Today Google (GOOG +3.97%) announced it has launched Google Capital, another investment arm, to provide equity to technology companies as they enter into their growth stages. The company noted this would be different from its Google Venture operations, which seeks to provide seed capital to start-ups and companies as they begin their initial functionality.
"Google Ventures kind of invests across the spectrum but predominantly invests in early stage companies, and they have an organization that's super well configured for that," the head of Google Capital, David Lawee, said in an interview with Bloomberg. "Google Capital is only investing in late-stage investments, and we're building an organization completely configured around that."
The blog post in which Google announced Google Capital highlighted it has already invested in three companies: SurveyMonkey, Lending Club, and Renaissance Learning. Multiple sources are reporting that the total capital available to Google Capital is $300 million, and that $40 million has been placed into Renaissance Learning, a cloud-based learning, teaching, and assessment platform. Renaissance reportedly has an estimated value of $1 billion.
Lawee noted in the blog post that the investments will not focus exclusively on the monetary returns, but also the ability for partnerships between the employees at Google and the portfolio companies that Google Capital invests in.
"While many investors may contribute money and advice to the companies they support, Google Capital is going beyond that and tapping into our greatest assets: our people," noted Lawee. "They help us succeed, and we believe they can help our portfolio companies do the same."
On the Google Capital web page, Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, is quoted as saying simply, "We are here because we share a deep sense of optimism about the potential of technology to improve people's lives and the world." Google Capital aims to focus on "emerging, long-term technology trends and the companies that are leading or are poised to drive disruption in their respective markets by harnessing these technologies."
In addition, the blog post highlighted that Google expects to make "many more," investments in the coming years, and while they are excited about the launch, the company is "excited to see what happens in the years to come."
