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Accel (company)

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For the acquired software company, see Accel Technologies.
Accel
FormerlyAccel Partners
Company typePrivate
IndustryVenture capital
Founded1983; 41 years ago (1983)
HeadquartersPalo Alto, California, U.S.
ProductsVenture capital, Growth capital
Number of employees
300 (2024) Edit this on Wikidata
Websitewww.accel.com

Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is a global 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] and India[3].

History

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In 1983, Accel was founded by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz.[4] The co-founders developed the firm's "Prepared Mind" investment philosophy based on the Louis Pasteur quote "Chance favors the prepared mind.",[5] which requires "deep focus[6]" and a disciplined and informed approach to investing.[7]

Investments

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Accel focuses on enterprise/SaaS and consumer investments and works with seed, early, growth-stage companies worldwide.[8] 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[9], Klaviyo[10], Linear[11], Synthesia[12] H Company[13], Vercel[14], Buffalo Bills[15]
2010s 1Password[16], Atlassian[17], CrowdStrike[18], Deliveroo[19], Docusign[20] Dropcam[21], Fiverr[22] Frame.io[23], Freshworks[24] Jet.com[25], Lynda[26], Miro[27], Qualtrics[28], Scale AI[29], Segment[30], Spotify[31], Supercell[32] Squarespace[33], Swiggy[34], Tenable[35],UiPath[36] Venmo[37]
2000s Cloudera[38], Dropbox[39], Facebook[40], Flipkart (acquired by Walmart)[41], Groupon[42], Slack[43], Kayak[44]
1980s-1990s MetroPCS[45], UUNet[46], Polycom[47], RealNetworks[48]

Geographies

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Accel has offices in Palo Alto and San Francisco, California,[49] London, England, and Bangalore, India.[50]

In 2000, Accel entered a joint venture with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to form Accel-KKR, an independently operated technology-focused private equity investment firm focused on control investments in middle-market companies.[51] Similarly, in the same year, Accel partnered with IDG Capital to create IDG-Accel, a joint venture focusing on early-stage and growth investments in the Chinese market.[52] Both Accel-KKR and IDG-Accel now operate independently.

References

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  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ "Private Equity Week Wire for Tuesday 6/12 - PE HUB". PE HUB. 4 April 2016.
  3. ^ Russell, Jon (24 March 2015). "Accel Announces New $305 Million Investment Fund For India". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  4. ^ "Accel Team Jim Swartz". Archived from the original on 2016-01-24. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  5. ^ "A Venture Capitalist View of the Top 5 Entrepreneurial Energy Opportunities". Retrieved 2016-09-19.
  6. ^ "Accel Partners, Venture Capital Fund: Andrew Braccia, Investments". www.fundingpost.com. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
  7. ^ "Accel Boosts Team - PE Hub". 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
  8. ^ "Accel Partners Teardown". CB Insights. 2016-02-05.
  9. ^ Ross, Matican. "Bumble Sets IPO Pricing Range". The Information.
  10. ^ Miller, Ron (17 November 2020). "Marketing automation platform Klaviyo scores $200M Series C on $4.15B valuation". TechCrunch.
  11. ^ "Linear Raises $35M in Series B Funding". Finsmes. 17 September 2023.
  12. ^ Wiggers, Kyle (14 June 2023). "Synthesia secures $90M for AI that generates custom avatars". TechCrunch.,
  13. ^ Bergen, Mark (21 May 2024). "Holistic AI is now H, a new French startup with $220 Million Out of the Gate". Bloomberg.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ Wilson, Brayton (2024-12-11). "NFL approves new minority ownership group for Bills". WBEN. Retrieved 2024-12-11.
  16. ^ Miller, Ron (14 November 2019). "Fourteen years after launching, 1Password takes a $200M Series A". TechCrunch.
  17. ^ Schonfeld, Erick (14 July 2010). "Product Management Software Company Atlassian Takes A Huge, $60 Million First Round of Funding From Accel". TechCrunch.
  18. ^ "CrowdStrike closes Series B with USD 30 million". Venture Capital Post. 9 September 2013.
  19. ^ Cook, James (29 January 2015). "Deliveroo, the Online Food Delivery Service Just for Restaurants, Is Raising £16 Million". Business Insider.
  20. ^ Ha, Anthony (12 July 2012). "E-Signature Company DocuSign Raises $47.5M Led By Kleiner Perkins, Mary Meeker Joins the Board". TechCrunch.
  21. ^ Rao, Leena (21 September 2011). "Accel Leads $6M Round in Video Monitoring And Cloud Streaming Service Dropcam". TechCrunch.
  22. ^ Rao, Leena (3 May 2012). "Task-Based Marketplace Fiverr Raises $15M From Accel and Bessemer". TechCrunch.
  23. ^ Ha, Anthony (5 October 2015). "Video Collaboration Startup Frame.io Raises $2.2M". TechCrunch.
  24. ^ Barik, Soumyarendra (22 September 2021). "Freshworks becomes first Indian Saas startup to list in US after $1 Bn IPO". entrackr.com.
  25. ^ Kerr, Ronny (16 May 2017). "When Jet.com was young". Vator News.
  26. ^ Empson, Rip (15 January 2013). "After 17 Years, Education platform Lynda.com Raises Its First Round of Funding, $103M from Accel & Spectrum". TechCrunch.
  27. ^ Hall, Christine (5 January 2022). "Visual Collaboration company Miro valued at $17.5B following $400M in new funding". TechCrunch.
  28. ^ Ha, Anthony (15 May 2012). "Qualtrics Raises $70M From Accel and Sequoia: The Biggest Software Company You haven't heard of". TechCrunch.
  29. ^ Etherington, Darrell (9 April 2021). "Scale CEO Alex Wang and Accel's Dan Levine explain why sometimes unconventional VC deals are best". TechCrunch.
  30. ^ "Segment Raises $15M in Series A Funding". Finsmes. 8 October 2014.
  31. ^ Constine, Josh (21 November 2013). "Technology Crossover Ventures Funds All of Spotify's $250M International Growth Round". TechCrunch.
  32. ^ Butcher, Mike (26 May 2011). "Supercell Raises $12m from Accel Partners to power social web games". TechCrunch.
  33. ^ "Squarespace Raises $38.5 Million From Accel, Index Ventures". TechCrunch. 13 July 2010.
  34. ^ Magee, Christine (9 June 2015). "Swiggy Scoops Up $16.5M to Reinvent Food Delivery in India". TechCrunch.
  35. ^ Ha, Anthony (5 September 2012). "Network Security Company Tenable Raises a $50M Series A From Accel". TechCrunch.
  36. ^ Sawers, Paul (18 September 2018). "Automation software platform UiPath raises $225 million from CapitalG, Sequoia, and Accel at $3 billion valuation". VentureBeat.
  37. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (16 August 2012). "Online Payments Service Braintree Acquires Social Payments Startup Venmo". TechCrunch.
  38. ^ "Cloudera Raises $5 Million Series A Round For Hadoop Commercialization". TechCrunch. 16 March 2009.
  39. ^ Kincaid, Jason (4 November 2009). "Dropbox Raised $6 Million Sequoia-Led Series A In October 2008". TechCrunch.
  40. ^ Mangalindan, JP (11 January 2011). "Timeline: Where Facebook got its funding". Fortune.
  41. ^ J, Anand (10 May 2018). "Accel Partners Reveals Why It Invested in Flipkart At A Time When It Had No Backers". VC Circle.
  42. ^ Arrington, Michael (2 December 2009). "Groupon Gets a Hefty $30 Million from Accel for Local Offers Service". TechCrunch.
  43. ^ Chapman, Lizette (21 June 2019). "This VC Firm Invested $200 Million in Slack. Now Its Stake Is Worth $4.6 Billion". Fortune.
  44. ^ Schaal, Dennis (22 September 2016). "Kaya's Co-Founder and the Secret of Travel Startup Success". Skift.
  45. ^ "MetroPCS Director's $13 Million Sale". Barron's. 21 September 2011.
  46. ^ Flynn, Laurie (5 February 1995). "Technology; Internet Server Takes a Big Step". New York Times.
  47. ^ "Picture this". Forbes. 11 March 1998.
  48. ^ "Accel Partners starts international fund". CNET. 2 January 2002.
  49. ^ "Accel". Accel. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  50. ^ "Connect". Accel. Retrieved 2016-09-15.
  51. ^ Dowd, Kevin (17 April 2017). "Accel-KKR dips into Europe for latest tech transaction". Pitchbook.
  52. ^ Mac, Ryan (March 19, 2014). "Accel Partners Raises New Funds Totaling Over $1 Billion As Facebook Investor Jim Breyer Reduces Role". Forbes.
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