Google launches new venture fund for European start-ups

Ambitious European tech entrepreneurs can bid for a slice of Google's $100m Google is launching a venture capital fund to invest in promising European technology companies. The $100m (£58m) fund will "invest in the best ideas from the best European entrepreneurs", according to Bill Maris, managing partner at Google Ventures, overseeing the project. "We believe Europe's start-up scene has enormous potential." The new operation will be based near London's Silicon Roundabout start-up district. But Google is open to further geographic expansion in the future. "We've seen compelling new companies emerge from places like London, Paris, Berlin, the Nordic region and beyond - SoundCloud, Spotify, Supercell and many others," Mr Maris writes in a blog to announce the new fund. Financial return The new fund will be an arm of the existing US-based fund, Google Ventures, and will be run by a team which includes angel investor Peter Read, Code.org UK head Avid Larizadeh and entrepreneur Tom Hulme. Eze Vidra, who set up the "Google Campus" in London, an incubator for technology enterprises, is also a partner. MG Siegler, the American venture capitalist, will liaise between the new fund and Google's original US-based fund.