Cloud Apps raises oversubscribed first fund

San Francisco-based Cloud Apps Capital Partners has closed on $53.7 million for its inaugural fund that it says will exclusively focus on early-stage companies in the cloud business applications sector.

The firm, led by General Partner Matt Holleran, a former Salesforce executive and a onetime venture partner at Emergence Capital Partners, said the fund was targeted at $50 million. He said 75 percent of the fund was derived from institutional investors, such as endowments and others, and the remaining 25 percent came from individuals.

Although Holleran is the sole GP, the team includes Venture Partner Judy Loehr, another former Salesforce exec and whose profile says she has 14 years of operating experience working with  B2B SaaS and business freemium companies. Holleran says that the firm will also leverage its “strong network within the cloud business applications community.”

In announcing the fund, the firm has also revealed it has a portfolio of seven companies, five of which are disclosed. They include ServiceMax, a provider of field service management software and which last week raised $82 million in Series F funding. The rest of Cloud App’s disclosed portfolio includes Hootsuite, a provider of a social media management platform; Insightly, a provider of business freemium CRM: Dasheroo, a provider of business dashboards; and GoFormz, a provider of a mobile enterprise platform.

Holleran said he anticipates the fund will invest in from 10 to 15 companies. He said the firm will aim to make what he calls “classic Series A deals” of about $2 million to $4 million in early-stage startups. He said the firm mostly will take board seats, and that Cloud Apps already has board positions on five of its seven investments.

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