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 requires "deep focus[7]" and a disciplined and informed approach to investing.[8]
In 2000, Accel entered a joint-venture with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to form Accel-KKR, a technology-focused private equity investment firm focused on control investments in middle-market companies.[9]
In 2001, Accel opened its London office as a separate fund, to invest in European technology companies,[10] focusing on Series A and Series B investments.[11] Its European investments include Avito (acquired by Naspers for $1.2 billion),[12]BlaBlaCar,[13]Deliveroo,[14] HopIn,[15]Spotify and Supercell (acquired by Tencent for $8.6 billion) and UiPath[16] among others.
In addition to Accel's continued investments in early-stage startups from the Accel early stage fund, the firm announced a $480 million growth fund in December 2008, focused on growth equity opportunities in information technology, the internet, digital media, mobile, networking, software, and services.[17]
In March 2016, Accel raised $2 billion, $500 million for an early stage venture fund and $1.5 billion for growth investments.[18] In April 2016, Accel raised a separate $500 million fund for investments in Europe and Israel.[19] In November 2016, Accel's India arm closed its fifth fund with $450 million, about two years after closing its fourth fund with $325 million.[20][21]
In May 2019 Accel closed a $575 million fund, which led to financing Series A of European and Israeli startups. The round was the largest in the region and the total amount of funds managed by Accel reached $3 billion.[22]
Portfolio
Accel is a venture capital firm that concentrates on the following technology sectors:[23][24]
Supercell: acquired by Softbank for $5.5 billion in 2015 and acquired by Tencent for $8.6 billion in 2016[45]
Trulia: IPO valuation of $448 million[46] and acquired by Zillow for $3.5 billion in 2014[47]
Facilio: financed for $6,4 million together with Tiger Global.[48]
Legal entities
Though the brand is one, there are at least 4 different, independent legal entities. In the US, it is Accel Management Co. Inc. based in Palo Alto, California. In London, there are Accel London Management Limited and Accel Partners Management LLP. There is also IDG-Accel China, legally IDG VC Management Ltd, located in Hong Kong.[49]
Geographies
Accel's US fund is headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in San Francisco, California.[50] Accel's European fund is headquartered in London, England and Accel's India fund is headquartered in Bangalore, India.[51]
^"Top 5 of Successful High-Tech IPOs in 2015". The Strategist. December 25, 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-18. 10th of December, Australian company Atlassian raised $ 462 million, posting 22 million shares at $ 21 on the NASDAQ. Thus, the company was valued at $ 4.4 billion.
^Kendall, Marisa (April 28, 2017). "Cloudera, Silicon Valley's latest IPO, pops in first day trading". Mercury News. Retrieved 2017-04-28. But some of the excitement that performance should have caused was tempered because Cloudera ended the day worth about $2.3 billion — a far cry from the $4.1 billion valuation it last received as a private company.
^Raice, Shayndi; Das, Anupreeta; Letzing, John (2012-05-18). "Facebook Prices IPO at Record Value". Wall Street Journal. ISSN0099-9660. Archived from the original on Aug 26, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-18. At $38 a share, Facebook is valued at $104 billion, the biggest-ever valuation by an American company at the time of its offering.