Salesforce Launches $50M Fund for Cloud Consulting Firms

Salesforce’s corporate investment group Salesforce Ventures has announced a new $50 million fund on Wednesday, aimed at growing the next-generation of cloud consulting firms.

The new SI (system integrator) Trailblazer Fund will provide new cloud consulting companies with the capital required to build and scale their Salesforce services capabilities.

To keep up with demand from customers, Salesforce is going to need 10 times the number of consultants in the next five years, according to data based on recent research from IDC. And what better way to grow this base than infuse $50 million into it. 

“Growing customer demand for Salesforce has created a critical need for more Salesforce-trained consulting partners as part of the thriving ‘Salesforce Economy,'” Tyler Prince, EVP of Worldwide Alliances and Go-to-Market Innovation, Salesforce said in a statement. “The new SI Trailblazer Fund and SI Trailblazer Alliance Initiative will help fuel our consulting partner ecosystem and empower the next generation of high-growth cloud consultancies.”

New SI Trailblazer Fund investments include online community consulting partner 7Summits, Australian Salesforce professional services provider Arxxus, and ATG, a company that provides quote-to-cash advisory and implementation services to Salesforce partners.

The fund comes as Salesforce has announced a new SI Trailblazer Alliance Initiative to provide SI Trailblazer portfolio companies with a range of training and tools, including accelerated onboarding experience, marketing and sales mentorship, and implementation guidance.

Recently, Salesforce launched updates to its AppExchange Partner Program to bring more partners into its ecosystem.