Accel

Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is a global venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, California.¹ Founded in 1983 by Arthur Patterson and Jim Swartz, the firm invests from seed through growth stages across enterprise, consumer, and fintech sectors.¹ Its $12.7 million Series A investment in Facebook in 2005, before the company had revenue, was worth approximately $6.6 billion at Facebook's 2012 IPO — a roughly 500x return.⁵⁴

Founding and philosophy

Patterson and Swartz founded the firm in 1983, deliberately choosing not to put their names on the door; according to the firm, they named it "Accel" to reflect a focus on acceleration.¹⁹ The firm's prepared mind investment philosophy draws from the Louis Pasteur quote "chance favors the prepared mind," which Patterson and Swartz adopted as the firm's motto.³¹⁹ When the NYT reported on Accel in 2012, some limited partners, including endowments at Harvard and Princeton, had declined to invest in its funds, and critics on TheFunded.com noted that the firm's dealflow discussions frequently circled back to Facebook.²

For its first two decades, Accel focused on enterprise and infrastructure investments, backing companies including UUNet, Polycom, and RealNetworks.¹ In 2000, the firm formed two partnerships: a joint venture with KKR called Accel-KKR, focused on technology private equity, which became independently operated; and a partnership with IDG Capital to create IDG-Accel, targeting early-stage and growth investments in the Chinese market.@wikipedia-accel¹⁴

The Facebook investment

In April 2005, partner Kevin Efrusy cold-called and emailed Mark Zuckerberg, then a 21-year-old Harvard dropout running a fledgling social network from a Palo Alto house.²⁷ At the time, Accel's brand had declined from its 1990s prominence, and other venture firms were passing on the deal.² Efrusy, with support from partner Jim Breyer, pursued Facebook for months, eventually leading a $12.7 million Series A round at a $98 million pre-money valuation for approximately 10% of the company.³⁵

At Facebook's IPO in May 2012, Accel's stake was worth approximately $6.6 billion — a roughly 500x return on the initial investment.⁵⁴ Breyer, who joined Facebook's board, was named #1 on the Forbes Midas List in 2011 and 2012.⁴

European and Indian expansion

Accel opened its London office in 2000, investing systematically in European startups.¹ The London team, led by partners including Sonali De Rycker and Harry Nelis, backed Spotify (investing in 2010 before the company's 2018 direct listing),Deliveroo, and Supercell, the Finnish mobile gaming company behind Clash of Clans.¹²² Accel invested $12 million in Supercell's seed round in 2011;²⁰ the company was later acquired by SoftBank and then by Tencent, with Accel selling its stake during the SoftBank-controlled period.²¹

In India, Accel launched its first dedicated fund in 2008. The firm's India team made early investments in Flipkart (seed investment in 2008, exited when Walmart acquired Flipkart for $16 billion in 2018),Swiggy, and Freshworks (IPO 2021).¹⁰¹¹ Accel raised its eighth India-focused fund of $650 million in January 2025.¹⁶

Key investments

Beyond Facebook, Accel invested approximately $200 million across multiple rounds in Slack, accumulating a 23.8% stake by the company's 2019 direct listing, worth roughly $4.6 billion.⁸⁹ The investment began in 2009 as a seed round in Tiny Speck, a gaming startup founded by Stewart Butterfield that pivoted to become Slack; partner Andrew Braccia led the deal.⁹

In 2010, Accel invested $60 million in Atlassian, the Australian software company — the first outside capital Atlassian had taken in its eight-year history.¹² Atlassian went public in 2015 at a $4.4 billion valuation.¹

The firm was the first institutional investor in Dropbox and CrowdStrike (which went public in 2019).¹ It backed Qualtrics, which SAP acquired for $8 billion in 2018, and Jet.com, which Walmart acquired for $3.3 billion in 2016.¹ Accel also invested in Groupon, which went public in 2011 but saw its stock price fall more than 80% from its IPO peak over the following two years.¹

Recent funds and AI investments

Accel has raised progressively larger funds. In 2019, the firm closed $2.5 billion across three funds.¹³ In May 2024, Accel raised a $650 million fund for early-stage companies across Europe and Israel, focused on AI and cybersecurity.¹⁵ In April 2026, the firm raised $5 billion, including $4 billion for its Leaders Fund V for late-stage investments and approximately $650 million for a sidecar fund alongside its early-stage vehicle.¹⁷¹⁸

Recent investments include Perplexity AI,Synthesia (AI video generation),Scale AI (data labeling for AI),Vercel (web infrastructure), and Tailscale (networking, valued at $1.5 billion in 2025).¹ The firm operates from offices in Palo Alto, San Francisco, London, and Bangalore.¹

References

1. Accel (company) — Wikipedia(accessed Apr 18, 2026)
2. After Buildup, a Modest Start for Facebook — NYT(accessed Apr 18, 2026)
3. The Comeback Kid — Forbes(accessed Apr 18, 2026)
4. Facebook Investment Makes Jim Breyer King of the Midas List — Reuters(accessed Apr 18, 2026)
5. Accel Facebook Bet Poised to Become Biggest Venture Profit — Bloomberg