Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for US-headquartered enterprise software producer Salesforce, launched a $100m fund on Tuesday to invest in Japan-based companies.
The Japan Trailblazer Fund will invest in startups situated in the country that fit into the Salesforce ecosystem. It was announced at the Salesforce World Tour Tokyo event this week.
Salesforce Ventures has already backed some 40 companies in Japan including Terrasky, the Salesforce distributor that floated in 2015, as well as accounting software producer Freee, human resources technology provider BizReach and business card management platform Sansan.
John Somorjai, executive vice-president of Salesforce Ventures, said: “There is incredible innovation happening in Japan today, and the Japan Trailblazer Fund represents our continued commitment to Japanese startup growth and customer success.
“With this new fund, we are excited to further support innovative Japanese entrepreneurs and empower the next generation of enterprise cloud companies that will benefit our customers.”
The launch of Japan Trailblazer Fund comes seven months after the unit put up $100m for a Canada Trailblazer Fund in May this year. It formed a $50m vehicle called SI Trailblazer Fund in May 2017 to back cloud consulting service providers.
