# Innovation Endeavors

> Innovation Endeavors is an early-stage venture capital firm in Palo Alto, co-founded in 2010 by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt with Dror Berman, Scott Brady, and Rick Scanlon. It writes seed and Series A checks to technical founders rebuilding physical industries - energy, manufacturing, biology, space - around a thesis it calls the Super Evolution: the moment when cheap data, abundant computation, and new engineering tools converge so completely that startups can re-architect century-old sectors in months instead of decades. In January 2024 it closed its fifth fund at $630 million, its largest yet.

- **Founded:** 2010
- **Headquarters:** Palo Alto, United States
- **Founders:** Eric Schmidt (Co-Founder), Dror Berman (Founding / Managing Partner), Scott Brady (Founding / Managing Partner), Rick Scanlon (Founding / Managing Partner)
- **Team size:** ~36 employees
- **Products:** Early-stage venture capital, Fund V, Curiosity Camp, Portfolio support
- **Notable:** Closed $630M Fund V in January 2024 - the firm's largest fund to date, Invested in 150+ companies over 15 years, with 25+ reaching unicorn status, Early investor in SoFi, Uber, Astra, Slice, and Zymergen

## Products & services

- **Early-stage venture capital** — Seed and Series A investment in deep-tech and science-driven startups, typically as an early and active lead.
- **Fund V** — The firm's fifth and largest fund, $630M, targeting 30-35 companies across the physical economy, life sciences, and enabling infrastructure.
- **Curiosity Camp** — An invite-only, title-free unconference in the Santa Cruz mountains that gathers scientists, founders, and policymakers to explore frontier problems.
- **Portfolio support** — Hands-on help with recruiting technical talent, company building, follow-on financing, and board engagement.

## Achievements

- Closed $630M Fund V in January 2024 - the firm's largest fund to date
- Invested in 150+ companies over 15 years, with 25+ reaching unicorn status
- Early investor in SoFi, Uber, Astra, Slice, and Zymergen
- Coined and operationalized the 'Super Evolution' investment thesis
- Built Curiosity Camp, a widely respected invite-only gathering for frontier science and technology

## Latest updates

- **2024-01** — Closed Fund V at $630M, the firm's largest fund, targeting 30-35 deep-tech and life-sciences companies.
- **2024-01** — Reaffirmed its focus on three areas: the physical economy, life sciences, and enabling infrastructure for engineers and scientists.
- **2025-01** — Continued active deployment of Fund V with new deep-tech and biotech investments across manufacturing, therapeutics, and data infrastructure.

## Links

- Website: https://innovationendeavors.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/innovation-endeavors
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/iendeavors
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Innovation.Endeavors/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/innovation-endeavors
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-16