Google Ventures to London

Confirmation of earlier rumours has arisen in respect of Google Venture’s opening of a London branch, by way of a blog post on the company’s website. 

The UK branch will be a subsidiary of the US division, although it will represent the European arm of Google Ventures and will look to invest both within and outside the UK. Its US offices currently consist of Mountain View (California), San Francisco, Boston and New York, and the company itself has been in existence since 2009. In the US it has invested in more than 250 companies so far.

There will, at the outset, be US$100 million (around £60 million presently) to invest in ‘the best ideas from European entrepreneurs’, while Google Ventures’ website states that it wants to meet Europe’s ‘disruptive startups’. 

Citing companies that began their start-up life in Europe, Bill Maris of Google Ventures, in his blog post, noted the potential for investment in exciting new, young European companies that could make changes to science, medicine or engineering. Initially, it is reported, the European/London office will have four general partners: serial entrepreneur Tom Hulme, UK angel investor Peter Read; Avid Larizadeh, the head of the UK division of code.org and co-founder of Bottica.com, and venture capitalist MG Siegler, the latter having already been involved in the US Google Ventures. 

So where will the new office be? Close to Tech City, in Clerkenwell, which of course makes sense – although Google Ventures has been quick to state that its reach will be wide and companies of all sizes and locations are likely to be added to the GV investment portfolio. 

Google Ventures will join the likes of Balderton, Accel and Index, whose (larger) funds are also directed at promising European companies in need of an injection of investment. 

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