Google is launching a European arm of their Google Ventures investment fund, which will have an initial pot of $100m.
The venture fund will be based in London, and aims to “invest in the best ideas from the best European entrepreneurs, and help them bring those ideas to life.”
The office will be in Clerkenwell, close to London’s Tech City/Silicon Roundabout area – where Google have their Campus workspace – but the fund will invest throughout Europe.
In a blog post, Bill Maris, Managing Partner at Google Ventures, said:
“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.”
According to the FT, the fund will have four managing partners: Google Europe executive Eze Vidra – who set up Google Campus – entrepreneur Tom Hulme, UK angel investor Peter Read and code.org UK head Avid Larizadeh.
Google Ventures was launched in 2009, and now works with over 250 portfolio companies, including solar energy company Clean Power Finance, and cancer care group Flatiron Health.
The venture capital investment arm provides seed, venture, and growth stage funding to startups.