With 2020 now fully into gear, I wanted to pause for a quick second and look back at some of the milestones and learnings we had in 2019. The startup world moves at breakneck speed, so sometimes a little retrospection goes a long way.
As a global team, we remain committed to backing the best enterprise software companies across all corners of the globe, with a portfolio of over 375 companies today.
A large part of our focus recently has been investing in companies outside the US, as we’ve seen that great software companies can emerge from anywhere in the world. We’re really going big across Europe and Asia Pacific, and here are 6 highlights from our activity last year.
1) Doubling down on Europe with our second fund
Salesforce Ventures landed in Europe in 2015 with the announcement of our first $100M Trailblazer fund. It’s been incredibly rewarding for us getting to back some of Europe’s most ambitious enterprise entrepreneurs since that time and seeing the ecosystem continue to flourish.
Last year marked another milestone, as we announced our second fund with $125M committed for Europe. This is a true testament to the quality of businesses we’re seeing in Europe and our desire to be a long-term partner to the best software companies in the region.
2) Launching our first fund in Australia
We also announced the launch of our inaugural $50M Trailblazer fund in Australia. The region is no stranger to startup successes — with companies like Atlassian and Canva emerging as hugely valuable companies.
Our very own Rob Keith has relocated from San Francisco to lead the charge in Sydney where we have been open for business. We’ve already made 6 investments down under already.
The move is part of a broader focus for us in Asia Pacific (APAC), where we expect to continue to invest over the coming years.
3) Welcoming an incredible group of companies to the portfolio
The work we do wouldn’t be possible without the tireless work of the founders and teams behind each of these stories. Investing is both a partnership and a privilege as we join forces and become a (small) part of their journey.
We were thrilled to welcome companies like Algolia (France), Athena Mortgage (Australia), Basiq (Australia), BigID (Israel), GoCardless (UK), PerimeterX (Israel), Snyk (Israel), Soul Machines (New Zealand), Valiant Finance (Australia), WhiteHat (UK) and Zoomin (Israel) to the portfolio. Thanks for the partnership!
4) Existing investments going from strength to strength
We also celebrated quite a few milestones in the existing portfolio, with companies like Akeneo (France), Forter (Israel), Onfido (UK), OwnBackup (Israel), Privitar (UK), Unbabel (Portugal) and WeFox (Germany) all securing significant follow-on investment with a great set of investors. Although funding is only a means to an end, it’s still a milestone to be celebrated — so congrats!
We were also thrilled to see our portfolio company ClickSoftware getting acquired by Salesforce for $1.35 BN!
5) Establishing deeper connectivity with Salesforce
Post investment, one of our key focus areas is connecting the startups we invest in with the right folks at Salesforce. In doing so, we provide the companies we invest in with unique access to our executives, our know-how and our customers.
As an example, last year we ran deep-dives with our executives on topics ranging from customer success, pricing, sales segmentation, employee retention and product marketing. The feedback has been very positive from our portfolio, as we’re able to share a few plays from the Salesforce playbook. In parallel, we’ve also organized innovation days between our portfolio and our customers, which have been a big hit.
We’re definitely looking to do more of these initiatives in 2020.
6) Broadening our investment focus
At Salesforce Ventures, we always look to invest in companies that are complementary to Salesforce and that help make our customers even more successful. What’s new, however, is that the aperture of what is relevant continues to widen as Salesforce’s footprint expands further in the enterprise market (both organically and through M&A).
Our most recent investments have been in spaces like open source (Snyk), the API economy (Algolia), enterprise automation (Automation Anywhere), data privacy (Privitar and BigID) and security (PerimeterX and Forter).
As I look ahead to this year, our mission will remain the same as we look to invest in the most disruptive companies that are reimagining the enterprise. So if that sounds like you and you think we can help you along the way, do get in touch as we’d love to meet you!
