Xero (Xero Limited) announced that Accel Partners has agreed to invest $100-million through Accel Funds. The investment by Accel Partners is expected to close mid-March 2015. In addition, Matrix Capital Management has also invested an additional $10.8-million in Xero. Xero will use the proceeds of these investments to continue product innovation and global expansion as it continues its growth in the U.S. and United Kingdom markets. The investment by Matrix Capital Management is also expected to close in mid-March 2015
Rod Drury, Xero’s CEO said, “We welcome the Accel Funds as strategic investors in Xero, and are delighted with Matrix’s continued support. Our ability to attract capital and leadership of this caliber is testament to our success and our potential to become the small business SaaS platform of choice for entrepreneurs around the globe.” Andrew Braccia, a partner at Accel said, “Accel always looks for enduring technologies with global reach and we see the need and opportunity for millions of small businesses to grow on Xero’s platform…”
Xero also appointed Russell Fujioka as U.S. President, effective immediately. Fujioka brings with him significant experience in sales, digital marketing and operational management of high growth technology businesses. In a further announcement, Graham Smith joined the Xero Board as an additional independent, non-executive Director. Smith brings significant experience scaling SaaS businesses and creating industry leaders from his time as Salesforce’s Chief Financial Officer and as a Board member of industry leaders such as Splunk.
For more information and details concerning the equity investment, see the formal press release.