David Krane, CEO and managing partner of GV, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
GV, the non-strategic, multi-stage venture capital firm backed by Alphabet, always tops the GCV list of the world’s most prolific investors. The company, formerly known as Google Ventures, typically invests more than $1bn per year in new and follow-on investments in startups across North America, Europe and Israel. It has more than $10bn in assets under management.
Formed in 2009, GV was set up as an independent venture firm, rather than a strategic venture arm of Google, operating with the same freedom as a Sand Hill Road VC firm. However, at the same time, it differs from the typical VC, as it sets out to take a really long-term view with patient capital, rather than the 10-year cycles that venture capital more typically operates in.
David Krane joined Google in 2000 as employee number 84 and soon rose to lead the company’s communications and public affairs group. He was a key architect of the early culture and brand at Google.
Krane became a general partner at GV in 2010, having been tapped for the job because of previous involvement with dealmaking at Google and because he had often championed the small startups Google was transacting with. Krane has been CEO and managing partner for nearly a decade, having stepped into the CEO role in 2016.
GV typically invests more than $1bn per year.
GV has been a backer of storied technology businesses with notable investment outcomes including Uber, Nest, Slack, GitLab, Duo Security, Flatiron Health, Lemonade and One Medical. The firm’s active portfolio includes Lightmatter, Stripe, Treeline Biosciences, Vercel and Wonder.
The investment unit built an extensive portfolio of life sciences investments and had a big success in 2018 when Flatiron, the oncology data company it had backed, was acquired by Roche for $1.9bn. It invests diversely across this sector.
GV has a long history of investing in AI and ML, dating back to the firm’s inception, which helped shape a global portfolio of 100+ AI companies spanning infrastructure, life sciences and applications, including names such as Redpanda, Harvey, Synthesia and Insitro.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
