Just a week after the former CEO of Alphabet’s venture arm GV was said to be plotting a $230 million life sciences and healthcare fund, Bill Maris has confirmed to news site Recode that he will now be dropping his plans.
The form GV CEO, a neuroscientist by training who quit back in August and was said to be taking time off before working on another venture, had according to Recode’s report already tapped an initial small group of limited partners for the venture fund, which was called Section 32, that would focus on healthcare investment.
But over the weekend Maris contacted the site, confirming that plans had been in place, but he was now walking away from the idea.
“I was talking to investors about raising my own fund, the capital was available and [I] was about to file the papers this week, but staring down the barrel of doing again exactly what I just did was not inspiring me, and I pulled the plug. Life is too short to not be true to yourself. I'm still taking time off and exploring some other ideas that may be more fun and impactful.”
While at GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, Maris had been vocal in encouraging richly valued startups to go public rather than continuing to exploit the booming private markets.
The firm has some big names attached to it, including 23andMe, Uber and 3D-printing companies, but its investments have been dwindling, seeing around half of the investments of 2014 made last year.