Customer relationship management software provider Salesforce’s corporate venture capital arm, Salesforce Ventures, launched a $50m Australia-focused fund on Monday dubbed Australia Trailblazer Fund.
The vehicle will invest in enterprise software developers based in Australia and represents the latest in a series of Trailblazer Funds formed by the corporate, beginning with the creation of SI Trailblazer Fund in mid-2017 to back cloud consulting service providers.
US-headquartered Salesforce subsequently formed the $100m Canada Trailblazer Fund in May 2018 before putting another $100m into a vehicle called Japan Trailblazer Fund five months later.
John Somorjai, Salesforce’s executive vice-president of corporate development, who also oversees Salesforce Ventures, said: “Digital transformation is impacting businesses around the world and companies need to innovate faster and smarter to meet customer expectations today.
“Salesforce Ventures recognises the incredible opportunity to invest in Australian entrepreneurs to create world-class startups that will grow the opportunity within the Salesforce ecosystem and deliver customer success.”
Salesforce Ventures said it first began investing in Australia in 2012, and its portfolio includes bug bounty cybersecurity service Bugcrowd and visual marketing software provider Autopilot, both of which have subsequently moved to Silicon Valley to expand.
The unit generated an exit last month when Sqware Peg, its local Salesforce partner, was acquired by Simplus for an undisclosed sum. It had not disclosed details of its Sqware Peg investment but confirmed this week it is a portfolio company.
