Mozilla Sets Up $35 Mn VC Fund For Startups Building Digital Privacy, Security & Inclusivity The Mozilla Ventures fund will seek early-stage Internet companies (seed to series A) which embody the values in the Mozilla Manifesto, such as privacy, inclusion, transparency and human dignity
By Soumya Duggal •
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US software developer Mozilla has launched a $35 million early-stage venture capital fund, Mozilla Ventures, to invest in internet startups that protect privacy, decentralize digital power, build more trustworthy AI and have significant potential for commercial success.
The fund will seek young companies (seed to series A) and founders who embody the values in the Mozilla Manifesto, such as privacy, inclusion, transparency, and human dignity, and investors who are aligned with them, said Mozilla.
Industry veteran Mohamed Nanabhay will lead the fund as its managing partner, overseeing its full roll out in early 2023. "We're starting Mozilla Ventures to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurs from across the world who are building companies that create a better internet," said Nanabhay.
"We want to support founders who are working on the many challenges we face online—from misinformation to censorship, security to privacy, and the ability to harm instantaneously and at scale. These issues are too important to leave to any one institution to solve," he added.
According to Mark Surman, executive director, Mozilla Foundation, Secure AI Labs, Block Party and heylogin are three examples of those companies that are working to build a private, secure and respectful digital world. "We're honored that these companies saw the same alignment we did. They all opened up space on their cap table for Mozilla," said Surman.
Mozilla is the latest among several internet and technology companies to establish their own venture capital arms, especially for supporting early-stage startups. Launched as Google Ventures in 2009, GV is the venture fund set up by Google-owner Alphabet Inc. to support companies at the earliest stages across design, equity, diversity and inclusion, talent and engineering. Microsoft's M12 invests in early-stage technology companies disrupting the enterprise.
In 2019, Flipkart launched Flipkart Ventures, a $100 million early-stage venture fund to invest in e-commerce, fintech, payments and complementary segments. Launched in April 2021, the $250 million Amazon Smbhav Venture Fund invests in technology startups that digitize SMBs for demand access, efficient operations and supply chain efficiency. Earlier this year, communications tech company Zoom set up Zoom Ventures to invest in startups building solutions for the modern workspace, innovating hybrid workforce collaboration, and delivering exceptional customer experiences, among other things.
