Eden Ventures and Salesforce.com Announce the £1 Million Force.com Investment Challenge

Winning entrepreneur or startup building on the Force.com Platform to receive up to £1 Million in funding from leading early stage technology venture capital firm

Financing innovation not infrastructure, in the age of Platform-as-a-Service

LONDON – salesforce.com Dreamforce Europe Conference – May 7, 2008 – Salesforce.com [NYSE: CRM], the market and technology leader in Software-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service, and Eden Ventures, the early stage venture capital firm specializing in software and technology, today announced the £1 Million Force.com Investment Challenge – a venture challenge for entrepreneurs and early stage companies building on the Force.com Platform. Force.com delivers Platform-as-a-Service, enabling companies to develop and deliver any application on demand. 

The £1 Million Force.com Investment Challenge, the first of its kind in the UK, is designed to inspire a new generation of independent software vendors (ISVs) to develop and deliver SaaS applications on the Force.com Platform. The winner will have the opportunity to negotiate with Eden Ventures for a potential investment of up to £1 million. Eden Ventures will announce the winner in November at Dreamforce 2008, salesforce.com’s user and developer conference.

“New investment models are required to match the new technology and business models made possible with Platform-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com. “Eden Ventures has a track record of success in identifying entrepreneurs and startups that have the vision and leadership necessary for long term business success. That’s why they are investing in companies based on the Force.com Platform.”

“SaaS and PaaS have transformed how entrepreneurs and established companies build, deliver and deploy business applications,” said Mark Farmer, General Partner, Eden Ventures. “As a team of successful entrepreneurs and experienced business managers we will apply our collective operational expertise to assist the development of SaaS and PaaS companies. Eden Ventures will help this new generation of entrepreneurs leverage Force.com to not only build innovative applications but also build successful long term businesses.”

The £1 Million Force.com Investment Challenge For the £1 Million Force.com Investment Challenge, salesforce.com will work closely with Eden Ventures in an advisory capacity. As Eden reviews promising entrepreneurs and early stage companies building on the Force.com platform, salesforce.com will assist in due diligence, provide design review, packaging and distribution best practices, and go-to market programs for companies building applications on the Force.com platform. Eden Ventures and salesforce.com will meet regularly to review Force.com applications and companies that meet the criteria for the £1 Million Force.com Investment Challenge.

Eden Ventures will participate in a panel of judges evaluating the entries and selecting the winning entrepreneur or startup. In addition to providing a financial investment, the selected business will receive ongoing support from Eden’s team to grow their business. With Eden’s strong seed and Series A investment track record, they have particular skill in identifying entrepreneurs with the right balance of vision and leadership who can develop companies of lasting value. Entrants in the £1 Million Force.com Investment Challenge will be judged along eight main criteria:
•   A strong team with deep domain knowledge
•   International vision and ambition
•   Customer success and user adoption
•   A significant market opportunity and likelihood of becoming market leader
•   Adoption and innovative use of the Force.com Platform
•   Financial plan
•   Competitive differentiation
•   Likelihood of long-term company success

For more information, contest rules, and to enter, please visit http://www.edenventures.co.uk/ or http://www.salesforce.com/eu/eden/.