Google Ventures changes investment strategy and closes European fund

    Google Ventures Investment Fund Europe opened in London in July 2014. Its initial volume was $ 100 million. But now the management of the fund has decided to stop the work of the unit as a regional fund.

    The president and CEO of Google Ventures Bill Marys explained this by saying that the fund still decided to bet on flexibility. By collecting all investment assets in a single, global fund, Google will be able to invest in any project - regardless of its location. In addition, the restriction on the volume of investments, which usually takes place within the framework of regional investment funds, is removed.

    Source: Re / code

    As reportedTechCrunch, Marys also noted that the changes are mostly organizational in nature, and in addition, nothing will change in the work of the London team.

    Since its inception (since 2009), Google Ventures has made over 300 major investments. The European unit managed to invest in only six projects.

    Two London startups received investments from the European division of Google Ventures. The marketing company Yieldify raised $ 11.5 million from investors led by Google Ventures and the Japanese corporation Soft Bank . Startup Lost my name received $ 9 million. Silicon Valley venture capital firm Greycroft Partners , a Los Angeles-based media company, also invested in it.Group is chernin , as well as the US bank Allen & Co .

    After the launch, the fund invested in two companies. Music technology company Kobalt helps songwriters to receive payments from streaming services. The second in line was a joint venture between the University of Oxford Sciences Innovation and the technology company Isis Innovation . Then the fund stopped making investments. Investments in Yieldify and Lost my name were the first after a long break.

    Prior to the opening of the European division, Google invested in startups from Silicon Valley. So, the company invested in Nest , which was later acquired in full. And in the Uber service , for example, about $ 258 million was invested.

    The main areas of investment for Google Venture at the end of 2015 were projects in the field of biotechnology and healthcare. The share of such projects amounted to 31%. In these areas, the fund plans to invest about $ 1 billion over several years.

    The share of investments in startups from the service sector amounted to 24%, the developers of corporate platforms received 23%, and projects from the field of artificial intelligence received only 13% of the fund’s investments.

    Also popular now: