SAP Ventures makes first investment: Cloud compliance firm Convercent
SAP Ventures, the independent venture capital arm of the German software giant, has made its first investment from its new fund.
The lucky winner is Convercent, a private Denver-based provider of cloud compliance and analytics software.
Convercent produces an all-in-one-type platform for structuring and maintaining virtually every aspect of business compliance, ranging from basic training about ethics and policies to full investigations.
Available in more than 50 languages, Convercent's software is available for desktop and is also touted to be supported on any mobile device.
Melissa Lea, chief global compliance officer at SAP, shed more light on SAP's interest in Convercent by describing some complicated alternatives:
The modern compliance executive must manage compliance operations holistically, in an increasingly complex regulatory environment, all the while showing results in the board room and connecting internal departments such as HR and audit to drive an ethical culture. To do so, you have to go beyond piecemeal applications, spreadsheets and email and do it through cloud-based, data-driven technology that engages employees at all levels.
SAP Ventures led the Series B round, raising $10 million in the process. SAP Ventures managing director Doug Higgins will also join Convercent's board of directors.
Additional participants consisted of existing investors Azure Capital, Rho Capital Partners, and Mantucket Capital. City National Bank also continued on with an increase to Convercent's debt facility.
SAP Ventures launched a new funding pool back in September after raising more than $1 billion over the previous year. The VC firm has been working on expanding its international presence while focusing on fueling investments for big data and analytics startups.