Zoom has been working for more than a decade to turn its application into a platform. It made three announcements last yea: the Zoom Apps Marketplace, Zoom Apps Development Tools and a $100 million fund to invest in promising startups that build tools for their platform. The company announced today that it had made its first round investments at the closing bell.
TechCrunch spoke with Ross Mayfield, Zoom Apps' product lead and integrations. We are in the process to create this ecosystem. It was important to concentrate on the seed stage as well as A stage of partnering entrepreneurs to make this platform great. He explained that the first batch of over a dozen investments was a good example of what is to come.
While they don't announce exact investment amounts, he said they are writing checks between $250,000 to $2.5 million. While they are not leading the rounds themselves, they are working in partnership with other investors. However, this doesn't mean that they aren't working with startups to provide advice and support.
Each of these investments is sponsored by a senior executive within the company. Mayfield explained that there is always someone who can help them grow and spend more time with them.
Zoom Chat channels are also available for startups that have received investments. These chat channels allow them to share their knowledge with the Zoom Apps team and other entrepreneurs. My team and the startup have a common chat channel. He said that we have two channels: Announcements and Help. Another channel was created by the startups and called Community.
They use these channels every week to host a developer office hours, a business hour (which Mayfield manages), and a community time, where startups can meet and discuss whatever they like.
Collaboration and productivity, community, charity, DE&I, PeopleOps and gaming and entertainment are just a few of the categories that have received funding. Warmly, a sales tool, is used in collaboration and productivity. It provides background information and allows the organizer to create custom Zoom backgrounds for each meeting.
Fathom is another option, which eliminates the need for taking notes during meetings, but it does more than just record and transcribe. You can tag moments with this simple interface. The transcript of the video recording will be displayed. You can then click on the highlighted moments to share the highlights to Salesforce, Slack, or other tools.
Individuals or organizations can request donations in a Zoom meeting. Canvas is a tool for hiring and interviewing that allows companies to build diverse teams using data that will help them meet their DEI goals.
These investments, along with the others, represent the first tranche. Mayfield stated that the company will continue to look for startups using Zoom to create their startup or integrate with Zoom.
He said that every company begins as a feature and becomes a product. Then, it aspires towards becoming a line or products. It's about getting there. This is the goal of the Zoom Apps investment program.
Being an entrepreneur means taking on risk when there are no resources available and pushing the boundaries of your knowledge.
