A bootcamp just for business software start-ups, Acceleprise, has closed a fresh $7 million fund. The firm also recently hired a new General Partner, Whitney Sales, to run its accelerator in San Francisco. Sales is one of the venture capital industry's few women to hold a general partner title today.
According to Acceleprise Managing Director Michael Cardamone, the firm has invested in 64 start-ups so far. It plans to invest in 80 more over the next three years, with at least 40 of those deals originating outside of the U.S.
While Acceleprise has been running its accelerator program in San Francisco since 2014, many of its portfolio companies have set up shop and found success beyond the Bay Area. So, the firm is expanding to New York City and Melbourne, Australia.
Matt Straz, CEO of HR tech company Namely, will join Acceleprise as a mentor-and-investor in New York. And Adir Shiffman, executive chairman of Catapult Sports, a provider of wearable and video analytics for pro-athletes and sports organizations, will join in Melbourne.
Cardamone told CNBC, "We're starting to see more sophisticated machine learning and blockchain based applications become useful for different industries. But at the same time, there's still a lot of room for companies to grow simply by automating workflows in a vertical that hasn't been served well by incumbent software companies."
To nurture very early-stage companies along, Acceleprise invests $50,000 initially and provides a 4-month program that includes mentorship from seasoned tech entrepreneurs, sales coaching, and introductions to big potential customers and investors.