GV, the VC group backed by Google, has a lot of money, but it can’t do one thing

David Krane is in a good place. As CEO of GV, a company that receives up to $1 billion a year in revenue from Google, his team of about 100 people take big gambles — with a few notable restrictions.

At the TechCrunch StrictlyVC event in San Francisco earlier this month, Krane said GV has invested in an astounding 800 companies over the past five years and invested more than $10 billion in its 15-year history.

No one has gotten as much in one shot as Uber, itself $258 million The Series C round was supported by GV only in 2013. However, GV still grows sometimes, for example, connecting $ 140 million in Cribl’s initial data in August as part of $319 million Series E round.

In fact, because GV invests only for returns, Krane says, there are limits to how it can operate. To date, this means that GV has invested the most in the US, and almost half a billion has been invested in its second largest market in Europe. This means dividing half of his time focusing on life sciences, healthcare, and biotech, and the other half on the “digital” sector.

This independence has also meant that we don’t have to walk the red line that separates what GV can pay for and what Alphabet’s outfit, CapitalG, can support.

When asked if the two groups were elbowing each other for a stake or a larger share of the company — both groups are investors in Stripe, Cribl, and other outfits — Krane poured cold water on the idea, saying that because “we’re. backed by the same sources,” “it’s a secret.” what is there is good communication.”

Indeed, one of the obvious no-no’s – beyond partnering with an outfit like OpenAI that directly competes with Google – is attracting talent within Google to start a company to make GV the first to pay.

We asked while talking about members of the AI-powered Google NotebookLM, who recently left to start their own company — a story TechCrunch broke the day we sat down with Krane. When we wondered aloud whether GV would fund them, Krane said: “We know some of the people in the NotebookLM group, and we knew about this group coming out.”

“Sometimes, there are groups that leave Google, that will start to initiate, and GV will see, and GV will participate,” he added. … There are more and more people who have spent a lot of time in some of the Alphabet’s startups, and many of them are in our network and we funded some of them. “

When asked how Google feels about GV writing a big check to people on the way out the door – it makes them closer to motherhood, after all, but it might also encourage them to try their luck – Krane continued: “Yes, I think that’s exactly right. The goal is to stay at Google if “Some people don’t last forever,” he said. “Some people just get started.”

For more information, you can listen for the full interview or watch below.