SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Madrona Venture Group, www.madrona.com, announced the closing of its first Acceleration Fund. The $100 million fund will focus on investing in technology companies with a differentiation in cloud computing or applied machine learning that are emerging as leaders in their market sectors.
“Madrona has actively helped exceptional entrepreneurs and their companies grow from the seed stage to IPOs and beyond for almost 25 years,” stated Matt McIlwain, Managing Director, Madrona Venture Group. “This fund will enable us to help a new set of companies that have found product-market fit and are scaling to meet their fullest potential. We will be looking to make investments in our core Seattle-area market as well as across the country.”
Madrona Venture Group has nearly $1.6 billion under management in its core funds, the latest being Madrona Fund VII of $300 million raised in 2018. These core funds have focused on working with founders and entrepreneurs from the earliest days and often partnering for a decade or more. This has meant starting with the seed or Series A round of funding and participating through the life of the company. Amazon, Apptio, Isilon, impinj, Redfin, and Smartsheet are examples of Madrona’s strategy in action. In contrast, Madrona will put the Acceleration Fund to work in new companies starting at the Series B or C investment stage, when the company has a fully developed product with a clear market and repeatable selling motion.
The fund will be directed by the existing managing directors and will begin investing this year. Madrona is open to leading or co-leading the investment rounds. For more on the fund and the view of entrepreneurs on Madrona’s role in company building, please see Madrona’s post.
About Madrona
Madrona has been investing in early-stage technology companies in the Pacific Northwest for nearly 25 years and has been privileged to play a role in some of the region’s most successful technology ventures. The firm invests predominately in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum, including cloud infrastructure, intelligent applications, digital media and advertising, ecommerce and consumer software. Madrona manages nearly $1.6 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Apptio, Smartsheet, Rover.com, and Redfin. www.madrona.com