Although Google’s investment arm, Google Ventures, only opened its London office in July 2014 — setting aside an initial $100 million to invest in startups “across Europe” — it’s now abandoning the idea of running separate funds, according to CEO Bill Maris.
Speaking in an interview , Maris said the fund wants to have more flexibility in where it invests — so will be pooling its investments into a single global vehicle next year.
We’ve reached out to Google Ventures with questions and will be updating this story as we learn more. Update: A spokesperson for GV confirmed it will be operating as a global fund starting in January, telling TechCrunch: “This gives us more flexibility and dollars to invest in the best founders and companies, regardless of where they are based, and reduces limitations of a specific fund size. Aside from this, it’s business as usual for the team in London — nothing else changes.”Details