a venture fund so flush with cash, it can throw around $258 million in a single swoop, as it did with uber back in 2013, and still have $9.742 billion left to play with. Welcome to GV, the venture arm of google that’s not exactly Google, except when it absolutely needs to be. With a budget of $1 billion per year and a knack for sprinkling Alphabet’s fairy dust across startups, GV is a veritable Willy Wonka factory of investment — minus the chocolate river, though $140 million for Cribl might count.
Life at GV: Living the Dream (With a Few Strings Attached)
Under the watchful eye of David Krane, GV has invested in an eye-popping 800 companies over 15 years. The goal? Pure financial returns, baby. That’s right. GV’s decisions are totally divorced from the whims of Alphabet, except when they’re not. The only sacred cows? Alphabet’s own employees, who aren’t supposed to be lured into launching startups for GV’s benefit. Perish the thought!
Yet somehow, when google employees leave to start companies, GV magically appears at their doorstep, checkbook in hand. Coincidence? Absolutely. “We haven’t set up a giant sucking vacuum,” Krane insists. Oh no, it’s just a faint, invisible gravitational pull strong enough to escape the event horizon of Alphabet’s HR department.
CapitalG vs. GV: Friendly Sibling Rivalry or Turf War?
Krane dismisses any notion of a feud with CapitalG, Alphabet’s other venture arm. Sure, both have poured money into the same startups, like Stripe and Cribl, but it’s all one big happy family. After all, nothing says “teamwork” like making sure you don’t step on each other’s toes — or carve out overlapping chunks of equity from the same pie. Communication is the secret sauce, apparently. Translation: We’ll play nice as long as you don’t take the shiny new AI unicorn I wanted.
How to Leave google Without Really Leaving
Then there’s the awkward dance of google employees who dare to leave the mothership. GV funding their startups keeps them “close to home,” Krane says, like an overbearing parent footing the bill for their kid’s gap year. But don’t worry; Alphabet doesn’t mind its talent walking out the door, as long as they walk into GV’s waiting arms. “The goal is to stay at google if you’re at google,” Krane says, before acknowledging that life happens, people leave, and oh, by the way, GV might fund you.
The Big Picture: A Venture Arm Like No Other
Ultimately, GV isn’t just a venture firm. It’s a reflection of Google’s ethos: vast sums of money, global ambitions, and a carefully curated blend of independence and strategic convenience. It’s a unicorn whisperer, a talent sponge, and a financial juggernaut, all rolled into one. Just don’t call it poaching. It’s more like… gentle shepherding.
As Krane puts it, some people just don’t stay forever. Unless, of course, you count GV’s money — because that tends to stick around.
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