Google Ventures to invest $100m in European startups

By Business Cloud News

Google has announced that it has set up an arm of Google Ventures in Europe and allocated an initial fund of $100m for local startups. The announcement will presumably be welcomed by startups in the UK, where we’re so keen to emulate Silicon Valley that we insert “Silicon” into the name of anywhere a tech startup spends more than a couple of hours.

Google Ventures originally launched in the US in 2009 and now has over 250 companies in its portfolio, many of which – like Uber and TuneIn – have gone on to have a significant impact on the mobile sector. The firm usually invests around $300m in new businesses annually.

Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures said Europe’s startup scene is very encouraging, particularly at a time when many European cities – like Dublin, Copenhagen, London and Berlin – are competing with one another and Silicon Valley to become Europe’s next big tech hub as they look to attract technology talent and encourage technology-related commercial growth.

“Our goal is simple: we want to invest in the best ideas from the best European entrepreneurs, and help them bring those ideas to life,” Maris 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,” he said.

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