LONDON, Oct. 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- ENTERPRISE EMEA -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the Customer Success Platform and world's #1 CRM company, today announced that Salesforce Ventures—the company's global corporate investment group—has allocated $100 million to invest in European startups to fuel cloud innovation and customer success in the region. IDC forecasts that Europe's public cloud software market will grow almost 12 times faster than other IT segments to reach €33.3 billion by 2019¹. The new $100 million commitment will provide funding and support to the entrepreneurs driving this growth in Europe.

The global shift to the cloud has opened the door to new and exciting social, mobile and data science technologies, and has created unprecedented growth in cloud computing spending by companies across Europe. Since 2009, Salesforce Ventures has been actively investing in the next generation of enterprise cloud startups that are part of the emerging global enterprise app economy.

Salesforce Ventures portfolio companies receive funding to accelerate their growth and gain a competitive edge through access to the world's largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage the expertise of the Salesforce Foundation to incorporate its 1-1-1 model of integrated philanthropy to make giving back part of their business model. The Salesforce Ventures portfolio includes innovative European cloud companies such as CartoDB, CloudSense, Cloud9 IDE, NewVoiceMedia, Qubit, Universal Avenue and YOUR SL.

Comments on the News:

• "There is so much incredible innovation happening in Europe today and we want to empower the next generation of enterprise cloud startups in the region," said John Somorjai, EVP of Corporate Development and Salesforce Ventures, Salesforce. "Our $100 million commitment strengthens our mission to help startups grow and give back to their communities."
• "This new commitment from Salesforce Ventures will stimulate the next generation of enterprise technology and grow the Salesforce ecosystem to drive even greater customer success in Europe," said Miguel Milano, President, Salesforce EMEA.
• "CartoDB's mission is to enable anyone to map their world's data and leverage the power of location intelligence," said Javier de la Torre, co-founder and CEO, CartoDB. "In addition to funding, Salesforce Ventures' global expertise will help us more effectively bring our data visualization tools to individual and business users around the world."
• "Salesforce Ventures provides not only the funding, network and introductions, but also the mentorship and framework to help companies understand how they can give back as they grow," said Ruben Daniels, co-founder and CEO, Cloud9 IDE. "We are proud of our commitment to Pledge 1% and expand diversity in the technology industry by making the community a key stakeholder in our business."
• "Salesforce Ventures is an incredibly strong partner for NewVoiceMedia," said Jonathan Gale, CEO, NewVoiceMedia. "Its investment in our business, solutions, strategy and vision has allowed us to expand our business faster, while giving us access to the most experienced and innovative cloud executives, ecosystem and customers to ensure we maintain our rapid growth rate."
• "Beyond funding, Salesforce Ventures gives us unique access to the Salesforce customer ecosystem," said Graham Cooke, founder and CEO, Qubit. "Our partnership with Salesforce Ventures is one that is recognized and valued by the enterprise customers we want to sell to."
• "An investment from Salesforce Ventures offers a collaborative partnership," said Thorsten Köhler, co-founder, CEO, YOUR SL. "Salesforce Ventures has increased our ability to stay competitive as we grow and connect with new enterprise customers, delivering success to the entire spectrum of business."

Connect with Salesforce Ventures

• Learn more about Salesforce Ventures: http://www.salesforce.com/ventures
• Follow @SalesforceVC on Twitter
• Learn more about the Salesforce Foundation: http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/
• Learn more about Pledge 1%: http://www.pledge1percent.org/

Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce Ventures—Salesforce's corporate investment group—invests in the next generation of enterprise technology to help companies connect with their customers in entirely new ways. Portfolio companies receive funding as well as access to the world's largest cloud ecosystem and the guidance of Salesforce's innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage the expertise of the Salesforce Foundation to incorporate its 1-1-1 model of integrated philanthropy to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce has invested in more than 150 enterprise cloud startups since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures

¹ David Bradshaw, Research Manager, European Public Cloud Services, IDC EMEA

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SOURCE Salesforce