Phil Sogan, Former vice president of Microsoft Corporation, recently served as the chief revenue officer of RingCentral, is joining an investment company in the Seattle area Torra Capital As a risk partner.
Sorgen has been with Microsoft for 24 years. As corporate vice president, he led Microsoft’s American Enterprise Business Group and held various other leadership positions at the technology giant, including the president of Microsoft Canada.
This sales and marketing veteran joined the business communications giant RingCentral in May 2020 and is responsible for all global sales.
Sorgen has established contacts with Tola as a member of its corporate leadership committee and a director of its portfolio company Glia.
Tola was founded in 2010 and is led by a former Microsoft manager Sheila Gulati with Stacey JuddIt focuses on enterprise software companies and manages $440 million in assets. The company raised US$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 company’s investment approach. Sorgen pointed out four trends that he was particularly interested in:
- “Data is the new currency”
- Reshape the way people work and collaborate
- Execution speed of no-code or low-code solutions
- Use machine learning and artificial intelligence to enhance security
Sorgen said: “I look for organizations that have a clear vision, embrace a growth mindset and a learning culture, and have the ability to differentiate in the way they handle solutions, as well as people who can achieve success.”
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 company invests in companies in North America and Europe.