Wikipedia

Accel (company)

(Redirected fromAccel Partners)
For the acquired software company, seeAccel Technologies.

Accel,formerly known asAccel Partners,is an Americanventure capitalfirm. Accel works withstartupsin seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices inPalo Alto, CaliforniaandSan Francisco, California,with additional operating funds inLondon,[1][2]India[3]andChina(through a partnership withInternational Data Group(IDG-Accel)).[4]

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

History

edit

In 1983, Accel was founded by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz.[5]The co-founders developed the firm's "Prepared Mind" investment philosophy based on theLouis Pasteurquote "Chance favors the prepared mind.",[6]which requires "deep focus[7]"and a disciplined and informed approach to investing.[8]

In 2000, Accel entered a joint-venture withKohlberg Kravis Robertsto form Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity investment firm focused on control investments in middle-market companies.[9]

In 2001, Accel opened its London office as a separate fund, to invest in European technology companies,[10]focusing on Series A and Series B investments.[11]Its European investments include Avito (acquired byNaspersfor $1.2 billion),[12]BlaBlaCar,[13]Deliveroo,[14]HopIn,[15]SpotifyandSupercell(acquired byTencentfor $8.6 billion) andUiPath[16]among others.

In addition to Accel's continued investments in early-stage startups from the Accel early stage fund, the firm announced a $480 million growth fund in December 2008, focused on growth equity opportunities in information technology, the internet, digital media, mobile, networking, software, and services.[17]

In March 2016, Accel raised $2 billion, $500 million for an early stage venture fund and $1.5 billion for growth investments.[18]In April 2016, Accel raised a separate $500 million fund for investments in Europe and Israel.[19]In November 2016, Accel's India arm closed its fifth fund with $450 million, about two years after closing its fourth fund with $325 million.[20][21]

In May 2019 Accel closed a $575 million fund, which led to financing Series A of European and Israeli startups. The round was the largest in the region and the total amount of funds managed by Accel reached $3 billion.[22]

Portfolio

edit

Accel is a venture capital firm that concentrates on the following technology sectors:[23][24]

  • Consumer
  • Infrastructure
  • Media
  • Mobile
  • SaaS
  • Security
  • Customer care services
  • Enterprise software
  • E-commerce

Investments

edit

Accel works with seed, early and growth-stage investments.[25]Its seed and early stage investments includeLaravel,Cloudera,Dropbox,Dropcam,Facebook,Flipkart,Jet.com,Podium,Webflow[26]andSlack.The firm'sgrowth capitalinvestments focus on more developed companies that require a larger amount of capital to expand their business.[27]Examples includeAtlassian,DJIandQualtrics.[28]

Recent exits include:

edit

Though the brand is one, there are at least 4 different, independent legal entities. In the US, it isAccel Management Co. Inc.based in Palo Alto, California. In London, there areAccel London Management LimitedandAccel Partners Management LLP.There is also IDG-Accel China, legallyIDG VC Management Ltd,located in Hong Kong.[49]

Geographies

edit

Accel's US fund is headquartered inPalo Alto,California, with offices inSan Francisco,California.[50]Accel's European fund is headquartered inLondon,England and Accel's India fund is headquartered inBangalore,India.[51]

References

edit
  1. ^"Accel raises $500 million fund to double down on Series A and B rounds in Europe and Israel - Tech.eu".11 April 2016.Retrieved2016-09-12.
  2. ^"Private Equity Week Wire for Tuesday 6/12 - PE HUB".PE HUB.Retrieved2016-03-04.
  3. ^Russell, Jon (24 March 2015)."Accel Announces New $305 Million Investment Fund For India".TechCrunch.Retrieved2016-03-04.
  4. ^Mac, Ryan (March 19, 2014)."Accel Partners Raises New Funds Totaling Over $1 Billion As Facebook Investor Jim Breyer Reduces Role".Forbes.
  5. ^"Accel Team Jim Swartz".Archived fromthe originalon 2016-01-24.Retrieved2016-01-01.
  6. ^"A Venture Capitalist View of the Top 5 Entrepreneurial Energy Opportunities".Retrieved2016-09-19.
  7. ^"Accel Partners, Venture Capital Fund: Andrew Braccia, Investments".www.fundingpost.com.Retrieved2016-09-19.
  8. ^"Accel Boosts Team - PE Hub".2013-07-24.Retrieved2016-09-19.
  9. ^"History of Kohlberg, Kravis, Robert & Co".
  10. ^Kapner, Suzanne (2001-05-30)."U.S. Venture Capital Sees Treasure in Europe".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2016-08-23.
  11. ^Dillet, Romain (11 April 2016)."Venture firm Accel just raised a new $500 million European fund".TechCrunch.Retrieved2016-08-23.
  12. ^"Naspers acquires Russia's Avito in $1.2 billion transaction".23 October 2015.Retrieved2016-08-23.
  13. ^Rao, Leena (16 January 2012)."Accel Leads $10M Round In European Airbnb For Car Ride-Sharing, BlablaCar".TechCrunch.Retrieved2016-08-23.
  14. ^"Deliveroo grabs $25M to bring its premium meal delivery service to more cities".VentureBeat.29 January 2015.Retrieved2016-08-23.
  15. ^"Hopin might be the fastest growth story of this era".TechCrunch.7 January 2021.Retrieved2021-01-24.
  16. ^"UiPath confirms $153M at $1.1B valuation from Accel, CapitalG and KP for its" software robots "".TechCrunch.6 March 2018.Retrieved2021-02-03.
  17. ^"Accel closes two funds totaling more than $1B".VentureBeat. 11 December 2008.
  18. ^"Accel Raises $2 Billion to Invest in Start-Ups".The New York Times.15 March 2016.
  19. ^Dillet, Romain (11 April 2016)."Venture firm Accel just raised a new $500 million European fund".TechCrunch.Retrieved2016-08-11.
  20. ^Loizos, Connie (30 November 2016)."Accel India closes its newest fund with $450 million — and in record time".TechCrunch.Retrieved2016-12-03.
  21. ^"Accel Closes India Venture Fund".Fortune.Retrieved2017-01-26.
  22. ^"Accel closes $575M fund to double down on European and Israeli Series A deals".TechCrunch.15 May 2019.Retrieved2019-05-16.
  23. ^"Accel".Accel.Archived fromthe originalon 2016-08-08.Retrieved2016-08-12.
  24. ^"Accel Partners Teardown".2016-02-05.Retrieved2016-08-12.
  25. ^"Accel Partners Teardown".2016-02-05.Retrieved2016-08-19.
  26. ^"No-Code Website Builder Webflow Went From Near Bankruptcy To A $72 Million Series A Funding Round".Forbes.August 7, 2019.
  27. ^Loizos, Connie (15 March 2016)."Venture firm Accel Partners just raised $2B from its investors".TechCrunch.Retrieved2016-08-19.
  28. ^Ha, Anthony (15 May 2012)."Qualtrics Raises $70M From Accel And Sequoia:" The Biggest Software Company You Haven't Heard Of "?".TechCrunch.Archivedfrom the original on Dec 5, 2021.
  29. ^Das, Avik (5 June 2014)."Arista Networks IPO values company at about $2.75 billion".Reuters.Retrieved2014-06-05.
  30. ^"Top 5 of Successful High-Tech IPOs in 2015".The Strategist.December 25, 2015.Retrieved2016-08-18.10th of December, Australian company Atlassian raised $ 462 million, posting 22 million shares at $ 21 on the NASDAQ. Thus, the company was valued at $ 4.4 billion.
  31. ^Spillane, Chris; Khrennikov, Ilya (23 October 2015)."Naspers Takes Control of Russia's Avito in $1.2 Billion Purchase".Bloomberg.Archivedfrom the original on Sep 25, 2016.Retrieved2016-09-06.
  32. ^Rao, Leena; Perez, Sarah; Lunden, Ingrid (26 September 2013)."EBay's PayPal Acquires Payments Gateway Braintree For $800M In Cash".TechCrunch.Archivedfrom the original on Sep 25, 2016.Retrieved2016-09-06.
  33. ^Kendall, Marisa (April 28, 2017)."Cloudera, Silicon Valley's latest IPO, pops in first day trading".Mercury News.Retrieved2017-04-28.But some of the excitement that performance should have caused was tempered because Cloudera ended the day worth about $2.3 billion — a far cry from the $4.1 billion valuation it last received as a private company.
  34. ^Subba, Nikhil; Rabouin, Dion (2017-09-20). Ravikumar, Sai Sachin; O'Brien, Rosalba (eds.)."Argentine travel firm Despegar stock jumps on U.S. IPO".Reuters.Retrieved2017-09-20.
  35. ^D'Onfro, Jillian (Apr 15, 2015)."Etsy prices its IPO at $16 per share, making it worth $1.78 billion".Business Insider.Retrieved2016-08-18.
  36. ^Raice, Shayndi; Das, Anupreeta; Letzing, John (2012-05-18)."Facebook Prices IPO at Record Value".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Archivedfrom the original on Aug 26, 2016.Retrieved2016-08-18.At $38 a share, Facebook is valued at $104 billion, the biggest-ever valuation by an American company at the time of its offering.
  37. ^Barinka, Alex (October 26, 2017)."Accel-Backed ForeScout Climbs After Raising $116 Million in IPO".Bloomberg.Archivedfrom the original on Oct 28, 2017.Retrieved2017-10-27.
  38. ^Cao, Jing; King, Ian (16 June 2014)."SanDisk to Buy Fusion-io for $1.1 Billion".Bloomberg.Archivedfrom the original on Sep 11, 2016.Retrieved2016-09-06.
  39. ^"Ritchie Bros. Completes Its Acquisition of IronPlanet, Growing Digital Presence and Offering Unprecedented Choice to Customers".PRNewswire(Press release). May 31, 2017.Retrieved2017-05-31.Ritchie Bros. acquired IronPlanet for approximately $758.5 million, subject to customary closing adjustments.
  40. ^Selina_y_wang, Shannon Pettypiece spettypi Selina Wang."Wal-Mart to Acquire Jet.com for $3.3 Billion to Fight Amazon".Bloomberg.com.Retrieved2016-08-18.
  41. ^"Salesforce Buys Krux, the Data-Management Platform, for $700 Million".3 October 2016.Retrieved2016-10-03.
  42. ^"LinkedIn Enters Ed Tech with Lynda.com Acquisition – Its Largest Acquisition Ever".2015-04-09.Retrieved2016-08-18.
  43. ^"It's Official: China's Wanda Acquires Legendary Entertainment for $3.5 Billion".The Hollywood Reporter.11 January 2016.Retrieved2016-08-18.
  44. ^Forsell, Thomas (2017-09-28)."Angry Birds maker Rovio valued at $1 billion in IPO".Reuters.Retrieved2017-09-28.
  45. ^Osawa, Juro; Needleman, Sarah E. (2016-06-21)."Tencent Seals Deal to Buy 'Clash of Clans' Developer Supercell for $8.6 Billion".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Retrieved2016-08-18.
  46. ^"'A sigh of relief' for Silicon Valley as consumer-Web stock Trulia soars in IPO ".20 September 2012.Retrieved2016-09-06.
  47. ^Christie, Les (2014-07-28)."Zillow buys Trulia for $3.5 billion".CNNMoney.Retrieved2016-09-06.
  48. ^"Tiger Global and Accel lead facility management startup Facilio's $6.4M Series A".TechCrunch.5 December 2018.Retrieved2018-12-05.
  49. ^"Accel - Legal".
  50. ^"Accel".Accel.Retrieved2016-09-15.
  51. ^"Connect".Accel.Retrieved2016-09-15.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Accel_(company)&oldid=1258248560"