BEACHWOOD, Ohio–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SunBridge Partners (“SBP”), a venture capital firm targeting investments in global leaders in enterprise software in the US and Japan, is pleased to announce the sale of its holdings in Marketo KK (“Marketo Japan”), the Japan Joint Venture between Marketo^®, an Adobe company (“Marketo”) and SunBridge, to Adobe (“Adobe”) as part of Adobe’s acquisition of Marketo for $4.75B.

“SBP’s commitment to excellence, fairness, and transparency were critical factors in our successful partnership.”

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SunBridge Partners teamed with Marketo in 2013 to help establish its Japan operations via SBP’s proven Japan-entry Joint Venture (“JV”) model. Previous SunBridge Japan entry JVs also include Concur Japan, Kyriba Japan and Demandware Japan. SBP was also pleased to have Dentsu Digital Inc., the specialist digital marketing company arm of the leading Japanese advertising agency, as a strategic partner and co-investor in the JV.

SunBridge worked closely with Marketo to identify the highest caliber of leadership for Marketo Japan, including President Yasutaka Fukuda, and partnered with the team to help maximize the growth and success of the Japan business.

“We have been fortunate to have SunBridge Partners as a key strategic ally and investor in Japan; their local networks, insights on what makes Japan unique, and understanding on how to best serve customers have been invaluable,” said Mark Miller, Marketo CFO. “SBP’s commitment to excellence, fairness, and transparency were critical factors in our successful partnership.”

“From the very beginning, Marketo has been the pioneer in creating the marketing automation software industry and will continue to provide the most comprehensive solution for end-to-end customer engagement in the next leg of their journey with Adobe,” said SBP Partner Ken Ehrhart, who led SBP’s relationship with Marketo Japan as Board Observer. “It has been an honor to have the chance to work with industry leaders like Steve, Mark and Fukuda-san and help play our part in extending their global market leadership.”

About Marketo

Marketo, an Adobe company, offers the leading Engagement Platform that empowers marketers to create lasting relationships and grow revenue. Consistently recognized as the industry’s innovation pioneer, Marketo is the trusted platform for thousands of CMOs due to its scalability, reliability, and openness. Marketo is headquartered in San Mateo, CA, with offices around the world, and serves as a strategic partner to large enterprises and fast-growing organizations across a wide variety of industries. To learn more about the Marketo Engagement Platform, part of Adobe Marketing Cloud, LaunchPoint® partner ecosystem, and the vast community that is the Marketing Nation®, visit www.marketo.com.

About SunBridge Partners

SunBridge Partners is a venture capital firm focused on helping global leaders in enterprise software and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to enter and become growth success stories in the Japanese market. SunBridge successfully co-founded Concur Japan, Marketo Japan, Demandware Japan and Kyriba Japan, and invested over $100m in more than 65 portfolio companies, resulting in nine successful IPOs and several major acquisition exits generating over $23 Billion in current market capitalization. SunBridge offices are located in Tokyo, Silicon Valley, Ohio and North Carolina. More information is available at www.sunbridgepartners.com.