Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of enterprise software producer Salesforce, launched a $50m impact investment fund called Salesforce Impact Fund yesterday.
The fund will invest in companies using Salesforce technology to tackle and solve issues in areas such as equality, sustainability, workforce development and the social sector. It follows the formation of another $50m fund, the Salesforce AI Innovation Fund, last month.
Salesforce also disclosed the fund’s first four investments, which include its participation this week in off-grid solar system provider Angaza’s $10.5m series B round, which was led by Emerson Collective and backed by Social Capital, Stanford StartX Fund and Rethink Impact.
The fund also represented Salesforce Ventures in a $34.6m round for female-focused investment platform Ellevest, an $8m series A round for text messaging service Hustle and a round of undisclosed size for student employment platform Viridis Learning, it said.
Suzanne DiBianca, Salesforce’s chief philanthropy officer, said: “At Salesforce, we have been committed to doing good as part of our business model since our founding and pioneering of the 1-1-1 model (whereby Salesforce puts 1% of its time, equity and products back into the community).
“The Salesforce Impact Fund allows us to support a new generation of startups that are focused on driving positive social change.”