GV (company)

Last updated
GV Management Company, L.L.C.
FormerlyGoogle Ventures (2010–2015)
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Venture capital
FoundedMarch 31, 2010;13 years ago (2010-03-31) (as Google Ventures) [1]
Founder Bill Maris (founding CEO) [2] [3]
Headquarters
Key people
David Krane (CEO)
Products Investments
Total assets $8 billion
Parent
Website www.gv.com

GV Management Company, L.L.C. [4] is a venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc., founded by Bill Maris, [5] that provides seed, venture, and growth stage funding to technology companies. Founded as Google Ventures in 2010, the firm has operated independently of Google, Alphabet's search and advertising division, since 2015. [6] GV invests in startup companies in a variety of fields ranging from the Internet, software, and hardware to life science, healthcare, artificial intelligence, transportation, cyber security and agriculture. [7] It has helped finance more than 300 companies that include Uber, Nest, Slack, and Flatiron Health. [8]

Contents

History

Logo when known as Google Ventures (2009-2015) Google Ventures logo.png
Logo when known as Google Ventures (2009-2015)

The group was founded on March 31, 2010, with a $100 million capital commitment, [1] by Bill Maris who also became GV's first CEO. [9] [10] [11] In 2012, that commitment was raised to $300 million annually, and the fund has $2 billion under management. [12] In 2014, the group announced $125 million to invest in promising European startups. [13] [14] By 2014, it had invested in companies such as Shape Security. [15] In December 2015, the company was renamed GV and introduced a new logo. [16]

As of 2016, GV has been less active as a seed investor, instead shifting its attention to more mature companies. [17] [18] There is also a focus on startups in the healthcare markets. It created the biotech company Calico and has invested in Foundation Medicine, Genomics Medicine Ireland, Editas Midicine, and Flatiron Health, among others. [19] In 2020, GV hired Candice Morgan as the firm's first Diversity & Inclusion Partner [20] and promoted Terri Burns from principal to the firm’s first black female partner. [21]

Structure

In 2013, GV developed an intensive, five-day design process, called a Design Sprint, which helps startups solve problems quickly. [22] [23] [ better source needed ] It is based on key ideas of agile development and design thinking. [24] In addition, GV provides portfolio companies with access to operational help after making a financial investment. [25] Full-time partners at GV work with portfolio companies on design and product management, marketing, engineering, and recruiting. [26]

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References

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  2. Team
  3. "Team | Google Ventures". March 26, 2014. Archived from the original on March 26, 2014.
  4. "Delaware Corporate Entity Search". Archived from the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2022. (file no. 4726690)
  5. Bill Maris, CEO Profile
  6. "Press". GV. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  7. "GV". gv.com. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  8. Traitler, Helmut; Coleman, Birgit; Burbidge, Adam (2016). Food Industry R&D: A New Approach. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. p. 188. ISBN   978-1-119-08939-1.
  9. "Google Ventures founder Bill Maris is back. Again". Axios. 14 March 2017.
  10. "Google Ventures and the Search for Immortality". Bloomberg.com. 9 March 2015.
  11. "Bill Maris Steps Down as CEO of Google Ventures". Fortune.
  12. "Exclusive: Google Ventures beefs up fund size to $300 million a year". Reuters. 8 November 2012.
  13. Oscar Williams-Grut (28 October 2014). "Bill Maris interview: Google Ventures into Europe". The Independent.
  14. "Google Ventures invests in Europe". 9 July 2014.
  15. Primack, Dan. "Deals of the day: Shape Security raises $40 million". Fortune. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  16. "Google Ventures Launches Rebranding Initiative". PYMNTS.com. 2015-12-07. Retrieved 2015-12-09.
  17. Chernova, Yuliya (2015-12-06). "Google Ventures Dials Down Seed Deals, Urges Mature Startups to Go Public". WSJ. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  18. Wong, Joon Ian (12 August 2016). "Google's (GOOG) not investing in young startups anymore — Quartz". qz.com. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  19. Hilbush, Brian S. (2021). In Silico Dreams: How Artificial Intelligence and Biotechnology Will Create the Medicines of the Future. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   978-1-119-74563-1.
  20. Candice Morgan (September 2, 2020). "How to build a race-conscious equity, diversity, and inclusion strategy". Fast Company. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  21. Courtney Connley (October 22, 2020). "Meet Terri Burns, the youngest and first black female partner at GV, formerly known as Google Ventures". CNBC. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  22. "How Google Ventures does rapid prototyping 'design sprints' with its 170 startups". VentureBeat. 14 August 2013.
  23. "Inside A Google Ventures Design Sprint". TechCrunch. 23 October 2013.
  24. Carvalho, Carlos Vaz de; Bauters, Merja (2021). Technology Supported Active Learning: Student-Centered Approaches. Singapore: Springer Nature. p. 84. ISBN   978-981-16-2081-2.
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  26. Manjoo, Farhad (16 April 2012). "Google's Creative Destruction". Fast Company.