Venture Capital · Profile from Venture Capital Research Companion
CapitalG
Alphabet's independent growth-equity fund, launched in 2013 as Google Capital, which writes large minority cheques into late-stage private technology companies — Stripe, CrowdStrike, Airbnb, Lyft, UiPath, Duolingo — and sells Google's operating know-how rather than strategic partnership, with Alphabet as its only LP.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2013 (as Google Capital; public launch February 2014); renamed CapitalG in July 2016
- Founders
- David Lawee (former Google VP of corporate development and marketing), with founding partners including Scott Tierney and Gene Frantz (reported)
- Headquarters
- San Francisco / Mountain View, California
- Ownership / structure
- Wholly owned by Alphabet Inc.; Alphabet is the sole LP. Capital is allocated by Alphabet rather than raised in closed-end funds. Organisationally separate from GV and from Google's corporate development and strategic investment teams
- Leadership (2026)
- Laela Sturdy, managing partner (since March 2023); partners include Jesse Wedler, Derek Zanutto, Jill Chase (AI) and others (roster as reported; verify). David Lawee stepped back from leadership in 2023
- AUM / capital raised
- ~$4bn+ (2023, firm statement); ~$7bn (2024, reported)
- Stage focus
- Growth stage (typically Series C and later, pre-IPO), cheques of ~$30m–$1bn; sometimes buys secondary shares
- Signature investments
- Stripe, CrowdStrike, Airbnb, Zscaler, Credit Karma, Gusto, Looker, UiPath, Duolingo, Lyft, Thumbtack, Robinhood, LendingClub; disappointments: LendingClub (2016 scandal), Lyft and UiPath (post-IPO declines below growth-round prices)
10 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2013
LendingClub
Secondary Growth Investment
2014
Credit Karma
Series D
2015
CrowdStrike
Series C
2015
Duolingo
Series D
2015
Gusto
Series B
2015
Thumbtack
Growth Round
2016
Stripe
Series D
2017
Looker
Series D
2017
Lyft
Growth Round
2018
UiPath
Series C