Phil Sorgen, a former Microsoft corporate vice president who was most recently chief revenue officer at RingCentral, joins Seattle-area investment firm Tola Capital as a venture partner.
Sorgen spent 24 years at Microsoft. As corporate vice president, he led Microsoft’s Business Business Group in the United States and held several other leadership positions at the technology giant, including president of Microsoft Canada.
The sales and marketing vet joined business communications giant RingCentral in May 2020 and was responsible for all global sales.
Sorgen was already connected to Tola as a member of his Business Leadership Council and a director of his portfolio company Glia.
Founded in 2010, Tola is led by former Microsoft managers Sheila Gulati and Stacey Giard. It focuses on enterprise software companies and manages $ 440 million in assets. The firm raised $ 295 million for its first fund in 2016 and is currently investing in its second fund.
Sorgen told GeekWire that he joined Tola because of his “outstanding” leadership and the firm’s investment focus. Sorgen pointed out four trends that particularly excite him:
“Data is the new currency”
Reinvent the way people work and collaborate
Execution speed with no-code or low-code solutions
Leverage Machine Learning and AI to Improve Security
“I’m looking for organizations that have a clear vision, embrace both a growth mindset and a learning culture, have differentiated capabilities in the way they approach a solution, and talented individuals who can deliver success,” said Sorgen.
Tola’s portfolio includes companies such as Clipchamp, which was just acquired by Microsoft, and Convercent, which was acquired by OneTrust earlier this year. The firm invests in companies in North America, Europe and Australia.
