Work-Bench, an early backer of New York’s Enterprise tech startup, has closed a third fundraising at $100 million. The company aims to sustain an early-stage fund that connects the emerging enterprise tech community in New York with corporate customers.
Founded in 2013 by Jonathan Lehr and Jessica Lin, both of whom came from technology-connected backgrounds. Previously, it raised $10 million in its first round and $48 million in its second.
“We’re investing at that point where other VCs may see a product, but they can’t analyze any SaaS metrics, it’s often pre-revenue. We’re using our corporate network and theses to get conviction and turbo-charge them to go to market with millions of dollars in pipeline value,” Lehr said.
With the new funds, Work-Bench continues to focus on enterprises in New York with 70% to 80% of startups expected to be from the state.
The company could look to invest in early-stage funding rounds of between $3 million to $6 million, work more closely with companies, and join their boards of directors.
Unlike other firms, which want to boost their fundraising schedule, Work-Bench tends to invest in 17 or 18 companies per three-year fund cycle.
Some of Work-Bench’s portfolio has been making an impact.
Cockroach Labs, valued at $2 billion, and Socure, valued at $1.3 billion were both Work-Bench picks. Another enterprise, Spring Health, recently raised $76 million in a round led by Tiger Global with the participation of Arthur, Catalyst, and FireHydrant.
Although raising funds during the pandemic is not easy, the company continues its smaller meetups for corporate executives.
In recent months, the company shifted some programming to virtual and cut down its own office space with meetups that happened at Amazon Web Services’ location, among others.
Work-Bench’s priority also is to develop the diversity of that enterprise network.
About 20% of its portfolio today has women founders. Not only does it have Women Founders of Enterprise Startups Database, but it also celebrates a series of events with the hashtag Womenterprise.
