Accel (venture capital firm)

Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is an American venture capital firm. Accel works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional operating funds in London,[1][2] India[3] and China (through a partnership with International Data Group (IDG-Accel)).[4]

Accel
Private Ownership
IndustryVenture capital
Founded1983
HeadquartersPalo Alto, California, U.S.
ProductsVenture capital, Growth capital
Websitewww.accel.com

Accel has funded technology companies including Facebook,[5] Slack,[6] Dropbox,[7] Atlassian,[8] Flipkart,[9] Supercell,[10] Spotify,[11] Etsy,[12] Braintree/Venmo,[13] Vox Media,[14] Lynda.com,[15] Qualtrics,[16] DJI,[17] Cloudera,[18] Jet.com,[19] Ethos[20], GoFundMe,[21] Vectra Networks Inc.[22] FabHotels, BrowserStack[23], Vinculum Group[24], Instana[25], CleverTap[26] and Egyptian Instabug.[27]

History

In 1983, Accel was founded by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz.[28] The co-founders developed the firm's "Prepared Mind" investment philosophy based on the Louis Pasteur quote "Chance favors the prepared mind.",[29] which requires "deep focus[30]" and a disciplined and informed approach to investing.[31]

In 2000, Accel entered a joint-venture with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to form Accel-KKR a technology-focused private equity investment firm focused on control investments in middle-market companies.[32]

In 2001, Accel opened its London office as a separate fund, to invest in European technology companies,[33] focusing on Series A and Series B investments.[34] Its European investments include Avito (acquired by Naspers for $1.2 billion),[35] BlaBlaCar,[36] Deliveroo,[37] Spotify and Supercell (acquired by Tencent for $8.6 billion), among others.

In addition to Accel's continued investments in early-stage startups from the Accel early stage fund, the firm announced a $480 million growth fund in December 2008, focused on growth equity opportunities in information technology, the internet, digital media, mobile, networking, software, and services.[38]

In March 2016, Accel raised $2 billion, $500 million for an early stage venture fund and $1.5 billion for growth investments.[39] In April 2016, Accel raised a separate $500 million fund for investments in Europe and Israel.[40] In November 2016, Accel's India arm closed its fifth fund with $450 million, about two years after closing its fourth fund with $325 million.[41][42]

In May 2019 Accel closed a $575 million fund, which led to financing Series A of European and Israel startups. The round was the largest in the region and the total amount of funds managed by Accel reached $3 billion.[43]

Portfolio

Accel is a venture capital firm that concentrates on the following technology sectors:[44][45]

  • Consumer
  • Infrastructure
  • Media
  • Mobile
  • SaaS
  • Security
  • Customer care services

Investments

Accel works with seed, early and growth-stage investments.[46] Its seed and early stage investments include Cloudera, Dropbox, Dropcam, Facebook, Flipkart, Jet.com, Podium, Webflow[47] and Slack. The firm’s growth capital investments focus on more developed companies that require a larger amount of capital to expand their business.[48] Examples include Atlassian, DJI and Qualtrics.

Recent exits include:

  • Arista Networks: IPO valuation of $2.7 billion in 2014[49]
  • Atlassian: IPO valuation of $4.4 billion in 2015[50]
  • Avito: acquired by Naspers for $1.2 billion in 2015[51]
  • Braintree: acquired by PayPal for $800 million in 2013[52]
  • Cloudera: IPO valuation of $2.3 billion in 2017[53]
  • Despegar: IPO valuation of $1.97 billion in 2017[54]
  • Etsy: IPO valuation of $1.78 billion in 2015[55]
  • Facebook: IPO valuation of $104 billion in 2012[56]
  • ForeScout: IPO valuation of $935+ million in 2017[57]
  • Fusion-io: acquired by SanDisk for $1.1 billion in 2014[58]
  • Iron Planet: acquired by Ritchie Bros. for approximately $758.5 million in 2017[59]
  • Jet: acquired by Walmart for $3.3 billion in 2016[60]
  • Krux: acquired by Salesforce for $700 million in 2016[61]
  • Lynda.com: acquired by LinkedIn at a $1.5 billion valuation in 2015[62]
  • Legendary Pictures: acquired by Wanda Group for $3.5 billion in 2016[63]
  • Rovio: IPO valuation of $1 billion in 2017[64]
  • Supercell: acquired by Softbank for $5.5 billion in 2015 and acquired by Tencent for $8.6 billion in 2016[65]
  • Trulia: IPO valuation of $448 million[66] and acquired by Zillow for $3.5 billion in 2014[67]
  • Facilio: financed for $6,4 million together with Tiger Global.[68]

Geographies

Accel's US fund is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in San Francisco, California.[69] Accel's European fund is headquartered in London, England and Accel's India fund is headquartered in Bangalore , India.[70] In addition to the U.S., Accel has investments across in France,[71] Germany,[72] Israel,[73] Australia,[74] New Zealand,[75] Brazil,[76] Canada,[77] China,[78] Finland, India, Switzerland[79] and more.

References
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