SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce
[NYSE: CRM], the global leader in CRM, today announced the
Salesforce Impact Fund from Salesforce Ventures, the company's
corporate investment group. The new $50
million fund will accelerate the growth of companies using
Salesforce technology to address challenges across workforce
development, equality, sustainability and the social sector. The
first funding recipients include Angaza, Ellevest, Hustle and
ViridisLearning.
Comments on the News:
- "With the new Salesforce Impact Fund, Salesforce Ventures is
investing in companies that are not only creating innovative
solutions for customers, but also improving the state of the
world," said John Somorjai, EVP of
Corporate Development and Salesforce Ventures, Salesforce. "We're
proud to broaden our focus on impact investing as part of our
portfolio."
- "At Salesforce, we've been committed to doing good as part of
our business model since our founding and pioneering of the 1-1-1
model," said Suzanne DiBianca, EVP
Corporate Relations and Chief Philanthropy Officer, Salesforce.
"The Salesforce Impact Fund allows us to support a new generation
of startups that are focused on driving positive social
change."
- "Ellevest is committed to unleashing women's financial power
and ending the gender gap in investing and personal finance," said
Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and
co-founder, Ellevest. "We're excited to receive an investment from
the new Salesforce Impact Fund, given equality is one of
Salesforce's core values, and partner with them as we grow."
- "The launch of Salesforce's $50
million impact investing fund is yet another data point of
the growing momentum of the field. With expertise in both venture
capital and a fundamental commitment to impact, Salesforce is
extremely well-positioned to achieve both financial returns and
social impact at scale," said Matt
Bannick, managing partner, Omidyar Network. "We applaud
Salesforce in launching this fund and look forward to continuing to
provide support to and co-invest with the team."
Salesforce Impact Fund to Fuel Companies Driving Positive
Change on the Salesforce Platform
Salesforce believes that
businesses can be powerful platforms for change and is committed to
serving the interests of all stakeholders, including customers,
partners, employees, investors, our communities and the
environment. Salesforce Ventures is uniquely positioned to catalyze
the growth of companies who are building products and solutions to
benefit society across four key focus areas:
- Workforce development: Companies enabling equal access
to education to prepare students and the workforce for jobs of the
future.
- Equality: Companies developing tools that promote equal
opportunity and economic empowerment for women and underrepresented
groups.
- Sustainability: Companies creating better access to
clean energy, improving resource efficiency and increasing supply
chain performance.
- Social sector: Companies amplifying impact for
nonprofits and NGOs through technology that increases efficiency
and transparency.
The Salesforce Impact Fund builds on previous investments in
companies driving positive social change and aligns with Salesforce
Ventures' charter to strategically invest in companies built on the
Salesforce Platform, delivering unique capabilities to Salesforce
customers. The first funding recipients include:
- Angaza: A leading SaaS platform that enables
manufacturers and distributors to make clean energy products more
affordable to the world's 1 billion off-grid consumers.
- Ellevest: An investing platform designed for
women that aims to solve the gender investment gap.
- Hustle: A peer-to-peer text messaging platform
enabling non-profits, educational institutions and advocacy groups
to connect with donors and constituents at scale.
- Viridis Learning: A leading human capital
SaaS platform that uses machine learning and predictive analytics
to facilitate career discovery, create career pathways and ensure
learning aligns with 21st century workforce needs.
Salesforce Ventures, A Leading Global Corporate Venture
Capital Group
Salesforce Ventures—Salesforce's corporate
investment group—invests in the next generation of enterprise
technology to extend the power of the Salesforce Intelligent
Customer Success Platform to help companies connect with their
customers in entirely new ways. Focused on building the world's #1
cloud computing ecosystem, Salesforce Ventures is the most active
investor in the Forbes Cloud 100 list. Salesforce Ventures has also
been one of CBInsights' top 4 most active global CVCs for the past
4 years.
Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the
world's largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of 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 250
enterprise cloud startups in 14 different countries since 2009.
Additional Information
- To learn more about Salesforce Ventures, please visit:
www.salesforce.com/ventures
- To learn more about how Salesforce is driving workforce
development with Trailhead, please visit:
https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en
Connect with Salesforce
- Like Salesforce on Facebook http://facebook.com/salesforce
- Follow@salesforce and @SalesforceVC on Twitter
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 http://www.salesforce.com, or call
1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.
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SOURCE Salesforce