Australian entrepreneurs saw an amazing opportunity for growth and development as Salesforce Ventures launched a $50 million Investment Fund for them last March 2019. Dubbed as the Australian Trailblazer Fund, the grant will go to deserving software enterprises. Salesforce made the announcement during their World Tour Sydney event.
Here’s a bit more information about the fund, where it will go, and why it matters to Australian startups.
Australian Trailblazer Fund Details
Chief Product Officer for Salesforce, Bret Taylor, announced the launching of the Australian Trailblazer Fund at the World Tour Sydney. This fund consists of US $50 million (AUD $70.5 million) and will be used to support Australian tech startups with a keen connection to Salesforce systems.
Criteria for selecting the startups to be supported by the fund include at least one of the following:
- The startup must have a platform built using Salesforce.
- The startup’s platform can fully-integrate with Salesforce solutions
- The startup directly implements Salesforce technology in their business
Examples of startups which Salesforce Ventures supported in the past include companies using and offering the following technologies:
- Developer solutions
- Apps with AI technology
- Open-source projects
- AR/VR
There are no strict rules as to which level a startup already accomplished in the business world in order to be granted part of the fund. Salesforce is open to supporting both fresh enterprises and more established small companies.
Salesforce Ventures also did not release a timeframe for when the Australian Trailblazer Fund project will be completed.
The fund will be spearheaded by Salesforce Ventures’ Head of Australia Rob Keith.
Investing Outside California
The tech giant has made lots of investments and partnerships around the world, with over 300 startups supported in 20 countries including Japan, Canada, and Europe. The company plans to add more investments in countries such as Australia in the coming years.
Salesforce wants to invest in Australia because it believes in the country’s capacity for innovation that will ultimately lead to customer success. And indeed, Salesforce is no stranger to investing in the Australian startup ecosystem. The tech giant managed to support plenty of Australian startups that scaled up into large businesses such as Sqware Peg, Autopilot, Practifi, and Bugcrowd.
The Wrap-Up
Salesforce invites Australian tech startups to scale up with the launch of the USD $50 million Australian Trailblazer Fund. Go to salesforce.com/ventures and visit the Twitter and LinkedIn accounts of Salesforce Ventures to share your startups’ details, and get the chance to be funded by the world’s largest CRM provider.