Launching $300 million Innovation Fund – What’s up with the new Dell?
– By Prathamesh Patil
Dell Ventures, Dell’s strategic investment arm has announced an expanded commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation with a $300 million Strategic Innovation Venture Fund. The fund will enable Dell to invest in early-to-growth-stage companies in emerging technology areas including storage, cloud computing, big data, next-generation data center, security and mobility.
The Strategic Innovation Venture Fund is Dell’s second major investment fund and builds on the $60 million Dell Fluid Data Storage Fund announced last yearAs the global business environment evolves and customers are increasingly challenged by the pace of change with virtualization, cloud computing, big data and mobility, Dell is expanding its venture investments to new areas of IT innovation.
The Dell Ventures model is to co-invest with venture capitalists and other strategic investors, acting as a board advisor and making the full breadth of Dell resources available to the portfolio company. These resources include technical and business counsel, as well as access to brand scale, OEM solutions, channel and go-to-market relationships.
“As a company rooted in entrepreneurial spirit, Dell understands the power entrepreneurship has on innovation,” said Jim Lussier, Managing Director of Dell Ventures. “Since we launched our storage venture capital fund last year, we have not only had positive returns on our investments and great deal flow, we have also identified companies and technologies that will help accelerate IT innovation, and more importantly, provide the best solutions for our customers. This substantial increase in our Dell Ventures fund and expansion of our technology focus beyond storage, will bring the power of Dell to even more start-ups and entrepreneurs.”
In addition to equipping startups with resources through Dell Ventures, Dell provides entrepreneurs of all stages access to the technology, financing, networks and knowledge they need to turn a great idea into a successful, growing business through the Dell Center for Entrepreneurs. Spearheaded by Dell’s entrepreneur-in-residence, Ingrid Vanderveldt, and offering a number of core initiatives designed to cater to the needs of growing businesses, the Center for Entrepreneurs recently expanded into the UK and will launch in additional markets in 2014 with the help of a Global Advisory Board of entrepreneurs to lend strategic direction.
Center for Entrepreneurs’ initiatives include the Dell Innovators Credit Fund, a $115M debt capital financing program through Dell Financial Services for U.S. and U.K.-based startups that provides financial and technology resources to bolster speed-to-market and create jobs. Another is the Dell Founders Club, targeted to entrepreneurs leading recently funded companies who view technology as a critical “backbone” to business success, and have immediate technology needs to scale quickly. Since the launch in June 2012, the Founders Club has grown to over members over 150 members; creating a diverse, robust and highly beneficial network for CEOs and Founders of fast-growth startups.
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