Accel (formerly Accel Partners) is a venture capital firm. It works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The firm prefers to invest in information technology, cloud computing and storage technologies and infrastructure, consumer and business-centric internet, e-commerce media, life science and biotech, social and mobile services, as well as gaming, payments, cybersecurity, clean technology, analytic software, telecommunications, financial technology, and open-source software.