David Krane will replace Maris.
AB Wire
The founder and Chief of Google Ventures (or GV) Bill Maris is leaving the firm and its parents, Recode reports.
The report further adds that Google veteran GV Managing Partner David Krane will replace Maris effectively from Friday.
No explanation was immediately given for Mr. Maris’s departure and he would be the third high-ranking executive to depart from the Alphabet units outside of the main Google search business in recent months.
Last week Chris Urmson, chief technology officer and former director of Google’s self-driving car effort had left the project at crucial juncture as the company tries to transition its driverless-car technology into a commercial product. He gave no clear reason for his departure nor hint his destination.
In June, Tony Fadell stepped down as CEO of Alphabet Inc.’s home-automation unit Nest.
Mr. Maris also hasn’t reveal any new career plans as of yet and plans to take time with his family before starting something new.
Maris, an early web entrepreneur, founded Google’s venture capital arm in 2009, the firm managed upwards of $2.4 billion in capital.
Mr, Krane, who has been with Google for 17 years, led the first public relations role at the search giant. He had already been effectively running the day-to-day activities of GV, with Mr. Maris somewhat stepped back in the role.
Mr. Krane was behind GV’s investment in ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc., as well as Nest and coffee-maker Blue Bottle.
The GV venture-capital funds manage $2.4 billion and have placed over 300 bets on start-ups across the US and abrode.
GV’s overall focus on five sectors – life sciences, enterprise, data and artificial intelligence, robotics, and consumer- will remain unchanged under the new chief.