Accel (company)

Last updated
Accel
FormerlyAccel Partners
Company type Private
Industry Venture capital
Founded1983;42 years ago (1983)
Headquarters Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Products Venture capital
Growth capital
Number of employees
300 (2024)  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website www.accel.com

Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is a global venture capital firm. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional offices in London, [1] [2] and India. [3] The company's most notable investment was a $12.7 million investment in Facebook in May 2005 for 10% of the company, before the company had revenue.

Contents

Accel invests in enterprise, SaaS, and consumer companies in seed, early, and growth-stage worldwide. [4]

History

In 1983, Accel was founded by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz. [5] The co-founders developed the firm's "prepared mind" investment philosophy based on the Louis Pasteur quote "chance favors the prepared mind", [6] which they say requires "deep focus" and a disciplined and informed approach to investing. [7]

In 2000, Accel and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts formed Accel-KKR, an independently operated technology-focused private equity investment firm focused on control investments in middle-market companies. [8] In the same year, Accel partnered with IDG Capital to create IDG-Accel, a joint venture focusing on early-stage and growth investments in the Chinese market. [9]

In May 2005, Accel, under the leadership of Jim Breyer, invested $12.7 million for 10% of Facebook, before the company had revenue. [10] This investment became one of the most lucrative in venture capital history and was worth $6.6 billion at the time of the company's initial public offering in 2012. [11]

Investments and fundraises

In December 2019, the company raised $550 million in its 6th investment fund focused on India. [12]

In May 2024, Accel raised a $650 million fund to invest in early-stage companies across Europe and Israel, with a focus on artificial intelligence and computer security. Fundraising was facilitated, in part, by the establishment of Accel's London office in 2000. [13]

In January 2025, Accel raised a $650 million early stage fund for startups in India and South East Asia. This was the firm's 8th fund focused on India. [14]

Notable investments
YearCompanies
2020s Bumble, [15] Klaviyo, [16] Linear, [17] Synthesia, [18] H Company, [19] Vercel, [20] Tailscale, [21] Recurly, [22] Laravel [23]
2010s 1Password, [24] Atlassian, [25] CrowdStrike, [26] Deliveroo, [27] Docusign, [28] Dropcam, [29] Fiverr, [30] Frame.io, [31] Freshworks [32] Jet.com, [33] Lynda, [34] Miro, [35] Qualtrics, [36] Scale AI, [37] Spotify, [38] Supercell, [39] Squarespace, [40] Swiggy, [41] Tenable, [42] UiPath, [43] Venmo [44]
2000s Cloudera, [45] Dropbox, [46] Facebook, [47] Flipkart (acquired by Walmart), [48] Groupon, [49] Slack, [50] Kayak [51]
1980s-1990s MetroPCS, [52] UUNet, [53] Polycom, [54] RealNetworks [55]

References

  1. ↑ "Accel raises $500 million fund to double down on Series A and B rounds in Europe and Israel". Tech.eu. 11 April 2016.
  2. ↑ "Private Equity Week Wire for Tuesday 6/12". PE HUB. 4 April 2016.
  3. ↑ Russell, Jon (March 24, 2015). "Accel Announces New $305 Million Investment Fund For India". TechCrunch .
  4. ↑ "Accel Partners Teardown". CB Insights. 2016-02-05.
  5. ↑ "Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship". Carnegie Mellon University .
  6. ↑ King, Steve (August 18, 2009). "A Venture Capitalist View of the Top 5 Entrepreneurial Energy Opportunities". U.S. News & World Report .
  7. ↑ Browne, Ryan (May 13, 2024). "Early Facebook investor Accel raises $650 million fund to back European and Israeli startups". CNBC .
  8. ↑ Dowd, Kevin (17 April 2017). "Accel-KKR dips into Europe for latest tech transaction". Pitchbook.
  9. ↑ Mac, Ryan (March 19, 2014). "Accel Partners Raises New Funds Totaling Over $1 Billion As Facebook Investor Jim Breyer Reduces Role". Forbes .
  10. ↑ "Jim Breyer (via Accel Partners)". CNBC . May 22, 2012.
  11. ↑ Levy, Ari (January 18, 2012). "Accel Facebook Bet Poised to Become Biggest Venture Profit: Tech" . Bloomberg News .
  12. ↑ Singh, Manish (December 2, 2019). "Accel closes new $550M fund for India". TechCrunch .
  13. ↑ Mukherjee, Supantha (May 13, 2024). "VC firm Accel raises $650 mln to invest in AI, cybersecurity startups". Reuters .
  14. ↑ "Accel raises $650 million early-stage fund for start-ups in India and Southeast Asia". Business Line . January 6, 2025.
  15. ↑ "Priyanka Chopra-backed Bumble dating app attains valuation of $14 billion on market debut". Mint . February 12, 2021.
  16. ↑ Miller, Ron (17 November 2020). "Marketing automation platform Klaviyo scores $200M Series C on $4.15B valuation". TechCrunch .
  17. ↑ "Linear Raises $35M in Series B Funding". Finsmes. 17 September 2023.
  18. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (14 June 2023). "Synthesia secures $90M for AI that generates custom avatars". TechCrunch .,
  19. ↑ Bergen, Mark (21 May 2024). "Holistic AI is now H, a new French startup with $220 Million Out of the Gate". Bloomberg News .
  20. ↑ Pimentel, Benjamin (21 April 2020). "The 29-year-old founder of Vercel used this pitch deck to raise $21 million from investors like Accel and GitHub's CEO to build faster websites". Business Insider.
  21. ↑ Roof, Katie (8 April 2025). "Toronto's Tailscale Hits $1.5 Billion Valuation With New Funding". Bloomberg News .
  22. ↑ Balogh, Shannen (12 August 2020). "A fintech that helps Twitch, Showtime, and CBS manage their subscriptions is eyeing international growth after nabbing a big investment from Accel-KKR". Business Insider .
  23. ↑ "Accel invests $57M into Laravel Products & Open-Source Framework". Laravel . September 5, 2024.
  24. ↑ Miller, Ron (14 November 2019). "Fourteen years after launching, 1Password takes a $200M Series A".
  25. ↑ Schonfeld, Erick (14 July 2010). "Product Management Software Company Atlassian Takes A Huge, $60 Million First Round of Funding From Accel". TechCrunch .
  26. ↑ "CrowdStrike closes Series B with USD 30 million". Venture Capital Post. 9 September 2013.
  27. ↑ Cook, James (29 January 2015). "Deliveroo, the Online Food Delivery Service Just for Restaurants, Is Raising £16 Million". Business Insider .
  28. ↑ Ha, Anthony (12 July 2012). "E-Signature Company DocuSign Raises $47.5M Led By Kleiner Perkins, Mary Meeker Joins the Board". TechCrunch .
  29. ↑ Rao, Leena (21 September 2011). "Accel Leads $6M Round in Video Monitoring And Cloud Streaming Service Dropcam". TechCrunch.
  30. ↑ Rao, Leena (3 May 2012). "Task-Based Marketplace Fiverr Raises $15M From Accel and Bessemer". TechCrunch .
  31. ↑ Ha, Anthony (5 October 2015). "Video Collaboration Startup Frame.io Raises $2.2M". TechCrunch .
  32. ↑ Barik, Soumyarendra (22 September 2021). "Freshworks becomes first Indian Saas startup to list in US after $1 Bn IPO". entrackr.com.
  33. ↑ Kerr, Ronny (16 May 2017). "When Jet.com was young". Vator News.
  34. ↑ Empson, Rip (15 January 2013). "After 17 Years, Education platform Lynda.com Raises Its First Round of Funding, $103M from Accel & Spectrum". TechCrunch .
  35. ↑ Hall, Christine (5 January 2022). "Visual Collaboration company Miro valued at $17.5B following $400M in new funding". TechCrunch .
  36. ↑ Ha, Anthony (15 May 2012). "Qualtrics Raises $70M From Accel and Sequoia: The Biggest Software Company You haven't heard of". TechCrunch .
  37. ↑ Etherington, Darrell (9 April 2021). "Scale CEO Alex Wang and Accel's Dan Levine explain why sometimes unconventional VC deals are best". TechCrunch .
  38. ↑ Constine, Josh (21 November 2013). "Technology Crossover Ventures Funds All of Spotify's $250M International Growth Round". TechCrunch .
  39. ↑ Butcher, Mike (26 May 2011). "Supercell Raises $12m from Accel Partners to power social web games". TechCrunch .
  40. ↑ "Squarespace Raises $38.5 Million From Accel, Index Ventures". TechCrunch . 13 July 2010.
  41. ↑ Magee, Christine (9 June 2015). "Swiggy Scoops Up $16.5M to Reinvent Food Delivery in India". TechCrunch .
  42. ↑ Ha, Anthony (5 September 2012). "Network Security Company Tenable Raises a $50M Series A From Accel". TechCrunch .
  43. ↑ Sawers, Paul (18 September 2018). "Automation software platform UiPath raises $225 million from CapitalG, Sequoia, and Accel at $3 billion valuation". VentureBeat.
  44. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (16 August 2012). "Online Payments Service Braintree Acquires Social Payments Startup Venmo". TechCrunch .
  45. ↑ "Cloudera Raises $5 Million Series A Round For Hadoop Commercialization". TechCrunch . 16 March 2009.
  46. ↑ Kincaid, Jason (4 November 2009). "Dropbox Raised $6 Million Sequoia-Led Series A In October 2008". TechCrunch .
  47. ↑ Mangalindan, JP (11 January 2011). "Timeline: Where Facebook got its funding". Fortune.
  48. ↑ J, Anand (10 May 2018). "Accel Partners Reveals Why It Invested in Flipkart At A Time When It Had No Backers". VC Circle.
  49. ↑ Arrington, Michael (2 December 2009). "Groupon Gets a Hefty $30 Million from Accel for Local Offers Service". TechCrunch .
  50. ↑ Chapman, Lizette (21 June 2019). "This VC Firm Invested $200 Million in Slack. Now Its Stake Is Worth $4.6 Billion". Fortune.
  51. ↑ Schaal, Dennis (22 September 2016). "Kaya's Co-Founder and the Secret of Travel Startup Success". Skift.
  52. ↑ "MetroPCS Director's $13 Million Sale". Barron's . 21 September 2011.
  53. ↑ Flynn, Laurie (5 February 1995). "Technology; Internet Server Takes a Big Step" . New York Times .
  54. ↑ "Picture this" . Forbes . 11 March 1998.
  55. ↑ "Accel Partners starts international fund". CNET . June 13, 2001.
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