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Google sets aside $100 million for promising European startups
Genius can flower anywhere, you know, that's why Google wants to give promising startups outside Silicon Valley a chance to explore their ideas. Mountain Valley's particularly eyeing up-and-coming companies from Europe at the moment, so it launched a $100 million venture fund in the region. In an official blog post, Google Ventures Managing Partner Bill Maris says the company believes Europe's startup scene has huge potential. After all, that's where SoundCloud, Spotify and Supercell came from, and these three are now successful tech properties valuing billions of dollars, according to The New York Times. "Our goal is simple," the blog post reads, "we want to invest in the best ideas from the best European entrepreneurs, and help them bring those ideas to life. "
Cozy could make renting much more comfortable for both landlords and tenants
Renting is a pain. Sure, it saves you from financial doom when the housing market collapses, and it certainly is a lot more affordable when you're feeling a bit resource-constrained, but it can cause some massive headaches. Depending on your market, scoring a place may require applying to dozens of potential landlords, spreading your precious, personal information with wild abandon to folks you've never met. It's no pleasure cruise for those landlords, too, who have to chase down references and decide which of a pool of total strangers is most suitable to move in. And, when a rent check gets lost in the mail, nobody's happy. These are just some of the issues that Cozy is looking to solve. The service, which formally launches today and is backed by Google Ventures among many others, is looking to reboot the way that renters and landlords interact. More info after the break.
Weotta iOS local discovery app goes nationwide, Google Ventures approves
Finding things to do and places to go has never been easier thanks to services that neatly pull all the options together. Weotta hopes to be another weapon in your discovery app arsenal after expanding its coverage to the whole of the US, having initially been limited to 40 cities. As the company's CEO told Forbes, the free iOS app uses "phrase extraction and natural language processing" to source its local suggestions from the nooks and crannies of the internet. That same wizardry is used to steer its rating system, which is based on what's said about a venue or event rather than aggregating numerical scores. It'll learn your likes and dislikes, tailoring recommendations as it gets to know you better, but you can discover what's happening in the area for yourself using the search feature. Via Facebook Connect, the app will also tell you what's popular among your peers. While Weotta is only available for iOS, it's attracted funding from Google Ventures, which is a recommendation in itself that suggests you give it a whirl.
Google Capital to make investments in maturing tech firms
Google Ventures has a reputation for backing tech winners early on -- it gave a boost to this little startup called Nest, for example. It wants to exert influence every step of the way, however, and it's launching Google Capital to make this happen. The new fund is investing in firms that aren't quite so young, but are doing "amazing things" aligned with Google's interests, according to general partner Mike Pearson. While Google Capital won't make its formal debut until the summer, it has already invested in three unnamed companies; we wouldn't be surprised if we learn a lot more about the fund a few months' time.
The Daily Roundup for 04.25.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Bill Maris, the Man Behind Google Ventures, on the Present Challenges and Future Potential of Glass
How Google Ventures and the Glass Collective are taking Glass to the next level "The initial versions of Glass were just Sergey [Brin]'s Oakleys with a phone taped to them," Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures, told me in a noisy cafe in Midtown Manhattan. Given his position and our topic of conversation -- Google's Project Glass -- he was conspicuous for wearing no eyewear whatsoever. "[Sergey's prototype] was not very compelling." You'd forgive him for being a bit skeptical back then about what the company's leadership was hoping would be the next big thing -- or, at least, a thing worthy of the time and money required to iterate from those humble beginnings to the sleek device we now know and covet. So, then, how did we get from those initial doubts to the launching of the Glass Collective, dedicating millions of dollars to finding, funding and fostering innovative applications (not just of the software variety) for Google's new wearable? Maris spoke of Glass project lead Steve Lee and a later prototype that took photos every few seconds. "Imagine if you had this for your entire life. You could ask: 'What did I do 10 years ago today?'" That was compelling enough for Maris to commit to the foundation of the Collective, helping Google move the project beyond a single product and into the all-important realm of the platform. This is a platform, he believes, that could change our lives over the next 10 years just as smartphones have over the past decade.
Google forms the Glass Collective to invest in eye technology entrepreneurs
Google believes that it's naive to build a wearable technology like Google Glass and expect successful businesses to simply materialize from thin air; those firms will need a financial nudge, too. Accordingly, Google is forming the Glass Collective to invest in projects centering on its eyewear. The partnership will see Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers unite on seed funding for those US-based startups which show promise in areas like communication and navigation. The group hasn't named any targets for its cash, but it's obviously very early days for both Glass and the Collective -- Google needs more developers in the field before it can shower companies with support. Update: According to TechCrunch, Google mentioned during the event that it hopes to get Glass hardware into developers hands "in the next month." Since it started preregistering folks at last year's I/O event, we'd also hope they will arrive in time for this year's Google I/O and inevitable skydive-to-stage live stream.
OnStar seals partnership with RelayRides, makes renting out your car even easier (hands-on video)
Remember that partnership between OnStar and RelayRides we wrote about last March? Well it's finally coming to fruition today, with the peer-to-peer car sharing service launching support for remote door unlocking via OnStar's proprietary API. As a result, RelayRides members with OnStar-enabled vehicles no longer have to exchange keys in person if they so choose. Another benefit is that participants can list their automobile on RelayRides directly from their OnStar account -- renters then benefit from the added safety and security that comes with OnStar. We had the chance to test an early version of the functionality on a Chevy Volt at SXSW a few months ago and it worked pretty much as advertised. There was a bit of a delay between the time we sent the unlock command from RelayRides' website on the demo iPad and the moment the doors actually unlocked on the car, but we're told this has been significantly improved since our hands-on. Of course, RelayRides also supports remote unlocking via text message. Take a look at the galleries below then hit the break for our hands-on video, RelayRides' video and OnStar's PR.%Gallery-160469% %Gallery-160496%
Report: Kevin Rose moving within Mountain View, now a partner at Google Ventures
Have you been wondering what Digg co-founder, Kevin Rose, has been up to since joining the Mountain View team a couple months back? Well, AllThingsD is reporting that Mr. Rose has left his duties as senior product manager of Big G's social network in order to make a move to the company's investment firm, Google Ventures. According to the report, the switch has now been confirmed by an undisclosed Ventures spokesperson, although no further details were given at this time. The move itself isn't exactly a surprising one, given Rose's previous, and hefty history of venturing into startups within the industry. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts in the comments section below.
RelayRides hooks up with GM, opens P2P car sharing to OnStar subs
Usually when a stranger gets behind the wheel of your car, it's more a situation for the authorities than General Motors. But with the impending nationwide rollout of RelayRides' P2P car sharing program, owners of GM vehicles will soon be actively looking for complete strangers to take a spin at their wheels in exchange for cash. The startup, backed by venture capital from Google, launched its unique rental service two years ago in Boston and San Francisco and is now poised to expand that reach to about six million OnStar subs with an upcoming smartphone app. Admittedly, it's a bizarre, though potentially lucrative concept, as those who opt-in and open their driver-side doors to randoms could net anywhere from $250 to $1000 per month, while renters only have to cough up about $5 to $10 per hour. It's a tough sell when compared up to the more traditional, well-established likes of, say, ZipCar, but if you're keen on sniffing that previously-owned car smell, this should be right up your alley.
Transphorm promises brickless laptop chargers, power savings aplenty
Stop us if you've heard this one before. A mysterious startup company operates in secret for a number of years, raises millions in funding from some of the biggest players in the industry (in this case, Google and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), and announces a breakthrough technology that promises to change everything. In this case the startup is a company called Transphorm, and the breakthrough is a gallium nitride technology that promises to improve AC/DC transformers. While that might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, the company's CEO says that it could not only drastically reduce the electricity wasted by electronics that currently rely on silicon components, but significantly reduce the size of the components as well. One prime example there is laptop charger bricks, which Transphorm says could be reduced or even completely eliminated by building the necessary components right into the laptop itself. The company also sees a huge opportunity with electric cars, and especially data centers, which is one of the first markets it will be targeting. Of course, complete details are still fairly light at the moment, but the company is promising to unveil its first products in just two weeks, and you can be sure we'll be watching.
RelayRides P2P car sharing service now available in the Bay Area
Got a car sittin' 'round, clutterin' up your driveway? Love the idea of handing over the keys to strangers? RelayRides, a recent beneficiary of some Google Ventures cash, has just brought its peer-to-peer car-sharing service to the San Francisco Bay Area. Already available in Boston, the service is sort of a "social bikes-meets-Zip Car." The idea is to let customers rent privately owned (and in some cases, leased) vehicles by the hour: owners receive sixty-five percent of the rental fee, and they're protected by a million dollar insurance policy (drivers have to pay a $500 deductible, which should be large enough to keep people on good behavior). RelayRides is unclear on the exact nature of the keyless entry system (which gets installed gratis when your whip enters the program), but we're guessing it's either RFID or NFC. It also contains a GPS, which is used to track the car's movements and mileage. Interested? Hit the source link to get started.
