Dive Brief:
- Cisco added $1 million to the coffers of its enterprise startup fund Alchemist Accelerator specifically to boost efforts under way around enterprise collaboration, according to VentureBeat.
- The investment is from the Cisco Spark Innovation Fund, which is used to support collaboration around Cisco Spark.
- This is the fourth Alchemist startup accelerator track funded by Cisco, according to Cisco managing partner Ravi Belani. Though the accelerator was created to support Cisco Spark services and to use its collaboration APIs, it is open to companies working in other spaces.
Dive Insight:
For older tech companies like Cisco, investing in startups is a way to refresh their products and business strategies and keep a pulse on emerging technologies. They can also keep a close eye on the new companies and perhaps beat their competitors in purchasing them if a breakthrough new technology emerges.
It’s also a win for the startup. The accelerator works like this: In exchange for just 5% of company equity, participants receive $36,000, cloud credits, a coworking space, accounting and legal services and other perks, according to Cisco.
