Salesforce Ventures Launches $125 Million EMEA Investment Fund

Salesforce Ventures, the venture arm of San Francisco-headquartered customer relations management company Salesforce.com Inc., has launched a $125 million fund focused on companies at any stage that are developing cloud technologies, Salesforce announced Wednesday. The fund will focus on startups in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, including Israel.

Salesforce has acquired five Israeli companies and invested in 12 companies in the country to date and considers Israel a major research and development center, John Somorjai, an executive vice president of corporate development and the head of Salesforce Ventures, said in a phone interview with Calcalist Thursday. According to Somorjai, Salesforce is looking to make further investments in the country and is on the lookout for entrepreneurs that are not just looking to be acquired but want to utilize the resources Salesforce has to offer.

Salesforce Ventures’ previous investments in Israel include on-demand delivery startup Bringg Delivery Technologies Ltd., customer support startup TechSee Augmented Vision Ltd., and payment fraud prevention company Forter Inc.