from Hacker News

Google Ventures uses algorithms to approve or kill VC investments

by kjw on 7/19/18, 4:11 PM with 37 comments

by aaavl2821 on 7/19/18, 4:56 PM
> Inputs into "The Machine" include round size, syndicate partners, past investors, industry sector and the delta between prior valuation and current valuation. The algorithm then ranks deals on a 10-point scale, with green said to represent 8 or above
I'm sure there are more inputs than this, but from that list you'd imagine they basically pick deals based on who else is investing. which is not that different from many other VCs. at least in biotech, i typically see GV co-investing in deals led by other top notch VCs
by oldgradstudent on 7/19/18, 5:08 PM
That would explain their Juicero investment.
by maxxxxx on 7/19/18, 6:25 PM
Isn't that what a lot of Excel spreadsheets do? I think investments and acquisitions have used algorithms for a long time.
by jamez1 on 7/19/18, 11:24 PM
This is nothing new, most funds treat portfolio construction as an optimization problem, where the objective function is some risk over return metric.
"The Machine" is an optimizer, all they've done is build one that looks at early stage companies.
by inputcoffee on 7/19/18, 6:41 PM
The article has uncovered sources that claim the algorithm makes the ultimate decision and other sources that claim it doesn’t.
If it does make the ultimate decision and not just for political reasons then this is very interesting. Having input data that is sufficiently informative is important on a number of levels. Firstly this means that it is possible to pick winners on the basis of other VCs etc Secondly it means one doesn’t have to be personally concerned with the story if others can vet it for you.
If the machine doesn’t make the ultimate decision then — as others point out — it’s just old fashioned screens and checklists with a new interface.
by ErikAugust on 7/19/18, 4:30 PM
I wonder if the prospective company's G Suite data gets crunched.
by monkeydust on 7/19/18, 7:11 PM
Anyone know of open datasets around early stage startups and success? Guess might be something mashing up crunchbase, angel.co....
by aaavl2821 on 7/19/18, 6:59 PM
there is very little public data available on startups as compared to private companies. so id imagine for an algorithm to be useful there would have to be a lot of proprietary data. further, id imagine a lot of this data is somewhat subjective -- ratings of management team, market potential (when a market is still not defined enough to quantify), etc. so its possible that many of the quantitative inputs have some degree of subjectivity -- the human element is still very present, its just hiding behind data

by baccheion on 7/20/18, 5:41 AM

Best-performing seed round investors:

     7.5724 . . . . True Ventures 

     6.6294 . . . . Accel Partners
     6.1189 . . . . Seedcamp 

     4.7562 . . . . Nxtp Labs
     4.7474 . . . . Y Combinator
     4.4846 . . . . Softtech Vc
     4.4720 . . . . Gecad Group 2
     4.4720 . . . . Radu Georgescu
     4.4246 . . . . Creandum
     4.3653 . . . . Sv Angel
     4.3636 . . . . Google Ventures
     4.3016 . . . . Greylock

     3.9381 . . . . Baseline Ventures
     3.8225 . . . . First Round Capital
     3.7816 . . . . Mitch Kapor
     3.6702 . . . . Atomico
     3.5938 . . . . Felicis Ventures
     3.3963 . . . . Freestyle Capital
     3.2857 . . . . Yee Lee
     3.2183 . . . . Naval Ravikant
     3.1193 . . . . Boldstart Ventures
     3.1038 . . . . Keadyn
     3.1007 . . . . Birchmere Ventures
     3.0376 . . . . Betaworks
     3.0012 . . . . Hyde Park Angels 

     2.8730 . . . . Ff Angel Llc
     2.8578 . . . . Slow Ventures
     2.8268 . . . . Rose Tech Ventures
     2.8052 . . . . Chicago Ventures
     2.7709 . . . . I5Invest
     2.6940 . . . . K9 Ventures
     2.6469 . . . . Founders Co Op
     2.6132 . . . . Oleg Tscheltzoff
     2.5637 . . . . Nyc Seed
     2.5558 . . . . Ta Venture
     2.5148 . . . . Geoff Ralston
     2.4748 . . . . Cnm Ventures
     2.4327 . . . . Genacast Ventures
     2.3829 . . . . Wi Harper Group
     2.3526 . . . . Allen Morgan
     2.3171 . . . . W Media Ventures
     2.2827 . . . . Oliver Jung
     2.2532 . . . . Amplify La
     2.2509 . . . . Chris Devore
     2.2481 . . . . Dharmesh Shah
     2.2291 . . . . Innospring
     2.2290 . . . . The Accelerator Group
     2.1947 . . . . Gary Vaynerchuk
     2.1791 . . . . Crunchfund
     2.1772 . . . . Jon Callaghan
     2.1700 . . . . Oca Ventures
     2.1666 . . . . Kfw
     2.1652 . . . . Plataforma Capital Partners
     2.1136 . . . . High Tech Gruenderfonds
     2.1079 . . . . Marc Simoncini
     2.0933 . . . . Tom Mcinerney
     2.0908 . . . . Steve Anderson
     2.0879 . . . . Battery Ventures
     2.0590 . . . . New York Venture Partners
     2.0256 . . . . Emerge
     2.0038 . . . . Andy Appelbaum

Worst-performing seed round investors:

    -6.9802 . . . . Wayra

    -5.8839 . . . . Start Up Chile
    -5.0805 . . . . Startupbootcamp

    -4.0593 . . . . Jumpstartinc

    -3.8784 . . . . Sosventures

    -2.7610 . . . . Start Engine
    -2.6717 . . . . Social Starts
    -2.5748 . . . . Ff Venture Capital
    -2.5641 . . . . Ben Franklin Technology Partners Of Southeastern Pennsylvania
    -2.5460 . . . . Ace And Company
    -2.4309 . . . . Quest Venture Partners
    -2.0690 . . . . Masschallenge

Best-performing series A round investors:

     7.0711 . . . . Greycroft Partners

     5.5854 . . . . Venrock
     5.4365 . . . . Trinity Ventures

     4.9683 . . . . Intel Capital
     4.9600 . . . . Scott Banister
     4.9400 . . . . Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers
     4.8362 . . . . Redpoint Ventures
     4.6803 . . . . Ron Conway
     4.5240 . . . . Sv Angel
     4.3989 . . . . Crosslink Capital
     4.3097 . . . . Storm Ventures
     4.0204 . . . . Shasta Ventures

     3.9124 . . . . E Ventures
     3.6809 . . . . Leapfrog Ventures
     3.5279 . . . . Khosla Ventures
     3.3344 . . . . Valor Capital
     3.2867 . . . . Accel Partners
     3.2164 . . . . Austin Ventures
     3.1917 . . . . Accelerator Ventures
     3.1199 . . . . Inveready Technology Investment Group
     3.0892 . . . . Signia Venture Partners
     3.0283 . . . . Mangrove Capital Partners

     2.9607 . . . . Alliance Of Angels
     2.9039 . . . . Ventures West
     2.8911 . . . . Novartis Venture Fund
     2.8627 . . . . Carmel Ventures
     2.8622 . . . . Brightspark Ventures
     2.8440 . . . . Omnes Capital
     2.8099 . . . . Reid Hoffman
     2.7943 . . . . Alta Partners
     2.7847 . . . . Partech International
     2.7432 . . . . Balderton Capital
     2.7391 . . . . Helion Venture Partners
     2.7341 . . . . Wellington Partners
     2.6948 . . . . Mercury Fund
     2.6859 . . . . Sofinnova Partners
     2.6841 . . . . Holtzbrinck Ventures
     2.6694 . . . . Metamorphic Ventures Llc
     2.6218 . . . . Frazier Healthcare Ventures
     2.5929 . . . . Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures
     2.5796 . . . . Bessemer Venture Partners
     2.5772 . . . . Menlo Ventures
     2.5608 . . . . Divergent Ventures
     2.5439 . . . . Jafco Asia
     2.5071 . . . . Vanedge
     2.4915 . . . . Amadeus Capital Partners
     2.4576 . . . . Texas Venture Labs
     2.4355 . . . . Newfund Management
     2.3769 . . . . August Capital
     2.3561 . . . . Dave Morin
     2.3195 . . . . Xange Private Equity
     2.3058 . . . . 3Ts Capital Partners
     2.3021 . . . . Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
     2.2973 . . . . Flybridge Capital
     2.2966 . . . . High Tech Gruenderfonds
     2.2782 . . . . 5Am Ventures
     2.2499 . . . . Constellation Ventures
     2.2463 . . . . Opus Capital
     2.2099 . . . . Softbank Capital
     2.1956 . . . . Miramar Venture Partners
     2.1705 . . . . Oregon Angel Fund
     2.1541 . . . . Greylock Partners Israel
     2.1507 . . . . Schroders Private Bank
     2.1277 . . . . Dcm
     2.1233 . . . . Alta Berkeley Venture Partners
     2.1211 . . . . Qualcomm
     2.0847 . . . . Mountain Partners
     2.0840 . . . . Boxgroup
     2.0605 . . . . Azure Capital Partners
     2.0559 . . . . Legend Capital
     2.0505 . . . . High Peaks Venture Partners
     2.0434 . . . . Ggv Capital
     2.0280 . . . . Kpg Ventures
     2.0204 . . . . David Tisch
     2.0045 . . . . Bluerun Ventures

Worst-performing series A round investors:

    -3.1130 . . . . Founders Fund
    -3.0555 . . . . Andreessen Horowitz
    -3.0272 . . . . Emergence Capital Partners

    -2.9966 . . . . Crp Companhia De Participacoes
    -2.6290 . . . . Techcolumbus 2
    -2.4801 . . . . Sigma Partners
    -2.4795 . . . . Nexus Venture Partners
    -2.4344 . . . . J Hunt Holdings
    -2.4001 . . . . Sevin Rosen Funds
    -2.3166 . . . . Commonangels
    -2.2516 . . . . Oca Ventures
    -2.2448 . . . . Long River Ventures
    -2.2120 . . . . Alloy Ventures
    -2.2035 . . . . Eden Ventures
    -2.1966 . . . . Granite Ventures
    -2.1778 . . . . Allegis Capital
    -2.1778 . . . . Shenzhen Capital Group
    -2.1708 . . . . Morgenthaler Ventures
    -2.1347 . . . . Golden Seeds
    -2.0325 . . . . Split Rock Partners

by Tim_cas on 7/19/18, 5:20 PM
You can't do this with crypto startups
by s73v3r_ on 7/19/18, 4:41 PM
Wow. They can't bother to have people working in customer service, and now they can't even bother to have people working on where they invest their money?
Please tell me that the execs are next to be automated.