Bill Maris, the founder and former head of Google Ventures, is launching his own venture capital firm. Again.
Axios has learned that the new shop will be called Section 32, with plans to raise $100 million for its debut fund. It will focus on early-stage companies, and will invest at least half of its dollars into life sciences companies. Maris will initially serve as the firm's only general partner, although he has told prospective investors that he may bring on a second partner at some point.
Maris left Google Ventures last spring, with plans to launch a new firm that would look a lot like Google Ventures (minus the corporate partner). He had $230 million circled for his debut fund, but then pulled the plug ― in part because he didn't want to spend so much time in Silicon Valley (Maris lives in San Diego), and partially because he wasn't sure he wanted to build yet another large-scale VC firm. The smaller fund size suggests scaled-down ambitions, and perhaps the opportunity to do more investments in Southern California.
Maris declined to comment, citing regulatory restrictions.
