“If it ain’t broke. don’t fix it” is the overwhelming sentiment behind Google Ventures‘ European investment strategy.
It was revealed this morning at TechCrunch Disrupt that the new European arm will function and invest in a very similar way to its US counterpart.
Google Ventures’ Europe will invest across Europe, not only in the UK, with no particular focus towards stage or sector.
An extra $25m was announced for the fund, bringing its total to $125m.
Modest Google
The $125m fund is modest by Google’s standards, but the five partners who took the stage agreed the competitive advantage Google offers is what differentiates itself from other European VCs.
Startups that the Google Ventures team invest in will benefit from its “operational services and the Google resources”.
Similarly to in the US, most investments will be made with co-investors.
Notable investments from its US fund in the past few years include Uber, Pocket, and DocuSign.
All shapes and sizes
Partner Eze Vidra also emphasized the fund’s focus across all of Europe:
We are not focusing in any one country in particular. Innovation is truly global.
The partners were equally open to the stage of the startups they invest in.
They noted that a lot is happening with early-stage investments in Europe and that similar investments might be their best chance to be opportunistic.
It was however also noted that the early-stage space might already by “too busy”.