Managing the Hana Real Time Fund, a $406m fund-of-funds at Sapphire Ventures, the venturing unit funded by business software firm SAP, Elizabeth ‘Beezer’ Clarkson’s focus is on developing early-stage venture funds internationally, as well as being responsible for the worldwide operations of the investment unit.
Before entering corporate venturing in 2012, the Wesleyan and Harvard MBA graduate began her career at investment bank Morgan Stanley. Most recently, Clarkson was a director at venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, where she managed the DFJ Global Network, consisting of 16 venture funds around the world with $7bn under management and 400 active portfolio companies. She also worked as investment manager for Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar’s investment network, making direct and indirect investments in financial and technology sectors, as well as a business development role at Hewlett-Packard before its split in November 2015.
Clarkson’s role at Sapphire expanded in 2013 when SAP increased its commitment to the Hana fund. SAP more than doubled down when it grew the fund from $105m to $405m. Hana, short for High-Performance Analytical Appliance, is SAP’s next generation in-memory database, storing up to 500 terabytes of data and capable of sorting it at high speed. The fund itself is searching for startups through other funds using SAP technology.
Alongside the Hana fund, is Sapphire’s Ventures Fund II, which focuses on expansion-stage companies. Originally set up in 1997 as SAP Ventures, Sapphire has funded companies such as LinkedIn, Exact Target, Endeca, OpenX, DocuSign, Fitbit and Box.
