Recognized for Successful Investments Including Veeva, Salesforce and Box, Emergence Capital Continues to be the Only Early-Stage Firm Focused on Enterprise Companies

SAN MATEO, Calif., May 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Emergence Capital, the leading venture capital firm focused on early-stage enterprise companies, announced it has raised ECP V, a $435M fund dedicated to investing in people who change the way the world works. Its thematic approach and focus on early stage investments, unique among VC firms in today’s funding climate, has led to numerous successful exits as well as investments in industry-leading companies such as Zoom, ServiceMax, Intacct, Blend, Gusto, Bill.com and Textio. The 15-year-old firm raised its last fund of $335M in 2015.

Since its founding, Emergence has specialized in funding early stage startups and been on the leading edge of identifying and investing in up-and-coming technology trends. The model has proven very successful, enabling Emergence to help grow its early stage investments in 9 companies to values that now exceed $1 billion each. That track record is noteworthy because the firm makes, on average, just five to seven new investments annually. Its early thematic investments were in SaaS and industry-focused Cloud companies, and more recently in technology for field and remote workers, a thesis it calls the “Deskless Workforce.”  Its new focus, on companies that help workers learn from the best, is called “Coaching Networks”.

“Emergence Capital’s investment model will continue to be successful because it allows us to partner with startups early on, to add value throughout their growth and to win big in the long term,” said Jason Green, Co-Founder and General Partner. “We’re now in an era of mega-sized Series C and D rounds, and Emergence is filling the void in early-stage investing, while meeting the demand from entrepreneurs who want to work with focused venture firms.” According to PwC MoneyTree, it is more difficult to find Series A funding. In fact, since 2008, 80 percent of the increase in U.S. software investments has been in Series B funds and beyond.

“Emergence was our first Silicon Valley-based institutional investor and in the three-plus years we’ve partnered with them they have helped us grow from a small startup to over 1,000 employees,” said Eric S. Yuan, Founder & CEO, Zoom. “I deeply value the guidance the Emergence team provides us and the long-term partnership we have.”

WHY COACHING NETWORKS WILL REWIRE HOW WE WORK
Emergence Capital’s investments have always centered on leading-edge, disruptive technologies that fundamentally improve the way people work. With its fifth fund, Emergence will double down on funding companies that empower workers to become more productive using machine learning (ML). Its recent investments in Coaching Networks companies, which use ML to understand similar worker’s behaviors and help the network learn from the most productive habits, include Textio, Chorus.ai, Mya, Guru, and Drishti.

“Machine learning and AI are the fabric of the next generation of software and are driving a sea change for all workers globally,” said Gordon Ritter, Co-Founder and General Partner. “Emergence will invest in companies that dramatically improve human productivity, helping us all stay ahead of the AI wave that is coming. By funding these companies, we’re not just investing in entrepreneurs, we’re investing in all workers – making this next software era far more valuable than even the cloud revolution.”

About Emergence Capital

Emergence Capital (@emergencecap), is the leading venture capital firm focused on early stage enterprise companies. Its mission is to be the most valuable partner to the most important companies that are changing the way the world works. In 2017, the firm was named Venture Firm of the Year by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The firm’s investments include companies such as Salesforce (CRM), Veeva Systems (VEEV), Box (BOX), SuccessFactors (SFSF, acquired by SAP), Yammer (acquired by Microsoft), Zoom, ServiceMax (acquired by GE) and Intaact (acquired by Sage). More information on Emergence Capital can be found at http://www.emcap.com.

Contact Information

Audrey Webb for Emergence Capital

[email protected], 408-472-2603