Gordon Ritter — SPARQNOW

At-a-Glance

Founder and General Partner at Emergence Capital since 2002, an enterprise software investing firm.
Chair of the Board at Veeva Systems since 2008, which he backed when it had 25 employees and less than $1 million in revenue; Veeva now boasts a $35 billion market cap.
Co-founded Software As Service with Marc Benioff, which formed the foundation for the Salesforce Platform.
Founded Whistle Communications, which was acquired by IBM, where he then led its $3 billion Global Small Business division.
Led Emergence's first major investment in Salesforce, a cloud computing company.
Serves as a Board Member at Bland (since 2025), Hi Marley (since 2021), and Guru (since 2017).
Holds a B.A. in Economics from Princeton University.

Biography

Gordon Ritter is the Founder and General Partner at Emergence Capital, a venture capital firm he established in 2002. The firm focuses on enterprise software investing, an area where Ritter's vision has been instrumental in its success. He notably led Emergence’s first major investment in Salesforce, an early cloud computing company.