HubSpot today announced the launch of HubSpot Ventures, a $30 million fund to support enterprise startups raising early-stage funding.
The newly formed investment arm of the marketing and sales company will support seed, Series A, and Series B rounds, with limited support for Series C rounds.
HubSpot has previously invested in a collection of marketing startups, like sales funnel automation and chat company Drift and email signature ad company Sigstr, but this is its first venture fund. Its most recent investment was in website design company Lorem in October. HubSpot has invested in a total of 10 startups since it went public in 2014.
The new fund will focus on investments in companies building software-as-a-service (SaaS) products for establishing long-term relationships with customers.
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The fund will seek to participate in funding rounds but will not look to lead them, a company spokesperson said.
HubSpot Ventures wants to be more than a provider of capital and will ask companies that receive investments to take assessment tests. The results of these assessments will determine tactical guidance from subject matter experts, as well as coaching and go-to-market strategy, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.
A swath of public and private metrics will be used to determine the success of companies that receive investments, including customer and employee net promoter scores (NPS) and online reviews from websites like Glassdoor and Facebook.
No metric will be used to assess whether companies have an inclusive or diverse culture, but they will be asked to adhere to the HubSpot Culture Code, which outlines a commitment to fostering inclusive company culture.
“With HubSpot Ventures, we’re seeking out startups that are aligned with our mission to help millions of organizations grow better and add value to the ecosystem of companies benefiting from the HubSpot platform,” company cofounder and CTO Dharmesh Shah said in a statement shared with VentureBeat.
