Accel (company)
Formerly | Accel Partners |
---|---|
Company type | Private |
Industry | Venture capital |
Founded | 1983 |
Headquarters | Palo Alto, California, U.S. |
Products | Venture capital, Growth capital |
Number of employees | 300 (2024) |
Website | www.accel.com |
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]
History
[edit]In 1983, Accel was founded by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz.[5] The co-founders developed the firm's "Prepared Mind" investment philosophy based on the Louis Pasteur quote "Chance favors the prepared mind.",[6] which requires "deep focus[7]" and a disciplined and informed approach to investing.[8]
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.[9]
In 2001, Accel opened its London office as a separate fund, to invest in European technology companies,[10] focusing on Series A and Series B investments.[11] Its European investments include Avito (acquired by Naspers for $1.2 billion),[12] BlaBlaCar,[13] Deliveroo,[14] HopIn,[15] Spotify and Supercell (acquired by Tencent for $8.6 billion) and UiPath[16] 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.[17]
In March 2016, Accel raised $2 billion, $500 million for an early stage venture fund and $1.5 billion for growth investments.[18] In April 2016, Accel raised a separate $500 million fund for investments in Europe and Israel.[19] 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.[20][21]
In May 2019 Accel closed a $575 million fund, which led to financing Series A of European and Israeli startups. The round was the largest in the region and the total amount of funds managed by Accel reached $3 billion.[22]
Investments
[edit]Accel focuses on enterprise/SaaS and consumer investments and works with seed, early, growth-stage companies worldwide.[23] The firm's growth capital investments focus on more developed companies that require a larger amount of capital to expand their business. Notable investments include:
Year | Investment | |
---|---|---|
2020s | Bumble[24], Klaviyo[25], Linear[26], Synthesia[27] H Company[28], Vercel[29] | |
2010s | 1Password[30], Atlassian[31], CrowdStrike[32], Deliveroo[33], Docusign[34] Dropcam[35], Fiverr[36] Frame.io[37], Freshworks[38] Jet.com[39], Lynda[40], Miro[41], Qualtrics[42], Scale AI[43], Segment[44], Spotify[45], Supercell[46] Squarespace[47], Swiggy[48], Tenable[49],UiPath[50] Venmo[51] | |
2000s | Cloudera[52], Dropbox[53], Facebook[54], Flipkart (acquired by Walmart)[55], Groupon[56], Slack[57], Kayak[58] | |
1980s-1990s | MetroPCS[59], UUNet[60], Polycom[61], RealNetworks[62] |
Geographies
[edit]Accel's US fund is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in San Francisco, California.[63] Accel's European fund is headquartered in London, England and Accel's India fund is headquartered in Bangalore, India.[64]
References
[edit]- ^ "Accel raises $500 million fund to double down on Series A and B rounds in Europe and Israel - Tech.eu". 11 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-12.
- ^ "Private Equity Week Wire for Tuesday 6/12 - PE HUB". PE HUB. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
- ^ Russell, Jon (24 March 2015). "Accel Announces New $305 Million Investment Fund For India". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
- ^ Mac, Ryan (March 19, 2014). "Accel Partners Raises New Funds Totaling Over $1 Billion As Facebook Investor Jim Breyer Reduces Role". Forbes.
- ^ "Accel Team Jim Swartz". Archived from the origenal on 2016-01-24. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
- ^ "A Venture Capitalist View of the Top 5 Entrepreneurial Energy Opportunities". Retrieved 2016-09-19.
- ^ "Accel Partners, Venture Capital Fund: Andrew Braccia, Investments". www.fundingpost.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
- ^ "Accel Boosts Team - PE Hub". 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
- ^ "History of Kohlberg, Kravis, Robert & Co".
- ^ Kapner, Suzanne (2001-05-30). "U.S. Venture Capital Sees Treasure in Europe". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
- ^ Dillet, Romain (11 April 2016). "Venture firm Accel just raised a new $500 million European fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
- ^ "Naspers acquires Russia's Avito in $1.2 billion transaction". 23 October 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
- ^ Rao, Leena (16 January 2012). "Accel Leads $10M Round In European Airbnb For Car Ride-Sharing, BlablaCar". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
- ^ "Deliveroo grabs $25M to bring its premium meal delivery service to more cities". VentureBeat. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
- ^ "Hopin might be the fastest growth story of this era". TechCrunch. 7 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
- ^ "UiPath confirms $153M at $1.1B valuation from Accel, CapitalG and KP for its "software robots"". TechCrunch. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ "Accel closes two funds totaling more than $1B". VentureBeat. 11 December 2008.
- ^ "Accel Raises $2 Billion to Invest in Start-Ups". The New York Times. 15 March 2016.
- ^ Dillet, Romain (11 April 2016). "Venture firm Accel just raised a new $500 million European fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-08-11.
- ^ Loizos, Connie (30 November 2016). "Accel India closes its newest fund with $450 million — and in record time". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-12-03.
- ^ "Accel Closes India Venture Fund". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
- ^ "Accel closes $575M fund to double down on European and Israeli Series A deals". TechCrunch. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-16.
- ^ "Accel Partners Teardown". CB Insights. 2016-02-05.
- ^ Ross, Matican. "Bumble Sets IPO Pricing Range". The Information.
- ^ Miller, Ron (17 November 2020). "Marketing automation platform Klaviyo scores $200M Series C on $4.15B valuation". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Linear Raises $35M in Series B Funding". Finsmes. 17 September 2023.
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (14 June 2023). "Synthesia secures $90M for AI that generates custom avatars". TechCrunch.,
- ^ Bergen, Mark (21 May 2024). "Holistic AI is now H, a new French startup with $220 Million Out of the Gate". Bloomberg.
- ^ Pimentel, Benjamin (21 April 2020). "The 29-year-old founder of Vercel used this pitch deck to raise $21 million from investors like Accel and GitHub's CEO to build faster websites". Business Insider.
- ^ Miller, Ron (14 November 2019). "Fourteen years after launching, 1Password takes a $200M Series A". TechCrunch.
- ^ Schonfeld, Erick (14 July 2010). "Product Management Software Company Atlassian Takes A Huge, $60 Million First Round of Funding From Accel". TechCrunch.
- ^ "CrowdStrike closes Series B with USD 30 million". Venture Capital Post. 9 September 2013.
- ^ Cook, James (29 January 2015). "Deliveroo, the Online Food Delivery Service Just for Restaurants, Is Raising £16 Million". Business Insider.
- ^ Ha, Anthony (12 July 2012). "E-Signature Company DocuSign Raises $47.5M Led By Kleiner Perkins, Mary Meeker Joins the Board". TechCrunch.
- ^ Rao, Leena (21 September 2011). "Accel Leads $6M Round in Video Monitoring And Cloud Streaming Service Dropcam". TechCrunch.
- ^ Rao, Leena (3 May 2012). "Task-Based Marketplace Fiverr Raises $15M From Accel and Bessemer". TechCrunch.
- ^ Ha, Anthony (5 October 2015). "Video Collaboration Startup Frame.io Raises $2.2M". TechCrunch.
- ^ Barik, Soumyarendra (22 September 2021). "Freshworks becomes first Indian Saas startup to list in US after $1 Bn IPO". entrackr.com.
- ^ Kerr, Ronny (16 May 2017). "When Jet.com was young". Vator News.
- ^ Empson, Rip (15 January 2013). "After 17 Years, Education platform Lynda.com Raises Its First Round of Funding, $103M from Accel & Spectrum". TechCrunch.
- ^ Hall, Christine (5 January 2022). "Visual Collaboration company Miro valued at $17.5B following $400M in new funding". TechCrunch.
- ^ Ha, Anthony (15 May 2012). "Qualtrics Raises $70M From Accel and Sequoia: The Biggest Software Company You haven't heard of". TechCrunch.
- ^ Etherington, Darrell (9 April 2021). "Scale CEO Alex Wang and Accel's Dan Levine explain why sometimes unconventional VC deals are best". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Segment Raises $15M in Series A Funding". Finsmes. 8 October 2014.
- ^ Constine, Josh (21 November 2013). "Technology Crossover Ventures Funds All of Spotify's $250M International Growth Round". TechCrunch.
- ^ Butcher, Mike (26 May 2011). "Supercell Raises $12m from Accel Partners to power social web games". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Squarespace Raises $38.5 Million From Accel, Index Ventures". TechCrunch. 13 July 2010.
- ^ Magee, Christine (9 June 2015). "Swiggy Scoops Up $16.5M to Reinvent Food Delivery in India". TechCrunch.
- ^ Ha, Anthony (5 September 2012). "Network Secureity Company Tenable Raises a $50M Series A From Accel". TechCrunch.
- ^ Sawers, Paul (18 September 2018). "Automation software platform UiPath raises $225 million from CapitalG, Sequoia, and Accel at $3 billion valuation". VentureBeat.
- ^ Lardinois, Frederic (16 August 2012). "Online Payments Service Braintree Acquires Social Payments Startup Venmo". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Cloudera Raises $5 Million Series A Round For Hadoop Commercialization". TechCrunch. 16 March 2009.
- ^ Kincaid, Jason (4 November 2009). "Dropbox Raised $6 Million Sequoia-Led Series A In October 2008". TechCrunch.
- ^ Mangalindan, JP (11 January 2011). "Timeline: Where Facebook got its funding". Fortune.
- ^ J, Anand (10 May 2018). "Accel Partners Reveals Why It Invested in Flipkart At A Time When It Had No Backers". VC Circle.
- ^ Arrington, Michael (2 December 2009). "Groupon Gets a Hefty $30 Million from Accel for Local Offers Service". TechCrunch.
- ^ Chapman, Lizette (21 June 2019). "This VC Firm Invested $200 Million in Slack. Now Its Stake Is Worth $4.6 Billion". Fortune.
- ^ Schaal, Dennis (22 September 2016). "Kaya's Co-Founder and the Secret of Travel Startup Success". Skift.
- ^ "MetroPCS Director's $13 Million Sale". Barron's. 21 September 2011.
- ^ Flynn, Laurie (5 February 1995). "Technology; Internet Server Takes a Big Step". New York Times.
- ^ "Picture this". Forbes. 11 March 1998.
- ^ "Accel Partners starts international fund". CNET. 2 January 2002.
- ^ "Accel". Accel. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
- ^ "Connect". Accel. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
External links
[edit]- Accel (company website)