API
economy.
"Europe is a clear leader in
cloud technology today, and we are excited to deepen our investment
in the region," said John
Somorjai, EVP of Corporate Development and Salesforce
Ventures. "Our commitment to European startups reflects the
growth of innovation, our belief in the local entrepreneurs and our
focus on creating the world's largest ecosystem of enterprise cloud
companies to drive customer success."
There was €28 billion invested in European and Israeli startups
last year, representing over a three times growth compared to the
level in 2013. Of the overall funding, SaaS companies received more
than 35 percent2. The global shift to the cloud has
created new, cutting-edge technology that has fueled customer
success across industries. IDC forecasts that the EMEA public cloud
services market will more than double between 2018 and 2023,
surpassing $105.3 billion in
20233.
"We see tremendous opportunity to invest in companies across
Europe as this market continues to
grow at scale," said Miguel
Milano, President, International at Salesforce. "At
Salesforce, we focus on backing ambitious entrepreneurs who are
building the most innovative solutions to support our customers'
digital transformation."
With this new fund, Salesforce Ventures will continue to invest
in companies at various stages of growth to provide Salesforce
executive support, product alignment and financing as they scale.
Investments to date include innovative enterprise companies in
various industries, including retail, financial services, CPG and
public sector:
- UK: GoCardless, Privitar and Onfido
- France: FinalCAD, Akeneo and
SigFox
- Israel: Bringg, Forter and
TechSee
- Germany: Wefox, Contentful and
EMPAUA
- Rest of Europe: 4C, Unbabel
and Carto
"As we scale our business internationally, making the
right funding choices is critical for the team at GoCardless. It's
even more important to choose the right investment partners: not
just for the funds, but for the deeper value those partners bring,
through their expertise and ecosystem. Salesforce Ventures is a
great investment partner for GoCardless. They are hugely supportive
of our team, connecting us to the right people and proactively
sharing best practices," said Hiroki
Takeuchi, CEO of GoCardless.
"Salesforce Ventures has been an invaluable partner, opening
countless doors for us and acting as an advocate for our delivery
orchestration platform and the customer experience we provide,"
said Guy Bloch, CEO of Bringg.
"But beyond our shared vision, Salesforce Ventures is also a
committed partner with the expertise and the experience to work
with companies that need to quickly scale and expand their
operations. Having Salesforce Ventures as a partner has been a real
x-factor in our own growth, and we welcome their increasing
commitment to provide investment and support to European tech
companies."
"Salesforce Ventures has been instrumental for our growth in
Europe and our expansion into the
North American market, and they keep providing the best support and
insights to address the typical challenges a B2B SaaS startup could
face," said Fred de Gombert, CEO
and co-founder of Akeneo.
"Getting funded by Salesforce Ventures is a tremendous
opportunity to work with a thoughtful investor partner with deep
knowledge of enterprise customers and the journey a startup takes
on its path to scaling to be a major enterprise itself. Bottom
line, Salesforce Ventures helps us show customers we're a
well-backed company that will be here for the long
haul," said Sascha Konietzke, CEO of Contentful.
Continuous Investment and Growth in Europe
In 2015, Salesforce Ventures
introduced its first $100
million investment commitment in Europe and brought on Alex Kayyal as partner and head of Europe to lead the fund. Since then,
Salesforce Ventures has fully deployed this initial fund and backed
more than 50 startups in 13 countries in Europe. As the most active Corporate VC in
Europe, Salesforce Ventures will
continue to make strategic investments to fuel momentum in the
enterprise space. The growth of Salesforce Ventures is a testament
to the company's overall momentum -- in 2018, Salesforce grew
faster year-over-year than any other top 10 CRM vendor in EMEA and
is #1 in CRM in EMEA based on market share4.
Additional Information:
- To learn more about Salesforce Ventures, please visit:
www.salesforce.com/company/ventures/
- Like Salesforce on Facebook http://facebook.com/salesforce
- Follow @Salesforce and @SalesforceVC on Twitter
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking information related
to the company and Salesforce Ventures. The achievement or success
of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves
risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or
uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove
incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
About Salesforce
Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies to connect
with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about
Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other
press releases or public statements are not currently available and
may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase
Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based
upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has
headquarters in San Francisco,
with offices in Europe and
Asia, and trades on the New York
Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information
please visit https://www.salesforce.com, or call
1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.
About Salesforce Ventures
Salesforce Ventures — the company's corporate investment group —
invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that
extends the power of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform.
Portfolio companies receive funding, access to the world's largest
cloud ecosystem and guidance from Salesforce's innovators and
executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also
leverage Salesforce's expertise in corporate philanthropy by
joining Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model.
Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 300 enterprise cloud
startups in 20 countries since 2009. For more information, please
visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.
1 Pitchbook 2018 data
2 Dealroom 2018 Full Year Report
3 IDC, Worldwide Semiannual Public Cloud Services
Tracker, May 2019.
4 IDC, Worldwide Semiannual Software Tracker,
April 2019. CRM market includes the
following IDC-defined functional markets: Sales Force Productivity
and Management, Marketing Campaign Management, Customer Service,
Contact Center, Advertising, and Digital Commerce Applications.
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SOURCE Salesforce