NEW DELHI: 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.
Earlier, Dell made major investment fund on the $60 million Dell Fluid Data Storage Fund announced last year. Since then, Dell has completed road shows to meet with entrepreneurs and VCs in Silicon Valley, Boston and Israel, reviewed hundreds of companies and invested in numerous startups that have contributed to Dell’s storage and end-to-end solutions innovation.
As the global business environment evolves and customers are increasingly challenged by the pace of change with virtualisation, cloud computing, big data and mobility, Dell is expanding its venture investments to new areas of IT innovation.
“Dell is committed to bringing the most innovative, affordable and easy to manage technology solutions to our customers. To accomplish this, we will aggressively pursue organic investment in R&D, acquisitions and venture investing,” said Dell Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden in a release. “The expansion of our venture investing will allow us to stay at the forefront of innovation for our customers, and support the entrepreneurs who are helping shape the future of IT.”
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.
In addition to equipping startups with resources through Dell Ventures, Dell provides entrepreneurs an access to the technology, financing, networks and knowledge that they need to turn a great idea into a successful, growing business through the Dell Center for Entrepreneurs.
