Accel Partners

cb Email

Status

ACTIVE

Global HQ

Palo Alto, United States

Countries of investment

Lithuania
Portugal
Romania
Serbia
Israel
United States

Investment stages

Seed
Series A
Series B
Series C
Series D

Industries

Enterprise Software
B2B Software
Consumer Products
AI
Fintech
Cybersecurity

About
Accel is a venture capital firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with offices in San Francisco, London, and India. Founded in 1983 by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz, Accel has invested in more than 300 companies, including Facebook, Slack, and Dropbox.

Min check size: $500K
Max check size: $50M
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Investment Thesis

Accel is a venture firm headquartered in Palo Alto that invests at the seed, early, and growth stages, with a focus on enterprise, SaaS, and consumer companies. It works across the U.S., Europe, Israel, India, and Southeast Asia, and describes itself as the first partner to exceptional teams. Recent funds include a $650 million early-stage fund for Europe and Israel in 2024 and a $650 million fund for India and Southeast Asia in 2025. Founded in 1983, Accel has invested in more than 300 companies, including Facebook, Slack, and Dropbox.

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Manager's Experience

Founded in 1983 by Arthur Patterson (Harvard AB and MBA, previously a general partner at Adler & Company and earlier at Citicorp Venture Capital) and Jim Swartz (Harvard engineering degree, founding general partner of Adler & Company, helped found Accel London and Meritech Capital), both now Emeritus. The current team of 37 across the Bay Area, London, and Bangalore includes Rich Wong (joined 2006, previously at Openwave and Covad), Philippe Botteri (joined 2011, previously at Bessemer, Ecole Polytechnique), Sonali De Rycker (joined 2008, previously at Atlas Venture), Shekhar Kirani (joined 2011, Bangalore), Sameer Gandhi (joined 2008, MIT and Stanford), and Sara Ittelson (joined 2022, previously at Faire and Uber). Has invested in more than 300 companies including Facebook, Slack, Dropbox, Atlassian, CrowdStrike, Spotify, UiPath, Miro, Vercel, and Linear. Headquartered in Palo Alto with offices in San Francisco, London, and India, with recent $650M early-stage funds for Europe and Israel (2024) and for India and Southeast Asia (2025). Its philosophy is the prepared mind, from Pasteur's line that chance favors the prepared mind.