Stanford-based Alchemist Accelerator has received backing of an unspecified size from sales management platform Salesforce.com.

Alchemist, launched in 2012, is differentiating itself from other Stanford accelerators and incubators, such as student-led StartX, by focusing on startups looking to sell to businesses. The accelerator came about after Ravi Belani, former Draper Fisher Jurvetson associate and lecturer on entrepreneurship at Stanford, noticed that many of the university’s incubators were filled with “19-year-old consumer guys”.

Ravi said: “I saw phenomenal entrepreneurs who’d been working (in business) for a decade and were old enough to be wise and young enough to be dangerous—and I was too.”

The deal lends additional credibility to the young incubator, whilst also providing to a route to market for startups through Salesforce by writing applications for the platform. Last year, Veeva, a company formed in 2006 to write life sciences and biotech-focused application for Salesforce held its initial public offering, and is now worth around $4bn. In addition, five graduates of the Alchemist programme have been founded by former employees of Salesforce, giving the company eyes over prospective businesses coming from former talent.

Stanford-based Alchemist Accelerator has received backing of an unspecified size from sales management platform Salesforce.com.

Alchemist, launched in 2012, is differentiating itself from other Stanford accelerators and incubators, such as student-led StartX, by focusing on startups looking to sell to businesses. The accelerator came about after Ravi Belani, former Draper Fisher Jurvetson associate and lecturer on entrepreneurship at Stanford, noticed that many of the university’s incubators were filled with “19-year-old consumer guys”.

Ravi said: “I saw phenomenal entrepreneurs who’d been working (in business) for a decade and were old enough to be wise and young enough to be dangerous—and I was too.”

The deal lends additional credibility to the young incubator, whilst also providing to a route to market for startups through Salesforce by writing applications for the platform. Last year, Veeva, a company formed in 2006 to write life sciences and biotech-focused application for Salesforce held its initial public offering, and is now worth around $4bn. In addition, five graduates of the Alchemist programme have been founded by former employees of Salesforce, giving the company eyes over prospective businesses coming from former talent.