Workday Ventures is the investment arm of Workday Inc, a leading firm in the world of cloud based, human resources and finance applications.
The aim of it is to seek out artificial intelligence companies, machine learning, and other advanced technology based startups and give them the funding and support needed to accelerate those products and ideas.
The investment arm will be run by two Workday executives: Leighanne Levensaler and Mark Peek.
Both will be serving in the role of managing director and co-head. In addition to that Leighanne with continue to work as senior vice president of corporate strategy for Workday.
This is a role she took on in 2016. Mark on the other hand has a slightly different background.
Having been employed at Workday now for more than 30 years, he has had a number of different roles within the company including co-president and chief financial officer.
He has also held leadership roles at other big corporations such as VMware and Amazon.
Just recently Workday announced it would be opening up its AI cloud platform to the public, allowing its customers and partners alike to benefit from its core applications.
The staggering $250 million investment will be used to build on this to further extend its client and partner ecosystem.
The new AI cloud platform will be available to upcoming companies looking to explore new innovations and cases that will not only shape the next generation of technology, but also change the world as we know it.
Workday Ventures clients won’t just receive funding. They’ll also gain access to the knowledge and experience acquired by Workday over the years. Specifically this will include:
- access to top data scientists, engineers, and architects employed at Workday
- access to top leaders and executives who have the power and knowledge to guide portfolio clients on how to create sustainable business models.
- the ability to hook up with some of Workday’s 26 million customers
Aneel Bhusri is CEO and co-founder of Workday and here’s what he had to say about the company’s new investment arm: “Our investment in Workday Ventures reinforces our commitment to staying at the forefront of enterprise innovation.
Combining the leadership of Leighanne and Mark with our deep understanding of the enterprise market will position Workday Ventures as an industry leader, supporting the growth of our portfolio companies, community, and business.”
Source Workday
