What is Google Ventures?
Google Ventures is Google's venture capital arm, and is the primary source of Google's venture investments.
What is the purpose of the fund?
The fund's mission is simple: We seek out innovative business ideas and talented entrepreneurs, invest in companies that have the potential to become significant, and aim to generate an above-average financial return. We invest across a broad range of industries and at all stages of a company's growth. Google Ventures does not limit its investments to those of strategic interest to Google; we invest for financial return and look at opportunities in all sectors and all stages.
How is Google Ventures different from other venture funds?
You'll find that we have an insatiable appetite for helping grow and accelerate the companies we've invested in. We believe the diverse experience of our team, coupled with the skills and resources of Google infrastructure and 23,000 employees worldwide, provide a significant advantage to our portfolio companies, and are a unique offering in the venture industry.
Does Google Ventures have a specific industry focus?
No. We are interested in a wide range of industries, including (but not limited to) consumer Internet, software, hardware, clean-tech, biotech, health care and others. First and foremost, we're looking for entrepreneurs who are tackling problems in creative and innovative ways, with the potential for significant financial return. We also invest in areas where access to our team, facilities, technology or other resources can help a company become more successful. We are not looking to invest in companies or industries solely because their products or services might be beneficial to Google.
How much capital does Google Ventures invest?
We invest amounts ranging from seed funding to tens of millions of dollars, depending on the stage of the opportunity and the company's need for capital.
Does Google Ventures co-invest with other venture firms?
Yes, we welcome the opportunity to co-invest along with outstanding venture or strategic partners and have a history of doing so.
How involved is Google Ventures with its portfolio companies?
We're as involved as the entrepreneurs want us to be. At some stages, a founder or CEO may require assistance, whether for recruiting, leveraging technical resources, or launching a product, and we use all of the resources available to us at Google to help with those challenges. At other times, we know to just get out of the way and let the entrepreneur do his or her thing.
Does Google Ventures require a commercial arrangement with Google in order to make an investment?
Not at all. We make our investment decisions independent of a company's relationship (or lack thereof) with Google. We don't require our portfolio companies to work with Google in any special way, use Google products, or have a relationship with Google that's different than they would've had otherwise. Our goal is to invest in the most promising and interesting entrepreneurial opportunities, and to build great companies, period.
Will other groups within Google still be making their own investments?
Google Ventures is Google's primary vehicle for venture investments.
Is Google Ventures simply a strategic vehicle to make future acquisitions easier?
No, it isn't. Acquisitions by Google of portfolio companies are possible, but this is not the goal or focus of our investment activities, nor a criterion we consider when making investment decisions. We think there's an opportunity to support disruptive, even world-changing, technology while earning a good return on our investments. Whether a company is acquired by Google or not is a decision left to entrepreneurs, and one in which we do not play a role.
Will you require your portfolio companies to use Google products?
No. Companies should use whatever products best accomplish their goals. We will, of course, provide whatever support is necessary to help our portfolio companies grow, but this support won't necessarily involve any strategic placement of Google products or parallel commercial agreements. If a company chooses to use Google products, we will of course help with that however we can.
Does Google Ventures have a geographical focus?
We're limiting our focus to companies in North America at this time. While Google is a global company, and we realize outstanding innovation happens all over the world, we're a small team, so we've imposed some geographical focus to maximize our effectiveness.
What have you invested in so far?
Our portfolio of announced investments can be found here. There is also a handful of others we haven't announced yet, but we keep our site updated regularly so please check back.