Google CEO Sundar Pichai: You know SpaceX, Anthropic and so on so, I think now …
Google-parent company Alphabet made an investment in Elon Musk’s SpaceX in 2015 which is now potentially worth over $100 billion. Now Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company is eyeing on more opportunities in the startup world mainly in artificial intelligence. According to a report by CNBC, speaking with the Stripe co-founder John Collison in a conversation posted on April 7, Pichai noted, “You know SpaceX, Anthropic and so on so, I think now with the AI shift, there are more opportunities on which we can deploy capital in a good way and so we are doing that.”Pichai further emphasised that Alphabet wants to be a ‘good steward of capital’, pointing to a strong returns from investments like Stripe, which has grown more than 17-fold since GV’s 2016 round. He also reflected on Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit, which raised $16 billion earlier this year at a $126 billion valuation: “I would have been glad to invest more capital in Waymo earlier, but we weren’t at the level of maturity to do that.”
Google backs startups with direct, large investments
Google has long invested through its venture arms GV and CapitalG, but today’s AI companies require far larger sums. Alphabet is joining tech giants like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon in writing billion-dollar checks directly off the balance sheet.* In 2015, Alphabet invested $900 million in SpaceX at a $12 billion valuation. With SpaceX merging with Musk’s xAI earlier this year at a $1.25 trillion valuation, Alphabet’s stake could now be worth around $100 billion.* SpaceX has reportedly filed confidentially for an IPO, seeking a record $1.75 trillion valuation.* Alphabet has also invested heavily in Anthropic, committing over $3 billion since 2023. Its stake has grown to about 14%, with Anthropic’s valuation soaring to $380 billion as of February.The comments made by the Google CEO suggest that Alphabet will continue to deploy capital aggressively into startups not just through venture arms, but with direct, large-scale investments.
