Database software provider MongoDB has appointed Suraj Patel (pictured) head of strategic investment vehicle MongoDB Ventures, six months after launching the fund.
Patel comes to the unit after six years at venture capital fund Bow Capital, where he had been a principal specialising in enterprise software. He represented Bow on the boards of portfolio companies sales tool developer Rev, customer service software startup Loris, and data technology providers Heartex and ArangoDB.
MongoDB Ventures is based around the product ecosystem idea, pioneered by Salesforce Ventures and taken on by several other members of the enterprise software industry when they formed their venture arms.
The model involves finding and helping build developers of software tools that can fit with a company’s core product to broaden its reach. US-based MongoDB is the creator of a multi-cloud database software product aimed at developers, and is targeting data and artificial intelligence technology startups.
The unit’s first two portfolio companies were BigID, a data intelligence software provider valued above $1bn in 2021, and Apollo GraphQL, which develops tools for the GraphQL programming language. It added low-code software development technology producer 8base in April.
MongoDB Ventures intends to also provide portfolio companies with product support and go-to-market assistance in addition to linking them up to MongoDB customers and matching them with executives who can act as mentors.
Photo of Suraj Patel courtesy of Twitter/Bow Capital.
