Almost a year to this day Google unveiled the European arm of Google Ventures. The new $100 million fund was charged with investing in “the best ideas from the best European entrepreneurs,” and bringing GV’s operational expertise across the pond.
To manage the fund, Google recruited four London-based General Partners, comprising an all-star lineup with substantial investor experience and ties to the European tech ecosystem.
“We didn’t want to create a minor league team,” Google Ventures’ MG Siegler told attendees at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe just a few months later.
But now TechCrunch has learned that one member of that team has left the VC firm. As of last week, Peter Read is no longer a Google Ventures General Partner.
That leaves Eze Vidra, Tom Hulme, and Avid Larizadeh as the remaining General Partners of Google’s European VC arm. It’s not clear if or when Read will be replaced, although our bet is that he will be.
(Btw, I hear the blogger to VC route is in vogue right now. Just sayin’)
Confirming his departure, a Google Ventures spokesperson told TechCrunch: “We thank Peter for his contribution to building out Google Ventures in Europe and wish him all the best as he embarks on the next chapter.”
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The timing is interesting, too. After remaining relatively quiet for much of its European existence, Google Ventures has recently announced a spew of investments.
In June, the VC backed the Oxford Science Innovation Fund. The same month it also announced investments in marketing tech business Yieldify and personalised book publisher Lost My Name. Prior to that Google Ventures’ sole investment from its European fund was music licensing platform specialist Kobalt.
