Google Ventures Europe to close and withdraw USD 125 million for start-ups

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According to Tech.eu, Google's Venture Capital fund aimed at supporting the fastest-growing and the most prospective startups in Europe is closing after only a year or so. Let us remind that Google Ventures Europe had an initial USD 100 million (later increased to $125 million) to deploy, and has made only six investments from the fund since it was launched a year and a half ago.

Despite its name, Google Ventures Europe seems to have largely limited itself to investing in UK companies: 5 out of 6 investments were UK-based companies.

Journalism is a 'new black'?

Last summer, Business Insider reported on 'rumours of disagreements' within Google Ventures’ European wing, around the time one of its investment partners (Peter Read) walked away without explaining why.

Meanwhile, Google recently set up a brand new EUR 150 million 'innovation fund' to support digital news projects across Europe. We shall now wait for the next year to see if this fund will share the same destiny as its predecessor.