Google Capital To Invest In Promising Startups

Google has announced a new project called Google Capital aimed at providing funding to promising startups across a range of industries. In addition to financial backing, Google says the new initiative will allow young companies to leverage the search giant’s technology, strategic expertise and talent.

Google says the defining feature of Capital will be that portfolio companies can tap into Google’s talent pool. It’s unclear how that will play out exactly, but it might mean engineers getting sent to work on startup projects.

“Ever since our founders began working out of a garage in Menlo Park, we’ve thought about what it takes for entrepreneurs to build the companies they dream of. Sometimes this means bringing great startups to Google—but other times, it means we go to them. Today, we’re launching Google Capital, a new growth equity fund backed by Google and led by partners David Lawee, Scott Tierney and Gene Frantz,” the company wrote in a Google Blog post.  Google Capital isn’t the company’s first foray into venture funding. Founded in 2009, Google Ventures has backed more than two-dozen startups and currently holds around $1.5 billion in assets.

But while Google Ventures invests primarily in companies that are still in their infancy, Google Capital will work with much more mature firms.

“Like our colleagues at Google Ventures, our goal is to invest in the most promising companies of tomorrow, with one important difference. While Google Ventures focuses mainly on early-stage investments, we’ll be looking to invest in companies solely as they hit their growth phase. That means finding companies that have already built a solid foundation and are really ready to expand their business in big ways. We’ll look across a range of industries for companies with new technologies and proven track records in their fields. Our investments to date include SurveyMonkey, Lending Club and Renaissance Learning—with many more to come,” Google said.