PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Sep 14, 2016) - Sapphire Ventures today announced it has closed on $1 billion in new capital commitments. The firm invests in high-growth, expansion-stage technology startups across the globe, as well as early-stage, technology-focused venture capital funds. With this new funding, Sapphire's total assets under management increased to more than $2.4 billion.
Sapphire's new $1 billion capital commitment comes on the heels of a strong track record of exits since early 2011, when the firm spun out of global technology leader SAP SE (
"Sapphire's focus remains unchanged -- to back extraordinary entrepreneurs globally and help them build industry-leading businesses," said Nino Marakovic, CEO and managing director of Sapphire Ventures. "In today's rapidly changing marketplace, high-growth startups need the support of experienced, focused and deep-pocketed investors in order to stay competitive. Sapphire is better poised than ever to be this kind of partner for our portfolio companies."
In addition to making direct growth investments, Sapphire invests as a limited partner (LP) in early-stage venture capital funds across the United States, Europe and Israel. Along with the new capital commitment, Sapphire's fund investing business has a new evergreen structure, enabling the firm to provide long-term capital to emerging and established fund managers and stand behind them for multiple fund cycles.
To help its portfolio companies accelerate growth, Sapphire Ventures created a dedicated market development team in 2013. This team leverages the firm's enterprise relationships to connect portfolio companies with decision-makers at Global 1000 companies and drives programs to enhance business development and operations. For example, Sapphire convenes portfolio companies and CIOs of global corporations at its annual CIO Summit and hosts monthly events, such as the Next-Gen Tech Stack Forum. Furthermore, Sapphire proactively draws on the extensive reach and resources of SAP, the firm's limited partner, to maximize access to prominent customers and channel partners globally.
To learn more about Sapphire Ventures, please visit www.sapphireventures.com.
About Sapphire Ventures
Sapphire Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on helping innovative technology companies become global category leaders. Leveraging nearly two decades of experience and an extensive global enterprise network, Sapphire Ventures invests capital, resources and expertise to enable its portfolio companies to scale rapidly. Whether entrepreneurs sell to businesses, consumers or both, Sapphire Ventures offers a powerful platform for business development and operational excellence to help them accelerate growth. With over $2.4 billion under management via direct growth investments and early- stage fund investments, Sapphire Ventures is positioned to elevate companies to the global stage. Find us in Palo Alto and London and at www.sapphireventures.com. Follow us @sapphirevc.
Disclosures: Nothing presented herein is intended to constitute investment advice and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures. Sapphire Ventures does not solicit or make its services available to the public and none of the funds are currently open to new investors.
The investments identified above do not necessarily represent all of the investments made or recommended by Sapphire Ventures, and were not selected based on the return on Sapphire Ventures' investment in them. It should not be assumed that any current or future investments were or will be profitable. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.
1 http://pitchbook.com/newsletter/the-top-7-vcs-behind-us-tech-ipos
2 http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/11/worst-year-for-tech-ipos-since-2009/
Contact Information:
Media Contact:
VSC for Sapphire Ventures
Lauren Barlow
lauren@vscconsulting.com
(415) 869-8629