New $125 Million Trailblazer Fund available for European start-ups

Salesforce Ventures has already invested in more than 50 leading start-ups across 13 European countries.

Global CRM firm Salesforce has launched a $125 million Europe Trailblazer Fund for enterprise cloud start-ups.

Salesforce Ventures, the company's global corporate investment group, was the most active Corporate VC in Europe 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 start-ups 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 start-ups last year, representing over a three times growth compared to the level in 2013.

Of the overall funding, SaaS companies received more than 35%, according to Dealroom.

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 have been received by enterprise companies in various industries, including retail, financial services, CPG and public sector. This includes UK companies GoCardless, Privitar and Onfido.

Source: Written based on press release