GV (Google Ventures)

"The product has to be open…if you are a product shipping machine, you have to have it out." - Ishan Mukherjee on 20VC w/Harry Stebbings At Rox, we build in the open. No demos. No long setup cycles. No waiting quarters to see value. Get Rox today and start driving revenue tomorrow. #revenueai #salesai #20vc #sequoiabacked #generalcatalyst

London-based GV Partner Vidu Shanmugarajah had a fireside chat with Synthesia founder Victor Riparbelli last week at our AI Meetup. It was a brutally honest conversation about finding product market fit, navigating the hype and what it takes to build an AI company. A snippet is below. Link to full convo in comments!

We’re proud to lead Redpanda's Series D funding, a continuation of our support since their Series A! GV Managing Partner, Dave Munichiello sat down with founder, Alexander Gallego to reflect on his incredible journey since 2020 when we invested in the Series A. They discussed Alex’s transition from engineer to enterprise leader, and what the future holds for Redpanda Data in the AI-driven enterprise's data streaming market. Beyond technology, they discuss attracting talent, fostering a strong culture, and the challenges of leading in a rapidly changing environment. Watch it all here: https://lnkd.in/gjf2WUc5

At GV, we’ve been exploring the convergence of healthcare and technology since 2009. As an investment team made up of technologists, scientists and physicians, we’ve long believed that computational methods will help shape the future of drug discovery. Which is why we are so excited to announce our investment in Isomorphic Labs. AlphaFold, developed by DeepMind, was a breakthrough in using machine learning to predict protein structures. It was also a preview of something bigger: the formation of Isomorphic Labs. Led by Demis Hassabis, Isomorphic Labs is not just applying AI to drug discovery—it is reimagining the entire pipeline with a machine learning-first approach. Most impressive is the high calibre team that has come together—with an excellent balance between a spectacular AI technology team and an experienced drug discovery team. Over the past 15 years, the GV team has worked with pioneers in computational chemistry, physics-based modeling, and AI-driven biology, and we've seen both the promise and the challenges of applying machine learning to drug development. Each reinforced a core truth: while AI offers powerful tools, drug discovery remains extraordinarily complex. Real breakthroughs require time, depth, and the ability to connect deeply across disciplines. "AI and machine learning have long held the promise of transforming drug discovery, yet few companies over the past decade have unlocked their full potential. After witnessing the extraordinary pace of innovation at Isomorphic Labs, we believe their pioneering approach will redefine AI-powered drug discovery,” said Dr. Krishna Yeshwant, Managing Partner at GV. What sets Isomorphic apart is the rigor, humility, and sheer technical depth of the team. Demis Hassabis and his colleagues understand that success here isn’t about hype—it’s about demonstrating that AI can accelerate the development of safe and effective medicines in ways traditional methods cannot. Krishna says “With Sir Demis Hassabis at the helm, Isomorphic has assembled an exceptional team at the intersection of life sciences and technology. We're proud to support them as they advance the development of new treatments for patients." We can't wait to see what the future holds!

I was lucky to have a fireside chat with Guy Podjarny yesterday evening at our GenAI London Meetup — it made me wonder if I could take inspiration from our discussion of Vibe-Coding and apply it to drafting a blog post - maybe Vibe-Scribing might be the best term for this. AI is fundamentally reshaping software development. Is code becoming less central? Can a single person build a $1B company? I dove deep into these questions last night with Guy from Tessl at our third annual London GenAI meetup. My key takeaways were five critical realities for developers and investors: AI demands a workflow revolution: It's not just about automation, but rethinking development from the ground up.  We need tools to navigate the AI dev tool chaos: Tessl created an open-source AI Native Dev Tool Landscape on GitHub to serve as a resource and living documentation of what’s out there. Spec-centric future: Code may become an implementation detail, with specs driving development.  Developers evolve, don't disappear: The focus shifts to architecture and product strategy. The $1B solo startup myth: High efficiency is fleeting; durable value creation wins. To close Guy said “Startups should anchor toward the future—try to imagine what will happen in five years’ time.” Our full vibe-scribed blog post is here: https://lnkd.in/eWTsZYwd

We are excited to support the Layer Health team as they leverage LLMs to improve one of the biggest pain points of healthcare today: medical records.

It’s an incredibly exciting time in software development, and the latest AI Native Dev landscape showcases how fast the landscape is expanding. It categorizes the whole software delivery lifecycle, ranging from tools that help you with product prototyping and development to DevOps and security. It’s great to see the below GV (Google Ventures) companies on this list. This is an up-to-date and evolving resource, so add the tools you don’t see in the link in the comments. Driver | FlutterFlow | GitLab | mabl | Snyk | StackBlitz | Tessl | Vercel | Warp

Congratulations to our portfolio companies Mimic, StackBlitz, Cribl, Vercel, Harvey, Stripe and Cohesity on making the 2025 Enterprise Tech 30 list! Selected by 100+ leading VCs and corporate development executives, the #ET30 highlights the most promising private companies driving the future of enterprise technology. A big thank you to Newcomer and Wing Venture Capital for spearheading this initiative — and congratulations to all the incredible companies featured!

🌊 “Individuals need to not fear the AI wave, they need to be exhilarated, they need to be surfers.” - Adina Eckstein, COO of Lemonade. When GV invested in Lemonade back in 2016, they were already AI-native. GV Managing Partner Tom Hulme sat down with Adina this week at Insurtech Insights in a conversation titled “Humans & AI: A Modern Love Story.” They shared sage advice for all those building businesses today about how to build an AI-first culture. Our key takeaways: 🏢 Cultural Debt is Real:  "Culture can be a competitive advantage.  Leaders don't think about that enough, and in fact if you have a bad culture it can be a strategic disadvantage." 🔄 Job Roles Are Changing: “What we're starting to hire for is personality traits–we're looking for people who are curious who are early adopters in technology who are resilient and adaptable” ⚒️ Hackathons Drive Innovation:  “VC’s don't see business plans anymore, we see product prototypes. It's actually a negative signal if someone presents us a 50-page business plan.” 🤝 The Future is AI-Human Collaboration: “"I can't think of a single function in insurance that is not going to be is not 0 already completely revolutionized with AI."

Congratulations to all the companies who made the Fast Company's 2025 Most Innovative Companies list! We are proud to those pushing the boundaries in our portfolio: Robinhood, Wonder, Snorkel AI, Harvey, Osmo, Synthesia, Midi Health, Infinitus Systems, Inc., Slack, Alethea, Gusto, Cala Health, SambaNova Systems, Partiful. #FCMostInnovative