Five years after launching its Google Ventures investment fund, the Internet giant announced yesterday that it was launching a similar fund in Europe. The company announced that the fund would have $100 million, and would invest in ventures and startups in Europe. Google did not mention Israel directly in the announcement, since Israel is not geographically part of Europe, but sources inform "Globes" that Google will use the fund to make investments in Israeli start-ups, if they are suitable for Google.
"To help support the next generation of European entrepreneurs, today Google Ventures is launching a new venture fund, with initial funding of $100 million," Google Ventures managing partner Bill Maris wrote yesterday. "Our goal is simple: we want to invest in the best ideas from the best European entrepreneurs, and help them bring those ideas to life."
He added, "When we launched Google Ventures in 2009, we set out to be a very different type of venture fund… Five years later, we’re working with more than 250 portfolio companies, tackling challenges across a host of industries."
Maris addressed the question of European innovation, saying, "We believe Europe’s startup scene has enormous potential. We’ve seen compelling new companies emerge from places like London, Paris, Berlin, the Nordic region and beyond - SoundCloud, Spotify, Supercell and many others.
"The Financial Times" reported that the new European fund's management team includes former Google London Campus manager and Google executive Eze Vidra, veteran British investor Peter Read, and former TechCrunch blog writer MG Siegler, who was a general partner in CrunchFund, the investment fund of his editor, Michael Arrington, and who has been a general partner in the US Google Ventures fund since 2013. To date, this fund has invested in startups, such as Uber, Nest (which Google eventually acquired), Parse (acquired by Facebook), the Secret social network, and others.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 10, 2014
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