Crane Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage intelligent enterprise startups, has closed Crane I, its first institutional fund. Crane Venture Partners is thematically focused on the pervasive impact of data and data driven solutions on the enterprise.
Crane’s founders, Scott Sage and Krishna Visvanathan, have been investing as a team since 2010, previously backing Icera, H2O.ai, Netronome, Onfido and Trustpilot, amongst others. Crane Partner Andy Leaver has spent the last 20 years scaling Silicon Valley enterprises from startup through to IPO including Ariba, HortonWorks, SuccessFactors and Workday.
“We are truly excited to be at the forefront of a new era of thematic venture capital investing. Crane’s Partners have supported ambitious, highly technical founders building transformative companies for over 20 years. Our strategy and unique team enable us to genuinely impact the trajectory of companies we work with,” says Visvanathan, Co-Founder and Partner of Crane.
Crane invests at the seed stage and has made several investments to date in companies across Europe, including Aire, AVORA, Senseon, Stratio Automotive and Tessian. Several of Crane’s investments have already gone on to raise significant Series A and B rounds.
“A superior technology offering isn’t sufficient for success; execution is what makes truly successful companies. We designed Crane to be able to help founders transition from building products to delivering commercial outcomes,” says Scott Sage, Co-Founder and Partner at Crane. “We are big believers in the power of shared learnings and have created a supportive community for founders and operators of early-stage enterprise companies that connects them with our network of experienced global experts, which includes running our enterprise-only annual conference, Flight.”
Crane’s LPs include MassMutual Ventures, the venture capital arm of MassMutual Life Insurance Corporation (MassMutual), British Patient Capital (BPC) and other institutions, high-profile founders and venture capitalists spanning the US, Europe and Asia. MassMutual is a leading mutual life insurance company, and BPC is the leading backer of venture funds in the UK. In addition to its funding, Crane has formed a strategic partnership with MassMutual Ventures to give Crane and its portfolio companies deep access to new markets and networks as they expand internationally.
“We are excited to form a strategic partnership with one of the leading enterprise software venture capital teams in Europe, one that is highlighted by our investment in Crane’s new offering for enterprise and deep tech founders in the region,” says Doug Russell, Managing Director and Head of MassMutual Ventures. “The Crane partners have a long and successful history of investment success, and we look forward to supporting its portfolio through leveraging our operating and venture businesses, deep relationships and presence around the globe, as Crane seeks rapid scale and market access.”
Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO, British Patient Capital, adds: “Crane’s focus on early stage technology-rich businesses provides an ideal fit with our mission to enable long-term investment in innovative companies across the UK, led by ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build successful, world-class businesses. We are therefore delighted to be investing in Crane’s first fund and look forward to working with them as they enable more outstanding companies to fulfil their full growth potential.”
Crane Venture Partners recently opened its first office in Soho, London, and is actively adding to its existing portfolio of companies in Crane I and to its team as it further expands its operational support for portfolio companies.
