GV (company)

GV, formerly Google Ventures, is the venture capital investment arm of Alphabet Inc., founded by Bill Maris, that provides seed, venture, and growth stage funding to technology companies. The firm operates independently from Google and makes financially driven investment decisions. GV seeks to invest in startup companies in a variety of fields ranging from the Internet, software, and hardware to life science, healthcare, artificial intelligence, transportation, cyber security and agriculture. GV was founded as Google Ventures in 2009. GV has offices in Mountain View, San Francisco, New York City, Cambridge, and London.

History
The group was founded on March 31, 2009 with a $100 million capital commitment, by Bill Maris who also became GV's first CEO. In 2012, that commitment was raised to $300 million annually, and the fund has $2 billion under management. In 2014, the group announced $125 million to invest in promising European startups. By 2014, it had invested in companies such as Shape Security. In December 2015, the company was renamed GV and introduced a new logo. As of 2016, GV has been less active as a seed investor, instead shifting its attention to more mature companies.

Services model
GV was one of the first venture capital firms to employ the venture capital services model. It provides portfolio companies with access to operational help after making a financial investment. Full-time partners at GV work with portfolio companies on design and product management, marketing, engineering, and recruiting.

GV has developed an intensive, five-day design process, called a Design Sprint, which helps startups solve problems quickly.