[NEWS] Madrona Venture Group launches $100M acceleration fund – Loganspace

Seattle’sMadrona Venture Teamhas long been one in every of basically the most prominent early-stage funds within the yard of Amazon and Microsoft. Now, nonetheless, the firm is starting up to seem for past the Pacific Northwest with the originate of its $100 million Acceleration Fund, which will create bigger its geographic reach to your complete U.S. and offers it a car to make investments in later rounds.

The contemporary fund will judge Madrona create more investments at the Series B and C stage. While Madrona has made a huge vary of investments over time, including some into person providers, its focal point has long been on endeavor cloud companies, ranging from Apptio to Smartsheets and Heptio (which VMware fair now not too long within the past bought). We’ll judge a identical focal point with this contemporary fund, as Madrona managing director Matt McIlwain suggested me, with an emphasis on cloud and applied machine studying companies. Unlike Madrona’s contemporary focal point on the Pacific Northwest — and Seattle in shriek — this fund will moreover make investments in companies across the country.

“Our long-time approach has been early stage, mammoth-essentially essentially based abilities, Pacific Northwest,” McIlwain suggested me. “We name it an acceleration fund because we are seeking to differentiate it from what another americans name opportunity funds, which is more of a ‘achieve more money into my existing company.’ Here is now not that. Here is contemporary cash into nice companies that hold reached that preliminary product-market match and that are seeking to dawdle up their growth.”

Madrona moreover expects that these companies hold reached product differentiation and founders and key executives that can promote these products.

McIlwain important that Madrona has selectively made these kinds of investments in companies love Tigera, Snowflake and Accolade over time already. This contemporary fund provides the firm a proper car to make investments in companies where it believes it can maybe add more price at this later stage.

“After I joined Accolade almost four years within the past – the mission became to dawdle up the corporate’s growth by discovering basically the most entertaining skill to win a world-class product and distribution crew,” acknowledged Accolade CEO Raj Singh “To create that, you’d like world-class partners. Having labored with Matt McIlwain and Madrona on each the Apptio and Amperity board of directors, reaching out to Madrona became high on my priority list on day one. And in addition they hold lived as a lot as my expectations – helping with buyer acquisition, excessive hires, key partnerships, and worthwhile counsel.”

McIlwain suggested me that Madrona has but to create its first investment from the contemporary fund. “But we’re alive to to win that first person that’ll be particular sufficient,” he acknowledged.