Just as it has done to companies in the software, publishing, and advertising industries, Google is becoming a thorn in the side of venture capitalists. The owner of the world's largest Web search engine is scooping up young tech outfits for a relative pittance, giving itself first dibs on hot-growth technologies and in some cases boxing VC funds out of potential big-bang acquisitions and initial public offerings.
Google (GOOG) has begun making VC-style investments to the tune of about $500,000 or less in promising startups, often buying those companies afterward, according to partners at Silicon Valley VC firms who spoke on condition of anonymity. In an effort to keep spotting promising deals, Google has been hiring a stable of finance pros. And it has invested more than $1 million in a Mumbai-based investment firm called Seedfund to gain access to technology such as automatic translation software that could help spur growth in India.
"Google has easy money," says Pravin Gandhi, a managing partner at Seedfund, which also has raised some of its $15 million from Motorola (MOT) and VC firm Mayfield Fund. So far, Seedfund has taken $500,000 to $750,000 stakes in four companies, including an online news site. On the horizon could be investments that help Google add specialized channels, such as information about autos, to its Web site or cultivate technology that can translate Web content from English into Indian languages, Gandhi says. "It's a somewhat less risky way to participate in the Indian growth story," he says.
Beating VCs to the Punch
By staking startups, Google hopes to avoid paying the higher prices companies can fetch once they take funding from traditional VCs. It's possible that some of its investments are conditioned on Google having first-acquisition rights should a target opt to sell, some VCs speculate. Google didn't respond to calls requesting comment. Making investments in startups also can help Google use more of its $4.5 billion in cash to cultivate tools that complement existing products. Google recently started a program called Gadget Ventures to fund entrepreneurs who build online tools using Google's technology.
The zeal for dealmaking at Googleplex mirrors an increase in corporate venture investing to its highest level in years. "They're back, like the swallows returning to Capistrano," says Paul Maeder, a managing general partner at Highland Capital Partners. "We're in a wave now where corporate venturing is increasing again."
Companies that aren't full-time investors pumped $1.3 billion into 390 venture capital deals in the first half of 2007, up 30% from the $1 billion invested in about 350 deals a year earlier, according to an Aug. 30 report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Assn. (NVCA), based on data from Thompson Financial (TOC). That's the most invested since 2001, just before the bottom fell out of the tech industry. The big spenders include Intel (INTC), which invested $112 million in U.S. startups in the first half of 2007, vs. $79 million a year earlier, and Motorola, which invested nearly $30 million in the first half of the year and says its overall 2007 investments should top the record set in 2006.
VCs Seek Alternative Sources
The incursions don't sit well with many VCs. Combined with the predilection on the part of many entrepreneurs to fund their own ventures, investments by Google and other corporations leave even fewer opportunities for VCs to take big, early stakes. That's especially problematic when venture firms have raised record amounts of cash and need to find places to invest it (see BusinessWeek.com, 2/5/07, "Venture Capital's Growing Aspirations").
"There are a lot of entrepreneurs who aren't making the trip to Sand Hill Road," says Ray Rothrock, managing general partner at Venrock Associates, referring to the Menlo Park (Calif.) thoroughfare that is home to many venture capital firms. "They're going elsewhere." Venrock, which funds Web startups including women's blogging site BlogHer and search engine ZoomInfo, is considering launching a startup incubator as a way to counter corporations' ability to buy the same companies it wants to fund.
A partner at another large VC firm says a tendency by corporate venture arms to buy startups not long after investing in them is "very inconsistent with the venture community's strategy" of providing guidance and making several rounds of investments over the long haul.
