Google Ventures

Google Ventures is the venture capital investment arm of Google Inc. and provides seed, venture, and growth stage funding to technology companies. The firm operates independently from Google and makes financially driven investment decisions. Google Ventures seeks to invest in startup companies in a variety of fields ranging from Internet, software, and hardware to cleantech, biotech, and health care.

The group was founded on March 31, 2009, with a $100 million capital commitment. In 2012, that commitment was raised to $300 million annually, and the fund has $1.5 billion under management. General partners include Bill Maris, Rich Miner, Joe Kraus, David Krane, Kevin Rose, Karim Faris, Krishna Yeshwant, MG Siegler, Andy Wheeler, and Blake Byers.

In July 2014, the group launched a $100 million fund to invest in promising European start-ups.

Google Ventures has offices in Mountain View, San Francisco, New York City, Cambridge and London.

Services model
Google Ventures was one of the first venture capital firms to employ the venture capital services model, providing portfolio companies with access to operational help after making a financial investment. Full-time partners at Google Ventures work with portfolio companies on design and product management, marketing,engineering, and recruiting. Partners working with companies include designers Daniel Burka, Braden Kowitz, and Jake Knapp, marketing partners Laura Melahn[17] and Jodi Olson, product managers Rick Klau and Ken Norton, and top engineers from Google, including Graham Spencer the co-founder of Jotspotand Excite and Erik Nordlander.

Google Ventures has developed an intensive five-day design process called a Design Sprint to help startups solve problems quickly.