Zoom Announces $100 Million Zoom Apps Venture Fund to Stimulate Innovation

Zoom Video Communications has announced the Zoom Apps Fund, a new $100 million venture fund. The company aims to stimulate the growth of Zoom’s ecosystem of Zoom Apps, integrations, developer platform, and hardware. Portfolio companies will receive initial investments between $250,000 and $2.5 million to build solutions. These solutions will, further, solve core problems on how Zoom customers meet, communicate, and collaborate. According to the company, Zoom Apps are leading applications that will bring productivity. They will also bring engaging experiences directly into the Zoom platform. Thus, the fund will invest in developer partners with viable products and early market traction that will provide valuable and engaging experiences to its customers.

“I founded Zoom in 2011, nearly ten years ago. Without the support of early investors, Zoom would not be what it is today,” said Eric S. Yuan, CEO and founder of Zoom. “What I’ve learned over the past year is that we need to keep meetings productive and fun. I hope that the Zoom Apps Fund will help our customers meet happier and collaborate even more seamlessly, and at the same time help entrepreneurs build new businesses as our platform evolves.”

Who can participate in the Zoom Apps Venture Fund?

According to the company, the fund is looking for companies that will create products that are a solid fit for the Zoom ecosystem. They should have a viable product, early market traction and provide value to existing Zoom customers. The company also states that it will make investment decisions monthly. Although the company states that they are stage agnostic. the fund will primarily focus on seed to Series A. The initial funding will range between $250,000 and $2.5 million. The company is looking for solutions that commit to develop on and invest in the Zoom ecosystem (including Zoom Apps, integrations, APIs, SDKs, and hardware).

Zoom currently states on its website that there are 36 Apps in the ecosystem. Some major names include Salesforce, Slack, Captioning company Rev, Dropbox, Kahoot and Trello.

How to participate in the Zoom Apps Venture Fund?

If you meet the eligibility criteria, fill out this application so Zoom can assess your candidacy to become a Fund partner. The application also includes sharing a 1-5 minute video introducing yourself and your technology which the company has encouraged strongly.