OK, the secrets out. Dell's venture fund is coming out of hiding and going to SPEND MONEY. To be specific, the fund seeks to invest $100M annually in the form of $3M-$10M commitments in Series A or B VC rounds. The focus will, of course, be in the tech space including artificial intelligence, data storage, cloud computing and analytics. What will they call this? How about "Dell Technologies Capital". Catchy isn't it. (Bill Taylor/CEO)
"Last month, Scott Darling, president of Dell Technologies' venture arm, sent four emails to his new chief executive officer over the course of an hour. He didn't wait long for responses. After each message, Michael Dell responded within about five minutes, and by about 11:30 p.m. the last communication on new investments was wrapped up.
"Speed matters," said Darling, who led venture capital at EMC's venture arm before its acquisition by Dell in September. "He completely gets entrepreneurship."
Now, Dell wants to publicize its investments. The venture arm -- which kept a very low profile when it was part of EMC -- is coming out of "stealth," including disclosing portfolio companies as part of a new push to highlight young businesses. The company is spending about $100 million annually on the funding of startups, he said.
Michael Dell -- after closing the merger with EMC -- is investing in new ways to bolster his company's lineup that provides gear and modern software for data centers. Looking for an edge against rivals such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, the venture unit, called Dell Technologies Capital, is likely to invest in 20 new startups, or perhaps more, this year, Darling said.
"He is the founder of Dell," said Jeremy Burton, chief marketing officer at Dell Technologies, who also joined the company from EMC. "I think he sees that companies we invest in can get a lot of value from the Dell brand."
...The investments cover a broad swath of technology -- as long as it falls under the category "infrastructure," Darling said. That includes data storage, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and analytics. He said it's important to stay focused on these areas where his team has know-how and experience..."
Source: Bloomberg