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Madrona Enterprise Group opens Silicon Valley workplace because it appears past Seattle for brand new investments – GeekWire


Madrona Enterprise Group staff picture from 2021. (Madrona Photograph)

Seattle-based Madrona Enterprise Group is doubling down on a current push to speculate past the Pacific Northwest, opening its first workplace outdoors the area in Silicon Valley.

Based in 1995, Madrona historically centered on its yard of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, changing into one of many space’s largest buyers of tech firms together with Apptio, Smartsheet, Impinj, and others.

However in 2019 the agency launched an “acceleration fund” designed for extra mature firms situated throughout North America. It raised $100 million that 12 months for the fund and added one other $161 million in late 2020.

The transfer to open a bodily outpost outdoors of Seattle displays Madrona’s ongoing need to look past its yard for brand new investments and hold tabs on different tech ecosystems.

It’s an analogous technique adopted by Flying Fish, one other Seattle agency that raised its second fund earlier this 12 months and stated it will increase its geographic attain.

Madrona is “at the start a Seattle agency,” stated S. Soma Somasegar, a former Microsoft exec who grew to become managing director in 2015. The agency will proceed making a overwhelming majority of its early stage investments within the Pacific Northwest, he stated, however added that “we wish to get into one of the best of one of the best firms.”

“We’re going to be extra open to entering into these firms, irrespective of the place they’re,” he stated.

About 15% of Madrona’s portfolio consists of firms primarily based outdoors the Pacific Northwest, and half of the “acceleration fund” has gone towards out-of-town firms. A few of its current non-Seattle investments embody fintech firm Sila; journey software program startup Spotnana; and income operations platform Clari. It has additionally backed later-stage firms corresponding to UiPath and Snowflake out of the “acceleration fund.”

“We wish to be a world class agency,” stated Somasegar. “And no matter which means for us to be world class, we shall be doing that.”

Karan Mehandru will lead Madrona’s new Silicon Valley workplace. (Madrona Photograph)

The 50-person agency is going through growing competitors for early-stage offers within the Seattle area, with new teams corresponding to Fuse, Flying Fish, Pioneer Sq. Labs and others elevating sizable funds lately.

“I’m actually enthusiastic about these funds,” Somasegar stated. “Typically we’re going to compete; typically we’re going to companion. However this actually permits us to have an even bigger ecosystem, which is simply incredible from any dimension you take a look at it.”

Madrona in 2020 raised $345 million for its eighth “core” fund, which is concentrated on Pacific Northwest firms.

The Palo Alto, Calif., workplace, situated at 524 Hamilton, will open subsequent month and be led by Karan Mehandru, who simply joined Madrona because the agency’s latest managing director.

Mehandru was beforehand was a enterprise capitalist at Steadfast Capital and Trinity Ventures. He’ll concentrate on “early and acceleration stage firms primarily based wherever in North America, with a concentrate on SaaS, Way forward for Work, ML/AI, clever functions, developer centered instruments and datacenter infrastructure,” Mehandru wrote in a weblog publish.





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