M12 (venture capital)

Last updated

M12
Microsoft's Venture Fund
Type Corporate venture fund
Founded2016
Headquarters
San Francisco, US
Number of locations
5 offices: Seattle, San Francisco, New York City, Tel-Aviv, London
Key people
Michelle Gonzalez
(Corporate Vice President)
Christopher Young
(EVP, Microsoft)
Number of employees
37
Website m12.vc

M12, formerly Microsoft Ventures, is a corporate venture capital subsidiary of Microsoft. Founded in March 2016, [1] its mission is to be an active, strategic partner during a startup's growth, typically investing between Series A and D. The fund is managed by Michelle Gonzalez, formerly of Google.

Contents

History

Background

Microsoft Ventures was used as an umbrella for all of Microsoft's accelerator and seed-stage funding operations. [1]

In August 2014, Microsoft Ventures and the Deshpande Foundation launched the Sandbox Startups incubator with an initiative to set up a 20,000 square feet area for incubation in the city of Hubli. The main intention of this initiative was to ensure that better entrepreneurial support would be given to those who reside outside big metropolises in India, removing the inevitability of having to relocate to such places. [2]

Official founding

In March 2016, Microsoft launched the Microsoft Ventures venture capital fund. The operation previously known as Microsoft Ventures was renamed Microsoft Accelerator, with a focus on "start-up enablement" instead of startup investments. [1]

Investments

On April 11, 2017, it was reported that the security company Synack had raised $21 million from Microsoft Ventures, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Singtel. [3] In late 2017, the company has invested in artificial intelligence with a new AI startup competition, [4] and 3-D printing with Markforged. [5] In March 2019, Markforged raised $82 million in venture funding, with M12 contributing. [6]

In March 2019, the company invested in Skedulo, a work scheduling company. [7] In June 2019, M12 invested in AnyVision, a facial recognition company. [8] After reporting by NBC news on the use of its technology in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, [9] Microsoft hired Eric Holder, former US Attorney General, to conduct an audit of the company to ensure that it complies with Microsoft's ethical principles on biometric surveillance. [10]

In Jan 2020, it was announced that Microsoft Venture in a new round had taken a stake in SuperAwesome. [11] In March 2020, Microsoft Ventures and Honeywell Ventures are in talks with FarEye to invest $40 million in the Logistics startup. [12]

Also in March 2020, M12 announced it would lead a $22 million Series B funding round in San Francisco-based fraud prevention platform Arkose Labs [13]

Name change to M12

In April 2018, Microsoft Ventures changed its name to M12, to avoid confusion with a previous accelerator program of the same name. [14] The M stands for Microsoft, and the 12 refers to the number of letters in the word entrepreneur. [14]

Accelerator Plus program

Zoomcar was a member of Microsoft's Accelerator Plus program in Bangalore in Spring 2014. [15] This program is designed to provide more tailored assistance to later-stage start-ups as they scale their business and raise capital. [16] In March 2015, Tripdelta took part in the third batch of the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Berlin. [17] In October 2015, Farmflo was selected to join the Microsoft Ventures Accelerate Programme in London. [18] [19] Appknox was a graduate of the fifth batch of the Microsoft Ventures program. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Draper Fisher Jurvetson</span> American venture capital firm

Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in enterprise, consumer and disruptive technologies. In January 2019, DFJ Venture, the early-stage team, spun out and formed Threshold Ventures. DFJ Growth continues to be managed by co-founder John Fisher and the existing DFJ Growth partner team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Y Combinator</span> American startup accelerator

Y Combinator (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator launched in March 2005. It has been used to launch more than 4,000 companies, including Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Quora, PagerDuty, Reddit, Stripe and Twitch. The combined valuation of the top YC companies was more than $600 billion by January 2023. The company's accelerator program started in Boston and Mountain View, expanded to San Francisco in 2019, and was entirely online during the COVID-19 pandemic. Forbes characterized the company in 2012 as one of the most successful startup accelerators in Silicon Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index Ventures</span> European worldwide venture capital firm

Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London, investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure/AI, and security. Since its founding in 1996, the firm has invested in a number of companies and raised approximately $5.6 billion. Index Venture partners appear frequently on Forbes’ Midas List of the top tech investors in Europe and Israel.

Techstars is a global investment business that provides access to capital, one-on-one mentorship, a worldwide network and customized programming for early-stage entrepreneurs. It was founded in 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. As of May 2022, the company had accepted over 2,900 companies into its accelerator programs with a combined market capitalization of $71bn USD.

Lightspeed Venture Partners is an American venture capital firm focusing on multi-stage investments in the enterprise, consumer, and health sectors. Lightspeed invests in seed, early and growth-stage companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GV (company)</span> Venture capital unit of Alphabet Inc.

GV Management Company, L.L.C. is a venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc., founded by Bill Maris, that provides seed, venture, and growth stage funding to technology companies. Founded as Google Ventures in 2009, the firm has operated independently of Google, Alphabet's search and advertising behemoth, since 2015. GV seeks to invest in startup companies in a variety of fields ranging from the Internet, software, and hardware to life science, healthcare, artificial intelligence, transportation, cyber security and agriculture.

Boku, Inc. is a mobile payments company that allows businesses to collect online payments through both carrier billing and mobile wallets, and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Boku utilizes mobile network operator (carrier) data to enhance the security and user experience for consumers online. Boku offers its customers more than 330+ mobile payment types in over 90 countries globally, offering a bank-grade payment system.

Andreessen Horowitz is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. As of April 2023, Andreessen Horowitz ranks first on the list of venture capital firms by AUM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">500 Global</span> U.S. startup accelerator

500 Global is an early-stage venture fund and seed accelerator founded in 2010 by Dave McClure and Christine Tsai. The fund admitted a first "class" of twelve startups to its incubator office in Mountain View, California in February 2011. They expanded to a second class of 21 in June 2011 and a third class of 34 in October 2011.

AngelPad is an American seed-stage startup incubator, launched in September 2010 by Thomas Korte and Carine Magescas with six other former Google employees as mentors. AngelPad provides mentorship, seed money, and networking at two 10-week courses per year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stripe, Inc.</span> Irish-American payment technology company

Stripe, Inc. is an Irish-American financial services and software as a service (SaaS) company dual-headquartered in South San Francisco, California, United States and Dublin, Ireland. The company primarily offers payment-processing software and application programming interfaces for e-commerce websites and mobile applications.

CircleUp is a financial technology company based in San Francisco that focuses on consumer goods startups. Since its official launch in April 2012, CircleUp has helped several consumer companies raise equity, including Back to the Roots, Halo Top Creamery, Little Duck Organics, Rhythm Superfoods and others. General Mills has an investment fund that is partnered with CircleUp to invest in companies listed on the platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AngelList</span> Website connecting startups, angel investors, and job-seekers

AngelList is a U.S. website for startups, angel investors, and job-seekers looking to work at startups. Founded in 2010, it started as an online introduction board for tech startups that needed seed funding. Since 2015, the site allows startups to raise money from angel investors free of charge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">StartX</span> US non-profit startup accelerator

StartX is a non-profit startup accelerator and founder community associated with Stanford University.

Zoomcar is an Indian carsharing platform, headquartered in Bangalore. The company was founded in 2013 by David Back and Greg Moran. It currently operates in 34+ cities.

Nium is a Singapore-headquartered cross-border payments company. Initially founded by Prajit Nanu and Michael Bermingham, and launched as consumer-remittance platform Instarem in 2014. In 2016, the company introduced its B2B payments platform and rebranded as Nium in 2019, subsequently elevating Pratik Gandhi to co-founder in 2021.

Upfront Ventures, formerly known as GRP Partners, is a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies. It is one of the largest venture capital firms in Los Angeles, with $2 billion in total raised funds. Since its founding in 1996, Upfront Ventures has invested in more than 200 companies, with notable exits including Ulta, Overture, PayPal Credit, TrueCar, Disney Digital Network, Kyriba, and Ring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator</span> NYC technology startup seed accelerator

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator is an American seed accelerator launched in January 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fusion LA</span> Israeli startup accelerator

Fusion LA is a venture capital firm and an accelerator for Israeli startups in the United States. It was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, United States.

Contrary is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. Formed in 2016, the firm invests across early stage companies in North America and India. Select investments from the firm include DoorDash, Anduril, Ramp, Zepto, and Vise.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lunden, Ingrid (May 31, 2016). "Microsoft confirms Microsoft Ventures VC arm, renames old one 'Microsoft Accelerator'". TechCrunch . Retrieved June 18, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Microsoft Ventures, Deshpande Foundation launch Sandbox Startups". businesstoday.in. August 26, 2014. Retrieved September 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ Kuchler, Hannah (April 11, 2017). "Hacker-for-hire company Synack raises $21m". Financial Times . Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  4. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (October 10, 2017). "Microsoft Ventures, Madrona and others launch $3.5M AI startup competition". TechCrunch .
  5. ↑ Vanian, Jonathan (November 1, 2017). "Microsoft Just Made Its First 3-D Printing Investment In This Startup". Fortune . Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Watertown 3-D printer company raises $82 million in venture funding - the Boston Globe". The Boston Globe .
  7. ↑ "Microsoft's investment arm M12 leads $28M round for work scheduling company Skedulo". March 20, 2019.
  8. ↑ "AnyVision Closes $74 Million Series A with New Participation from M12 and DFJ Growth". marketwatch.com. June 18, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Why did Microsoft fund an Israeli firm that surveils West Bank Palestinians?". nbcnews.com. October 28, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  10. ↑ "Microsoft hires Eric Holder to audit AnyVision over use of facial recognition on Palestinians". nbcnews.com. November 15, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  11. ↑ "Announcing our investment from M12, Microsoft's venture fund". SuperAwesome. January 27, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Microsoft Ventures, Honeywell in talks to invest $40 million in software startup FarEye". Moneycontrol. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  13. ↑ PYMNTS (March 24, 2020). "Arkose Labs Notches $22M In Microsoft-Led Round". PYMNTS.com. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  14. 1 2 "Microsoft Ventures rebrands as M12 to avoid 'confusion' about its purpose". venturebeat.com. April 30, 2018. Retrieved April 30, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Microsoft Accelerator Launches New Program For Late Stage Startups In India". TechCrunch . February 11, 2014.
  16. ↑ Economictimes.com (February 11, 2014). "16 tech startups selected for Microsoft Ventures Accelerator Program's latest batch". The Economic Times . Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ Berlin Accelerator Kicks Off Batch 3 with 8 Diverse Startups, Microsoft Ventures. Archived December 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ "Farmflo secures backing from Microsoft" . Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Farmflo selected to join Microsoft mentoring programme". October 6, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
  20. ↑ Microsoft Ventures graduates 11 tech startups from fifth batch of India Accelerator program, Microsoft, December 5, 2014, retrieved July 22, 2017
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.